Ex-Prez Chissano, Four Others Receive Honorary Doctorate Degrees From UDS

H.E. Joaquim Alberto Chissano

The University for Development Studies (UDS) has conferred an honorary doctorate degree (Honoris  Causa; Doctor of Letters Category) on the former President of Mozambique and Mo Ibrahim Prize winner Joaquim Alberto Chissano at a special congregation held in Tamale.

The Governing Council and the Academic Board of the UDS also conferred the degree on four other personalities who helped in the establishment and management of the University in one way or the other some 23 years ago.

They include: Professor Raymond Bagulo Bening, founding Vice-Chancellor of the UDS; Naa Professor Abubakari Al-Hassan, former Council Member of the UDS; Professor Emeritus Ebenezer Laing; and Dr. Ahmed Hakeem Wemah, former Council Chairman of the UDS.

Besides, 116 postgraduate students who successfully completed their academic programme and defended their dissertation also graduated with degrees in Master of Arts, Master Science, Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy from the UDS Graduate School. 

The conferring of the degree on Mr. Chissano in particular, was preceded by a three-day lecture that began on Thursday April 9, 2015 and climaxed on Saturday April 11, 2015 with the last of the three part lecture series. 

Mr. Chissano arrived in Tamale last Wednesday to deliver various lectures at this year’s African Leadership Lecture programme. The lecture was the third edition organised annually to seek the perspectives of former African Heads of State on governance, leadership and development. Previous former African Heads of State who delivered similar lectures were Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings of the Republic of Ghana in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

The lectures were on: (i) The evolution of the strong visionary leadership of the frontline states and its contribution to the liberation struggle in Southern Africa; (ii) Reflection on leadership, good governance and development in Africa; and (iii) leadership and conflict resolution in Africa. 

It is the conviction of the UDS that African leaders have the opportunity and the resources to transform the continent by pursuing prudent scientific and development policies as well as nurturing indigenous talents.

The University also holds the view that, African leaders can transform their individual nations and the continent by recognizing and harnessing the contributions of experts and individuals inside and outside their national universities.

It believes that, in Africa’s quest to achieve internal integration and become a key player in global affairs, there is the need for deep reflection on the sort of leaders the continent requires. The continent, it indicates, requires innovative leaders and thinkers who will drive its development and growth. 

The African Leadership Lectures is therefore a platform to subject the issues of leadership and development in Africa to the required critical thought. The lectures intends to contribute to a national and transnational discourse on productive leadership culture that will support and enhance African development; facilitate and create an environment for a discourse and action on leadership; create a forum to inspire positive and innovative leadership initiatives as well as stimulate and initiate a platform for an action on constructive leadership in Ghana and Africa.

President John Dramani Mahama commended management of the UDS for their sustained effort towards organising the African Leadership Lectures annually, and encouraged the University to endeavour to document all the lecturers for future generation to learn and imbibe in them good leadership qualities.

In a speech read for him by Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Alhaji Collins Dauda, President Mahama said he was also aware of efforts by the University management to establish a Centre for Energy to find solution to the numerous energy problems that had bedevilled the country.

To Mr. Chissano, he commended him for his outstanding achievements over the years saying, “the award given to you by the UDS further challenges you to do more in the coming years”.  

Prez John Mahama

Since leaving the presidency Mr. Chissano has assumed the role of elder statesman and campaigned for peace through his work as an envoy and peace negotiator for the United Nations. 

On December 4, 2006, the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Mr. Chissano Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Northern Uganda and South Sudan to resolve the conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). 

In 2007, he was awarded the inaugural US$5million Prize for Achievement in African Leadership by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. He received the Prize for his achievements in bringing peace, reconciliation, stable democracy and economic progress to his country following the 16-year civil war which lasted until 1992. The Prize also recognised the major contributions he made outside his country’s borders.

