Women Empower In Modern Ghana

President John Evans Atta Mills has appointed Mrs. Charlotte Kesson-Smith Osei as the Chairperson for the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE).

The appointment was made in consultation with the Council of State, a statement signed by Secretary to the President J.K. Bebaako-Mensah has said.“The appointment takes immediate effect,” the statement noted.

Prior to the appointment, Mrs Osei was the founder and Lead Counsel of Prime Attorneys, a leading law firm in Accra. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Commercial Bank Limited and the Ghana Reinsurance Company Limited.

Mrs Osei had earlier served as a Senior Legal Officer for the Ghana Commercial Bank and as a Company Secretary/Legal Adviser for the Unibank Ghana Limited.

Mrs Charlotte Osei holds a Master of Law Degree (LL.M) from Queen's University, Canada, and a Master in Business Leadership (MBL) from the University of South Africa.

Charlotte Osei has significant experience in several facets of Law with particular specialization in Corporate/Business Law, banking, investment and employment law.

Overthrow Of Government

coups d'état)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government,usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either civil or military. A coup d'état succeeds if the usurpers establish their dominance when the incumbent government fails to prevent or successfully resist their consolidation of power. If the coup neither fully fails nor achieves overall success, the attempted coup d'état is likely to lead to a civil war. Typically, a coup d'état uses the extant government's power to assume political control of the country. In Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook, military historian Edward Luttwak says, "A coup consists of the infiltration of a small, but critical, segment of the state apparatus, which is then used to displace the government from its control of the remainder", thus, armed force

Emergency Eases As Strike Worsens

Doctors say they will accept no more emergency cases at the various public hospitals nationwide, as their strike take an ominous turn for the worse.

The doctors last week announced a nationwide strike in protest over stalled negotiation on the Single Spine Salary Structure but pledged to take only emergency cases at the various hospitals to prevent needless loss of lives.

However, a week later, the doctors are questioning the commitment of the Fair Wages and Salary Commission to fairly negotiate a salary structure for doctors and have sworn not to offer any service at the hospital, including emergency ones.

“The Fair wages and Salary Commission could not resolve the abysmal promotional patterns on the Single Spine Salary Structure. While other health workers are galloping across banks on the spine, the doctors are moving on a snail pace with respect to promotions for the same number of years worked.

“It is clear from the stance of the salaries commission that they are either not ready or not in the position to find solution to the grievances raised by GMA.

“The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission have resorted to the use of sentiments rather than a scientific approach in determining the grades of doctors on the Single Spine Salary Structure,” the President of the Ghana Medical Association Adom Winful said at a press conference in Accra on Friday.

He said the grading system being used by the FWSC is “botched” and has “created congestion” at the top of the single spine salary structure in the health sector.

He directed all doctors to vacate all public hospitals and step-up the strike.

“The National Executive Committee would like to inform its members to be steadfast in our decision to keep faith with the leadership of the GMA as we go through these turbulent times.

“Members are informed to continue with the strike action in our own interest until all the major issues are resolved.

“Members are instructed to step-up with the strike action by not attending to emergencies,” he directed.

He said the doctors will not be held liable for the consequences of the strike.

Sanity In The Health Sector Should Be Restored.

The opposition New Patriotic Party flag bearer has admonished president John Mills to end the blame game and take steps to return striking doctors to the wards. At a news conference in Accra, Wednesday, Nana Akufo-Addo questioned what he said is government’s poor handling of the crisis, insisting doctors are responsible and would not have laid down their tools if government had been proactive in handling the situation. The Ghana Medical Association, last Friday announced a nationwide strike after stalled negotiation on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) and have since deserted the various public hospitals in the country.

Except for a few emergency cases, the majority of patients have been sent back home, some with only first aid treatment. President John Mills during a tour of the Greater Accra Region on Tuesday appealed to the doctors to return to duty whilst steps are taken to resolve their grievances.He also accused the NPP for only announcing the SSSS policy in 2009 but not putting in place any strategy for implementation. Nana Addo in a reaction said President Mills cannot in the tail end of his administration still blame the NPP for his failures.

