Young Peoples and Human Rights Ghana

From William N-lanjerborr Jalulah, Bolgatanga THE UPPER East Regional Director of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), Mr. Peter Hastings Mensah has called on media practitioners to provide effective tool for the unrestricted exercise of freedom of speech to aid the growth of Ghana's democracy. Addressing journalists in Bolgatanga on Tuesday to launch this year's Constitution Week celebration, the regional Director observed that though the right freedom is provided in Article 21 (1)(a) of the 1992 Constitution, the media is charged with the responsibility to hold the government responsible and accountable to the people of Ghana. Mr. Mensah commended the media for promoting, sustaining and enhancing democracy in Ghana, especially in the 4th Republic, and other key principles of democracy, as enshrined in the Constitution, thereby making the Constitution functional. He said Ghana's ability to organize five successful elections with peaceful outcomes had won her...

Smuggler, Forger, Writer, Spy Anas Aremeyaw Anas is a Ghanaian investigative journalist with many disguises—from addict to imam—and one overriding mission: to force Ghana’s government to act against the lawbreakers he exposes. By NICHOLAS SCHMIDLE IMAGE CREDIT: STEPHEN VOSS THE ACCRA PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL occupies a sprawling block in the heart of Ghana’s capital. Walls the color of aged parchment rim the compound, with coils of concertina wire balanced on top, making the hospital within appear more labor camp than home for the sick. Anas Aremeyaw Anas spent seven months last year casing it, posing first as a taxi driver and then as a baker. On the morning of November 20, 2009, Anas adopted yet another disguise, matting his hair into dreadlocks and pulling on a black button-up top. Three of his shirt buttons, along with his watch, contained hidden cameras. Escorted by a friend pretending to be his uncle, Anas shuffled through the black metal entrance gate and, feigning madness, into the...

The General Manufacturing and Steel workers union has welcomed the temporal closure of the Western Steel company at Tema. Employment Minister E.T. Mensah authorized the closure of the company following agitations by the Ghana Federation of Labour. The Federation called for the closure of the company after series of explosions left several workers injured and one person dead. The company has one month to put in place some safety measures before re-opening. Caleb Nartey General Secretary of the General Manufacturing and Metal workers union told Joy News the decision taken by the Ministry is what they have been waiting for so that the company will have enough time to put in place the safety measures needed. His regrets however were that the workers have not been paid for the month of April. The company’s Director of Public Affairs Nana Tamakloe also told Joy News arrangements have begun to compensate those injured by the explosions. She said the minister has also given recommendations whi...

Posted on   May 4, 2011 Flashback: Pupils queuing for food THE DEPUTY National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), Francis Gyarko has revealed that affluent schools on the programme will be taken off to make way for deprived public basic schools across the country. The move is under a retargeting plan meant to re-design the second phase of the programme. Mr. Gyarko disclosed this at a workshop organized in Ho by the organization to sensitize the media on GSFP activities, accept feedback and sort out inputs to be considered in the second phase design. He noted that the removal of the affluent schools from the programme is not politically motivated but to ratify an anomaly that defeats its original intention. "The basic concept of the programme is to provide children in deprived public primary schools and kindergartens with one hot nutritious meal prepared from locally grown foodstuffs on every school going day," he explained. He theref...

Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, General Overseer of the Christian Action Faith Chapel, made a shocking revelation yesterday when he alleged that Simone Gbagbo, wife of the former President of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, was raped by some soldiers in front of her husband before their arrest. Archbishop Duncan-Williams claimed that former President Gbagbo and his family were staunch Christian who had been his long time friends and that he used to visit and pray with them in Ivory Coast when Gbagbo was President. He indicated that because of his relationship with the Gbagbo family, he was privy to certain vital information from the Gbagbo camp during the post-election conflict in that country. He alleged that he was informed by a reliable source in Ivory Coast that before Gbagbo was arrested and handed over to Alassane Quattara at the Gulf Hotel in Abidjan, his wife Simone was raped by some military men in front of Mr. Gbagbo. Archbishop Duncan-Williams, who is also the Chairman of ...

The former first lady Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings has made a rallying call to delegates who will vote at the July 8 Congress of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to reject any attempt by elements within the party to bribe them. “A true blooded NDC leadership does not buy support, No! We don’t buy support. A true blooded NDC leadership does not buy votes. We don’t buy votes we work towards the votes. Indeed we do not buy delegates. This tendency is destroying the spirit and tenets of the NDC and it is a shame,” Mrs Rawlings said to the teeming supporters who thronged the Accra International Conference Centre to witness the launch of her bid to contest the NDC's flagbearership race on Wednesday. She said “there is now a politics of threats. A politics of fear, a politics of financial influence being imposed on our party… Let us work to remove the politics of vindictiveness, let us work to remove the politics of arrogance that is being introduced into our party and restore hope...

New Analysis of HIV Proposals from Global Fund Rounds 8, 9 and 10 Shows Progress, Reveals Gaps Despite significant improvements, representation of key populations on Country Coordinating Mechanisms and in grant proposals remains unacceptably low (May 3, 2011) – A new analysis of all HIV proposals from Rounds 8, 9 and 10 of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) shows improvements in funding trends for men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender people and sex workers, three populations severely impacted by the HIV epidemic worldwide. However, the analysis reveals that despite clear gains, these key populations remain gravely underrepresented on the GFATM’s Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCMs) and in GFATM grant proposals. The report was released in advance of the upcoming GFATM Partnership Forum Meeting, the Twenty-Third GFATM Board Meeting in mid-May, and the unveiling of the GFATM’s new five-year strategy later this year. The GFATM analysis involved review...