According to the award's judges "Mr Chissano's decision not to seek a third presidential term reinforced Mozambique's democratic maturity and demonstrated that institutions and the democratic process were more important than the person".

Parliamentary Primaries & NPP’s Comedy Of Bad Decisions

Mr. Sulemana Braimah

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has rolled out the process to select the party’s parliamentary candidates for the 2016 elections. The process appears to be going well with new names popping up. But the cocktail of bad decisions that characterised the roll-out of the process for the primaries is worth commenting on.

First is the party’s sharp U-turn on the affirmative action policy on parliamentary seats currently occupied by women. The affirmative action policy, if retained, would have been a very progressive policy for women empowerment and of course, for making a case for women votes in 2016.

Unfortunately, the party cowardly retreated after some few supporters protested against the policy. The policy was good, the reversal was awful. I think the party leadership required some doses of dead goat syndrome injection to boost their immunity for resisting demands by protesters. Better still, they could have fortified themselves with a ‘yentie obiaa’ spirit.

Party spokespersons have explained that the reason for the embarrassing retreat was that the policy was ill-timed. Ok, so the whole National Executive Committee of the NPP met to take the initial decision and throughout the meeting, no member could point out that the timing for such a policy was not good? If anyone raised the timing problem then why was it not considered? So what thinking went into the initial decision? And what was the party afraid of losing if it did not reverse the policy? Well, that was the first stanza in the comedy of bad decisions.

But my biggest problem, however, is with the policy that ought to have been reversed but was not. It is the worst of all the recent decisions by the party. It lacks logic. The explanations given for it makes it even more obnoxious and profoundly revolting. That policy is obviously discriminatory and elitist. I guess you know the policy I am talking about. No?

Paul Afoko, Nat'l Chairman, NPP

I am talking about the imposition of a so-called development fee on aspirants who decide to contest siting Members of Parliament (MPs). What a shambolic policy!!!

In a democratic culture, when a political party seeks to use money as a barrier to what should be an open-to-all, standard, participatory democratic contest, it must be of concern. The imposition of the ‘development fee’ was conceived in elitism and it will give birth to exclusion.

The explanations I have heard for it are at best, laughable. The first time I read about the reasons given for it, I did not believe what I read. But days later, I heard the General Secretary of party, Mr. Kwabena Agyepong, res-state those same unjustifiable explanations for the introduction of the policy.

According to the General Secretary (whom I heard speak on Peace FM), the party’s MPs have been “contributing significantly” to the party’s development, including sometimes buying coffins for the burial of party members who pass away. So, as Mr. Agyepong explained, if someone decides to contest a sitting MP, the person should be prepared to pay something as a contribution to the party’s development.

By the way, I know one former NPP man whose body was a beneficiary of a coffin donated by an MP. The late man’s name was Mr. Kofi Ohiayεya and he lived in a village called Obrεguo Yεya.

Ok, so what if no one decides to contest a sitting MP? It means the party will be fine without the money that would have been raised through the so-called development fee? In reality, therefore, the so-called development fee is imposed, not because the party needs more funding, but as a deterrent to potential aspirants and a punishment for those who actually go on to contest sitting MPs.

I think leaders of the NPP should have just been bold to announce their actual anti-democratic intentions for the policy. They should have simply said, sitting MPs are supposed to go unopposed, Bam. For this policy that is rather a bad one, the party did not find it ill-timed to warrant a reversal. But undoubtedly, it is ill-informed.

My problem with the policy is also informed by my experiences of how ordinary people sacrifice for their parties. Just a few examples will suffice. 

Nana Akufo-Addo, NPP 2016 Presidential Candidate

During my teaching days at Kojo Betiako and my senior high school days at Tepa Senior High School (the only GREAT TESS), I was always extremely amazed at the great sacrifices some famers, teachers, lotto sellers, nurses, petty traders and other people in local communities make, just to keep their parties strong and vibrant in their communities.