He said if Mills complains about the NPP not leaving enough resources for the implementation of the SSSS, then the NPP should have as well left behind its ministers and president in place who would have dealt with the crisis in a “more intelligent manner.”Describing the president’s comment as “unfortunate”, Nana Addo said the government is not handling the crisis in a responsible manner, especially, when the same government had promised all public workers they would be migrated onto the new pay policy by the end of September this year.

“You are nearly at the end of the mandate; you continue to blame the [NPP],” he lamented Nana Addo said the strike should not be allowed to persist any further and the president must take immediate action to ensure sanity in the health sector is restored. “The Minister of Health, Yieleh Chireh is a man who can dismiss a doctor like Frimpong Boateng from his job with immediate effect. I would have thought that such a person is exactly the kind of person the President should instruct with immediate effect to engage with the doctors.“And we are talking about not tomorrow, not a day after tomorrow but today. That for me will be the action I would expect from the president,” Nana Addo emphasized.He also appealed to the doctors to tamper justice with mercy and return to work purely on humanitarian grounds.

Chief Beats Queenmother In Public

The Paramount Chief of Goaso Traditional Area, Nana Kwasi Baffour Bosomprah II, has been fined for allegedly assaulting the Queenmother of Dantano, near Kukuom in the Asunafo South District of the Brong Ahafo Region.

The Goasomanhene was compelled to cough out various fines amounting to GH¢3,200, as well as present three sheep and six bottles of schnapps by a panel of chiefs which sat on the case on September 12 at the Kukuom palace after he admitted to the offense.

Following that, the Queenmother of Goaso, Nana Yaa Achiaa, invoked the Great Oath of the Asantehene on Nana Kwasi Bosomprah for denigrating the stool by fighting in public.

By the Great Oath, the queenmother demanded his destoolment, a matter which is pending before the Asantehene.

The chief allegedly assaulted the Dantano Queenmother, Nana Ama Agyapah, also known as Nana Yaa Amankwaah, on June 4, 2011 at Ayomso, near Mim, during the final funeral rites of the late Ayomso queenmother.

The offence of Nana Yaa Amankwaah was that she allegedly refused to get up from her seat to pay the chief homage and insulted him when he arrived at the funeral grounds.

Out of fury, the chief allegedly violently pushed the queenmother to the ground and ordered his aides to subject her to beatings.

She reported the matter to the police and just when the case was being processed for court, Nana Kwasi Bosomprah, through one Mr. Baye, an NDC parliamentary aspirant at Asunafo North, intervened and opted for an out-of-court settlement.

Subsequently, Nana Kwasi Bosomprah was charged by the adjudicating panel to slaughter three sheep, present 6 bottles of schnapps, and pay various sums of money amounting to GH¢3,200. An amount of GH¢2,400 was to be paid to the victim to defray her medical expenses, while GH¢500 was meant to compensate her, with the remaining GH¢300 going to the panel.

According to a member of the panel, Okyeame Oduro Numapau of Kukuom, the Goasomanhene managed to pay the GH¢500 compensation and GH¢600 out of the GH¢2,400 medical expenses to the victim.

He also paid the GH¢300 to the panel and pleaded to be given one month to pay the remaining fine.

The panel, which was chaired by Nana Boakye Kukrudufo, the chief of Fawohoyeden, had the following members: Nana Kwadwo Boadi, Sianahene, Nana Obeng Bempah, Kukuom Akyeamehene, Nana Adusei Nkrumah, Nana Abena Osaa II, Queenmother of Kukuom and Okyeame Oduro Numapau of Kukuom, the office of the Kukuom Traditional Council Registrar has disclosed.

When DAILY GUIDE spoke to the assaulted queenmother, she confirmed being beaten by Nana Kwasi Bosomprah at the funeral grounds at Ayomso on June 4, 2011 because she refused to get up from her seat when the paramount chief and his entourage arrived.