In fact, in many communities around the country, the rivalry between supporters of the NPP and the NDC is such that some people are sometimes literary prepared to sacrifice all they have to make their party triumph.

I know NPP and NDC members who have turned their homes into offices of the party they support. I know teachers and farmers who struggled to buy bicycles and turned them into means of transport for party members to carry out party activities. I know young folks who have been beaten and maimed for defending their parties.

Today, if any of those teachers, nurses or petty traders who are NPP members and have served the party for years, want to run for parliament in a constituency with a sitting NPP MP, they must pay an additional GHC20,000 as a so-called party development fee. O Why? Because, in the logic of the NPP, all the sacrifices they have made, including making sure that the sitting MP won the seat in the last election, do not count as significant contribution to the party’s development.

Evidence of one having turned their homes into party offices or using their meagre resources to take care of party expenses, is no contribution. If you are an NPP member and you want to challenge a sitting MP whom you helped to get to parliament, the price is GHC20,000.

Kwabena Agyepong, General Secretary, NPP

Evidence of having suffered heavy beating by thugs while you were defending the NPP, is recognised. But sorry, you still have to pay GHC20,000, if you are dreaming to take over the Chinese Chair occupied by Honourable Sikayεdε in Parliament.

Yes, they know you served as polling station agent during elections. The recognised your efforts in making the pink sheets available for the Supreme Court Pettion after the 2012 election, but sorry, those were not significant contributions to party development. The price remains GHC20,000.

Ok, so if you are and NPP member wanting to contest a sitting NPP MP and you still don’t understand the policy, let me help you. Read the guidelines below carefully, to find your level and determine how much you have to pay.

Note: For one’s contribution to be deemed significant to party development, the following must apply: 

1. The contributor must have succeeded in deceiving or convincing the masses during the 2012 elections, to invest their meagre resources, time and energy in getting him or her elected to Parliament to earn the title, ‘Honourable’, on behalf of the NPP. Simply put, for any contribution to be deemed significant to party development, the contributor must first and foremost be a sitting MP. Are you?

2. After having used the party and the people whose contributions are not significant to party development to get to Parliament, one must have been making monthly contributions to the party from the extremely good remuneration and perks that come with the Honourable position.

3. After using the party and people to get to the Palace of Golden Chinese Chairs, one must have been contributing to support constituency picnics, jamborees, and other events but more importantly including evidence of having bought a coffin for the burial of a local party member.
Well wishes to all.

Author: Suleimana Braimah
Executive Director
Media Foundation for West Africa

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah - Journalism & Politics

Mr. Suleimana Braimah

I am following the ongoing debate on the decision of Kojo Oppong Nkrumah (KON) to run for parliament on the ticket of the NPP. For two reasons, I am not surprised about the debate and issues involved. These are the reasons: 1. The debate is between NPP and NDC folks and that was to be expected. And it would have been the same if he had decided to contest on the ticket of the NDC. 2. The debate doesn't focus on the key issues of whether or not he demonstrated (through his work) potential for competence, integrity and patriotism - which are the three key qualities our country requires of its leaders now.

I wouldn't claim to know KON. I only know him through his work at Joy fm. He interviewed me a number of times and I listened to his programme countless times. That is it. Based on my knowledge of his work as a journalist, I think KON is a determined fellow, full of promise and passion. To have taken over from Komla Dumor as a young broadcaster and manage to keep the audience of the Supper Morning Show was a great achievement and a manifestation of his crave for excellence.

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

To have been, not just a believer in the ideology of the NPP, but a member of that party and still adhere to the requirements of independence, fairness, balance, and objectivity in his journalism career was a mark of commitment to standards and a spirit of 'Ghana first, party later.'

Some have said he needed to be neutral but they provide no evidence to prove he was biased. Some have said he needed to disclose his party affiliation but they fail to provide evidence to show he was partisan. What I will say is he needed to be professional, and I think he was, until I have evidence to the contrary.