She said she did not get up because they were all in a mourning mood and the event was not for merry-making to warrant any strict observance of the tradition, and more so she was not under the Goasomanhene.

Nana Yaa Amankwaah said the chief, who became furious with her conduct, rushed on her, pushed her down and ordered his aides to further attack her.

According to her, she reported the incident to the police and just as the matter was being prepared for court, the Omanhene pleaded with the police, through an NDC activist, to settle the case out of court which she obliged.

The queenmother said the matter had since been settled and the chief had been charged to compensate her. She said she was very satisfied with the compensation and wished the story died a natural death without being carried by the media.

However, when contacted, Nana Kwasi Bosomprah denied personally assaulting the queen mother.

He claimed it was some of his aides who smashed the umbrella of the queen mother on the ground when she rained insults on him in public.

He said he was dragged to the police and later before the committee because as a paramount chief, he took responsibility for his aides’ actions.

Nana Baffour Bosomprah threatened to deal drastically with Daily Guide if it published any story about him since he had not committed any crime.

According to him, the allegation was an attempt by his detractors to disgrace him, claiming the paper had been tasked by his enemies to tarnish his image.

Doctors Went On Strike

President John Mills has appealed to striking doctors to call off the four-day old strike and return to work.He said things have become difficult and urged the agitated doctors to consider dying patients at the various hospitals across the country and return to work.According to him, the NPP announced the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) but left no money to implement it, adding the doctors must exercise restraint in going about their activities. The President said this during a tour of the Greater Accra Region to inspect ongoing projects, Tuesday, Joy News' Presidential correspondent Seth Kwame Boateng reported.The Ghana Medical Association last Friday announced a nationwide strike to protest what they claim was stalled negotiation and a lull in migration onto the Single Spine Salary Structure. They blame the Fair Wages and Salary Commission as well as government for doing very little to address their grievances.Patients across the country are already feeling the ‘pain’ of empty wards and OPDs with no doctor ready and available to attend to them. Depending on how precarious and emergency their situation is they are either given a first aid and sent back home or admitted for careful examination. The doctors have come under a barrage of criticisms from some stakeholders, including government spokespersons, with a call on them to return to work. President John Mills on Tuesday waded into the crisis situation, appealing to the doctors to return to duty.  He said government is willing and ready to sit with them to address their grievances.

Train People For Jobs

Persistent complaints about the country’s universities’ failure to adequately equip graduates with relevant skills for the world of work, have come under attack.
A former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Akilakpa Sawyer, says the complaints are ill-informed, misplaced and populist.
The purpose of university education, he said, is to prepare people for work not to train them for specific jobs.
“The question of curriculum relevance is often crowded in populism. I do not think it is the university’s function to prepare its students for a particular assignment; the function is to broaden their minds; educate them about how to acquire knowledge, and give them values which ensure [that] whatever they do after the university, they bring to their task, skills, insights, values which they wouldn’t have had otherwise,” he said.
Prof. Sawyer is afraid the country’s universities are being pressurized into becoming vocational institutions.
“It is true that our graduates need to have jobs,” he said, but added, “it is not the university’s function to train them for jobs; absolutely not! It is to educate them for work, not train them for jobs. For example if you get a degree in Agriculture, it doesn’t make you a good farmer.”
Prof. Sawyer was speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Monday on the quality of education in the country.
He said the increasing numbers of students in the university has put the quality of education under constant threat.
Demand for education, he believes, must be balanced with the need for higher quality because “it is not good enough to simply have large numbers in the institutions; if the teaching is bad and the research is poor, what do we get?”
According to him, the education authorities must adopt technology to help mitigate the problem of increasing demand for higher education which is impeded by inadequate resources to expand educational facilities to meet the demands.
The retired educationist recommended distance education as the surest way out. He debunked assertions that the quality of education is compromised if the distance learning module is adopted, insisting the module had been used successfully elsewhere.