Just like Doctors, Teachers, members of CJA, AFAG, etc, journalists have a right to seek political office. What matters is that like everyone else, we all need to be professional, patriotic and committed in whatever we choose to do. Go Kojo Go!!!

Author: Suleimana Braimah,

Executive Director,

Media Foundation for West Africa

UDS To Confer Honorary Doctorate Degree On Former Mozambican President

The University for Development Studies (UDS) will on Saturday April 11, 2015 confer an honorary doctorate degree on the former President of Mozambique and Mo Ibrahim Prize winner Joaquim Alberto Chissano at a special congregation.

This would be preceded by a three-day lecture that began today Thursday April 9, 2015 and expected to climax on Saturday April 11, 2015 with the last of the three part lecture series and conferring of an honorary doctorate degree on Mr. Chissano. 

Mr. Chissano who arrived in Tamale yesterday, jointly addressed a press conference with the Vice Chancellor of UDS Professor Haruna Yakubu, Dr. Abdulai Salifu Baba, Chairman of UDS Council, Dr. A.B.T. Zakaria, UDS Registrar and Deputy Northern Regional Minister Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini.

The ceremony, according to Dr. Salifu, was the third edition of the UDS African Leadership Lecture programme, organised annually to seek the perspectives of former African heads state on governance, leadership and development.

Mr. Chissano would deliver lectures on three different topics. They include (i) The evolution of the strong visionary leadership of the frontline states and its contribution to the liberation struggle in Southern Africa; (ii) Reflection on leadership, good governance and development in Africa; and (iii) leadership and conflict resolution in Africa.

It is the conviction of the UDS that African leaders have the opportunity and the resources to transform the continent by pursuing prudent scientific and development policies as well as nurturing indigenous talents.

The University also holds the view that, African leaders can transform their individual nations and the continent by recognizing and harnessing the contributions of experts and individuals inside and outside their national universities.

Mr. Joaquim Alberto Chissano

It believes that, in Africa’s quest to achieve internal integration and become a key player in global affairs, there is the need for deep reflection on the sort of leaders the continent requires. The continent, it indicates, requires innovative leaders and thinkers who will drive its development and growth.

The African Leadership Lectures is therefore a platform to subject the issues of leadership and development in Africa to the required critical thought. The lectures intends to contribute to a national and transnational discourse on productive leadership culture that will support and enhance African development; facilitate and create an environment for a discourse and action on leadership; create a forum to inspire positive and innovative leadership initiatives as well as stimulate and initiate a platform for an action on constructive leadership in Ghana and Africa.

Since leaving the presidency Mr. Chissano has assumed the role of elder statesman and has campaigned for peace through his work as an envoy and peace negotiator for the United Nations.

On December 4, 2006, the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Mr. Chissano Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Northern Uganda and South Sudan, to resolve the conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

On Mr. Chissano's 68th birthday in 2007, he was awarded the inaugural US$5 million Prize for Achievement in African Leadership by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. He received the inaugural Mo Ibrahim Prize for his achievements in bringing peace, reconciliation, stable democracy and economic progress to his country following the 16-year civil war which lasted until 1992. The Prize also recognised the major contribution he made outside his country’s borders.

According to the award's judges "Mr Chissano's decision not to seek a third presidential term reinforced Mozambique's democratic maturity and demonstrated that institutions and the democratic process were more important than the person".

Prioritize Security, Safety of Customers -Hoteliers Advised

DCOP Ken Yeboah

Owners and managers of the various hotels in Ghana have been austerely advised to prioritize the security and safety of their clients or customers to reduce the frequent occurrences of strange deaths and killings in hotel rooms.

The Northern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Mr. Ken Yeboah who gave the advice at the 8^th Biennial Conference of the Ghana Hotels Association held in Tamale recently, asserted that most of the hotels in Ghana were operating with utmost attention on only the provisions of comfortable beds, conference rooms and delicious meals without any due attempt to ensure the safety and security of their clients.

This he said had led to several killings, attacks, kidnappings and planting of secret cameras and recorders in the hotel rooms to expose private activities and conversations of some influential people in society by criminals and blackmailers.

The 8^th Biennial Conference which was under the theme: “Tourism Development Fund-Opportunities and Challenges” was attended by the various executives of the Ghana Hotels Association across the ten regions of Ghana.

DCOP Ken Yeboah who was delivering a goodwill message received the longest applauds of the day when he systematically pointed out some of the security lapses in the hospitality industry and also prescribed some solutions.

He encouraged the hotel management to be suspicious of every character that entered their facilities and give close and constant monitoring to their movement and activities to avoid any unforeseen circumstances.

Mrs. Ofosu Agyare, Tourism Minister

DCOP Yeboah cited some instances where strange people had walked into hotel receptions and inquired about certain patrons or clients and they had just been allowed or directed straight to clients’ rooms without any attempt by the management to investigate about the person. “On several occasions people walk to hotels and say I am looking for so-so and so person, and all the receptionist or management will do is to direct the person to the room without even inquiring from the customer whether or not he or she is expecting any visitor”.

The Northern Regional Police Commander also raised serious concern about how some hotel management allowed their visitors to lodge in and vacate their hotels without taking their detail information for security purposes.  

He recounted one common phenomenon in Ghana in recent time where some criminals and fraudulent people secure or rent hotels to transact fake businesses or swindle credulous people with millions of cedis and dollars and ran away without any traces or credible information from the hotel management.

Somewhere last month, Ghana recorded another very horrible incident when a pregnant British wife of a pastor was found dead in the bathtub of the couple's hotel after they visited Ghana for a prayer meeting.

Mrs. Charmain Adusah, 41, from South Wales, was said to have been discovered four days after she died, wrapped in a towel and lying face down in a bath by staff at the hotel and as a result, her husband, Eric Isaiah Adusah, an evangelical preacher was arrested by the Ghanaian police on suspicion of murdering Mrs. Adusah.

Mr Adusah is a self-proclaimed prophet and leader of Global Light Revival Ministries Church, based in Tottenham, north London, which also has branches in Edinburgh and Manchester.

GWCL Warns MMDAs in Northern Region to Pay Bills by Close of Work This Week

The Northern Regional Office of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has sent final demand notices to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the region to settle their water bills by the close of this week or risk disconnection  and subsequent prosecution.

According to the Northern Regional Management of the company, the directive by the Ministry of Finance in its guidelines for the preparation of the 2014-2016 budget that all MMDA’s should make sufficient budgetary allocations for the payment of their bills had not been complied with leading to huge debts owed the GWCL.

In a statement issued on Tuesday to the media in Tamale, the Northern Regional Communications Officer of the GWC, Nii-Abbey Nicholas said with the implementation of the High Impact Performance Improvement Programme (HIPIP) by the top management of GWCL, from April 2015 all MMDA’s and domestic customers who owed the company would have to clear their arrears before they can enjoy water supply from the company.

                                        
He said in all, the total amount owed the company in the Tamale Metropolis in particular was over Ghȼ5 million as of the end of March this year.

Nii-Abbey Nicholas

According to him, all those involved in illegal connection of water and meter by-pass to their homes should be ready for prosecution once they are arrested.

Nii-Abbey Nicholas further indicated that in the interim “we are going for our water arrears and bills like a wounded lion” together with the various security services, including the military and the police.

He added that the onus lies on Heads of second-cycle institutions and district chief executives to negotiate payments of their arrears for the period, from last year January to December.

The Regional Communications Officer added that as part of efforts to ensure early and accurate payment of bills, the GWCL would install more domestic and commercial water meters at all those establishments and the MMDA’s later this month.