Ghanaian Presidential Election, 2008

A presidential election was held in Ghana on 7 December 2008, at the same time as a parliamentary election. Since no candidate received more than 50% of the votes, a run-off election was held on 28 December, 2008 between the two candidates who received the most votes, Nana Akufo-Addo and John Atta Mills.Mills was certified as the victor in the run-off election on January 3, 2009, by a margin of less than one percent.
On 21 December 2006, former Vice-President John Atta Mills, who unsuccessfully ran as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate in 2000 and 2004, was overwhelmingly elected by NDC as its candidate for the 2008 presidential election.
Former Foreign Minister Nana Akufo-Addo was elected as the 2008 presidential candidate of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) at a party congress on 23 December 2007. Although he fell short of the required 50%, the second-place candidate, John Alan Kyeremanten, conceded defeat and backed Akufo-Addo.
The stakes of the election were raised by the discovery of oil in Ghana and an expectation for incoming oil revenues to begin in 2010. Additionally, allegations of electoral fraud that resulted in violence following elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe and military coups d'état in Mauritania and Guinea caused international election monitors to hope the Ghanaian elections would refurbish the image of constitutional democracy in Africa.
Turnout on election day was very high. Since few votes were expected for other candidates than those of the two largest parties, a first-round victory for Akufo-Addo or Mills was seen as possible, but Nduom stated he wished to "surprise" the other parties by gaining enough votes to force a run-off between the two others. With 40% of the vote counted, Akufo-Addo was leading with 49.5% to Mills's 47.6%.While Mills pulled ahead afterwards, Akufo-Addo again led by a slim margin with over 70% of the votes counted.
The second round was rerun on 28 December 2008 but due to logistics problems, the Tain District alone had its run-off election on 2 January 2009 due to problems with distributing ballots. Following the voting on 28 December, Mills led by a slim margin, causing the Election Commission to state it would not announce Mills as the winner until after the election rerun in Tain. Prior to the announcement hundreds of NDC supporters converged on the election headquarters demanding that Mills be declared the victor, but were kept at bay by riot police and armed soldiers.
Fear of election day violence caused the NPP to file a lawsuit seeking to delay voting in Tain as it claimed that "the atmosphere in the rural district was not conducive to a free and fair election". The court denied the NPP's injunction request and said it would only hear the case on 5 January 2009. In response, the NPP called its supporters to boycott the vote, for which it was criticised by civil groups.

The Peoples’ National Convention Feels Betrayed

The Peoples’ National Convention feels betrayed by what it describes as a breach of faith by the ruling National Democratic Congress.
The People's National Convention is a political party in Ghana.
At the elections, 7 December 2004, the party was part of the Grand Coalition, that won 4 out of 230 seats. Edward Mahama, candidate of the Grand Coalition won 1.9% of the vote at the presidential elections.
At the December 2008 elections, the party won 2 seats in Parliament. For the fourth time in a row, Edward Mahama was the presidential candidate. He received 0.8% of the vote.
The PNC has contested all national elections since the inception of the fourth republic apart from the 1992 Ghanaian parliamentary election, which was boycotted along with other opposition parties.
Politics of Ghana takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Ghana is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The seat of government is at Golden Jubilee House. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and Parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The Constitution that established the Fourth Republic provided a basic charter for republican democratic government. It declares Ghana to be a unitary republic with sovereignty residing in the Ghanaian people. Intended to prevent future coups, dictatorial government, and one-party states, it is designed to establish the concept of powersharing. The document reflects lessons learned from the abrogated constitutions of 1957, 1960, 1969, and 1979, and incorporates provisions and institutions drawn from British and American constitutional models. One controversial provision of the Constitution indemnifies members and appointees of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) from liability for any official act or omission during the years of PNDC rule. The Constitution calls for a system of checks and balances, with power shared between a president, a unicameral parliament, a council of state, and an independent judiciary.