CONIWAS Shreds 2015 Budget Allocation to WASH Ministries

A study by the World Health Organisation in 2004 showed that USD 1 invested in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services would yield an economic return of between USD 3 and USD 34, depending on the region and choice of technology.

This return of investment in WASH services, the WHO study said, would make investors in stocks and shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange envious.

In spite of this, the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) say, Ghana governments continue to allocate inadequate budget and investment to WASH sector ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to implement their action plans.

This coupled with the untimely release of resources to MDAs under the Ministries of Water Resources, Works and Housing, and Local Government and Rural Development according to CONIWAS, further impacts negatively on the implementation of these action plans.

Benjamin Arthur, National Coordinator of CONIWAS who made these observations in Tamale recently during a media engagement on Ghana’s 2015 budgetary allocation to the WASH sector, passionately appealed to government to allocate more funding to WASH sector agencies and departments to carry out their plans.

CONIWAS Northern Regional Coordinator, Abdul-Karim Ziblim in a welcome statement, said it was very necessary that when a government read its annual budget, citizens and civil society organisations take their time to interrogate the various aspects of it and make recommendations to government with regards to areas of the budget that they think needs review.

CONIWAS Nat'l Coordinator

It was on this basis, he said, CONIWAS decided to organise a media engagement involving journalists and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the WASH sector to interrogate the 2015 budget statement of the government which was read by Finance Minister Mr. Seth Terkper in November last year.

Mr. Ziblim called on the media to endeavour to explain the governance issues in the water sector to citizens to appreciate them better and make informed decisions that would impact on their lives positively.

There was lag in resources according to Mr. Arthur to meet the investment needs of the WASH sector, stressing that that would affect the delivery of WASH services to the population. “The per capita expenditure for WASH sector ministries of GH¢36.94 (MLGRD GH¢10.92 and MWRWH GH¢26.03) is very low as compared to that of Health and Education ministries”, he indicated.

He also observed that, though Ghana had achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target for water, the level of investment in the 2015 budget would not enable the country to deal with inequity in service delivery.

“Ghana is off-track the MDG target for basic sanitation and hygiene services delivery. However, the level of investment in the 2015 budget statement would not provide the needed impetus to ‘leap-frog’ to reach the MDG target of 54% by end of 2015”, he emphasised.

One of the dirtiest slums in Accra

Targets set in the budget statement for WASH sector is normally in the form of projects to be initiated and completed. But such targets, Mr. Arthur said, do not translate into the number and category of people services would reach when completed.

The 2015 budget statement is also silent on proposed review of the National Water Policy. This policy was developed in 2007 and was due for review in 2012. The 2013 budget statement identified it as one of the activities to be implemented in 2013. This was not achieved and was therefore restated in the 2014 budget statement. This among other issues according to CONIWAS ought to be addressed adequately and urgently by government through the two WASH ministries.

Report from service providers –Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and Community Water and Sanitation Agency– indicates that about 37% of the population in both rural and urban Ghana do not have access to sustainable improved water supply services.

However, a multiple indicator cluster survey (MICS) in 2011 also indicated that 80% of the population had access to improved sources of drinking water. The survey also revealed that only 15% of the population had access to improved toilet facilities with 23% defecating in the open.

The MICS survey on MDG 4 and 5 further indicated that 5,100 children under the age of five die every year of diarrhoea-related diseases with about 90% of the death being contributed by poor WASH services.

Going forward, CONIWAS National Coordinator recommended Ghana kept her promises and commitments made at international and national levels which when redeemed would enhance the speedy delivery of potable water supply on sustainable basis to the citizenry.

He also asked government to speed up the implementation of the recommendation of urban water restructuring implementation committee, which among other things recommended for improved governance and efficient management of GWCL under a defined performance agreement at all levels.

Mr. Benjamin Arthur further called on government to make special financial allocation to meet improved water supply conditions to the citizenry as well as enforce all relevant laws governing the protection of raw water resources to ensure that these vital resources were not unduly polluted through human activities.