Seth J. Bokpe's Ghana Newsreel

Ghana is courting the international scientific community to have Africa’s first-ever Pan African synchrotron light source research facility on the continent. The facility allows detailed studies of objects ranging in size from human cells, through viruses down to atoms, with a precision that is not possible by other means. The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, made a case for Ghana when he opened a five-day joint Africa Light Source and Pan African Conference on Crystallography in Accra, where scientists from across the world are meeting to deliberate on the future establishment of a Pan African synchrotron light source research facility in Africa. The conference, which is on the theme: “Crystallography: a tool for sustainable development in Africa, attracted 300 participants from Ghana and other countries, including South Africa, the United States of America and Australia. Delivering a speech on behalf o...

The Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) has disbursed about GH¢20.4 million to 16,637 students in the country's tertiary institutions for the 2018/2019 academic year. The beneficiaries include 1,500 fresh applicants whose applications have been validated by the fund. The loans, which represent disbursement for last year, are meant to defray personal expenses, including fees, the cost of boarding, lodging, books and equipment and for other purposes that may be necessary for borrowers’ courses of study. According to the SLTF, it received an average of 15,000 new borrowers in the 2014/2015, 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 academic years.   The Head of Communications at the SLTF, Mr George Laing, told the Daily Graphic that the only applicants yet to receive their money were those in 49 institutions which were yet to present their lists of registered students to the fund. He explained that the institutions were mostly small private institutions, adding: “This means student...

The payment of low wages to employees in the informal sector in Accra and other parts of the country is making it difficult for them to lead decent lives . The low wages make it difficult for that category of workers to live on their wages beyond two weeks. Even some public sector workers find themselves in a similar circumstance. Wages in the informal sector in the capital vary from as low as GH¢150 to about GH¢450 a month, according to Daily Graphic checks. Kitchen assistants at chop bars, shop attendants, private car drivers, house helps, seamstresses, hairdressers, watchmen, food vendors and traders are stretched to the limit, yet they earn incomes below the minimum wage, which is currently pegged at GH¢9.68. The minimum wage was increased to GH¢9.68 in July in 2017 and further increased on July 26, 2018 to GH¢10.65. The new wage, which represents a 10 per cent upward review, will take effect from January 1, 2019. Ministry reacts When con...

          Their names evoke laughter, and for many conservative Ghanaians, such names are better mentioned in the bedroom or in whispers. So Members of Parliament (MPs) were beside themselves with laughter when the MP for Abirem, Mr John Frimpong Osei, mentioned three villages in his constituencies that needed electricity during question time with the Energy Minister. Mr Osei sought to find out when those villages and many others in his constituency would join the national grid. His enquiries went this way. “Mr Speaker, I rise to ask the Energy Minister whether the Ministry has plans to provide electricity for the following communities in the Abirem Constituency, which are difficult to connect to the national grid. Kyiri Ahantan, Twe nyui su, Etwe nim Nyansa, Koti Ye Aboa, Hyoa Ye Mmobo… Kasabrofo, Asarekrom, Alhajikrom and Yaw Broni.” The road leading...

A 21-year old senior high school science(SHS) graduate who has gained admission to the University of Ghana Medical School is struggling to pay his fees. Mr Joseph Doe Kumedzro, a product of the Keta Senior High School who completed SHS in 2016, and scored 7A1s in the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE), said his mother, a petty trader who sold fruits to take care of his education from the basic to the SHS level, could no longer help him further his education. Joseph who had A1 in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Elective Mathematics, Integrated Science, Core Mathematics, Social Studies and B3 in English, said he taught at a remedial school to save money to buy his admission form. In 2016, he initially applied for admission to the Medical School at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) but was offered Biochemistry. Fee paying Luck smiled at him and he was admitted to study Bachelor of Dental Surgery at the University of Gh...

A night market has sprung up on a section of the Graphic Road where some traders, including pregnant women and nursing mothers, have taken to sleeping on the streets of Accra  in order to sell their wares before daybreak. Some of the traders doing brisk business on the Graphic Road in the early hours of Saturday also ‘Early birds’ operating around 2 a.m. at the entrance of the Graphic Press House.      The traders, some of whom are fishmongers, come from coastal communities outside Accra, including Senya Bereku, Winneba, Biriwa, Mankessim, Takoradi as well as parts of the Eastern Region, including Nsawam and Suhum, begin to line up under the traffic light leading to Kantamanto as well as the entrances to the Graphic Press House from 10 p.m. Numbering more than 200, the traders sell wares such as fish, second-hand clothes, electronic gadgets, fruits and vegetables. Some of them are accompanied by children, some a...

Life without toilets... By Seth J. Bokpe There's no place like home. And there's no toilet like your own. ---Taylor York (American Musician & Songwriter) It is 10.15 a.m., tiny chains of smokes rise into the sky as residents of a developing community squat inside a bushy space close to a market to do what most would only do while hiding –– go to the toilet. One after another, they arrive with newspapers, toilet rolls,  and water bottles in hand. Some try to hide, but others are not bothered about being in the open to release their ‘unwanted goods’. Minutes later, they left just as they came, only without their toiletries—just empty hands and empty bottles. But they left behind stench and excreta of all colours. This is Ashaiman Lebanon, a sprawling community of hundreds of uncompleted buildings in the Ashaiman Municipality in the Greater Accra Region. No toilet  Inside the Ashaiman Township itself, toilet is a luxury in many homes. Mr Patrick Dewu, a pe...

Rev. Prof. Emeritus John S. Pobee giving a lecture at a ceremony in Accra. Picture: BENEDICT OBUOBI The government has been advised to get to work to realise the aspirations of Ghanaians who are full of expectation. Instead of harping on its Danquah-Busia heritage, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) must work hard and leave a lasting legacy just as J.B Danquah had done. The advice from Rev. Prof. Emeritus John S. Pobee, an Anglican Theologian, also included the need for politicians from all sides of the political divide to continue to work in the collective interest of the nation and its citizens. He said there were politicians who used the Danquah-Busia name but could not point to things that the duo, particularly Dr Danquah had done to champion the cause of the country. The former Executive Director o...

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr John-Peter Amewu, has asked the Geological Survey Authority (GSA) to conduct site or foundation investigations and issue certified reports before major construction works are undertaken. “You should expand and maintain a modern National Seismic Network (NSN) to monitor earthquakes, tsunamis and mine blasts that have the potential to impact negatively on lives and property,” he said. The NSN is a permanent digital network of modern seismological and geophysical sensors that serve as a multipurpose scientific facility for monitoring, researching, and education. Mr Amewu made the call when he visited the GSA and the Forestry Commission as part of a familiarisation tour of institutions under his ministry. The minister said the action was necessary because of the increase in infrastructural development which required site investigations and seismic monitoring. “Your role in site investigations and finding dam axis will be needed when ...

At least 18 Ghanaians living in South Africa have been rescued from xenophobic attacks and relocated, the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria has said. A source at the commission told the Daily Graphic that it had to relocate the affected people as the attacks on foreigners, especially Africans, spiked up. The source said the Ghana High Commission was in touch with the Ghanaian community and had provided hotlines to assist those who had become victims of a march against immigrants that had turned violent. South African media report that at least 148 people have been arrested in connection with the latest attacks that have sent many foreigners fleeing their homes or losing their businesses. Masked attackers The organiser of the Ghanaian community in Pretoria, Mr Kofi Asare Agyei, confirmed to the Daily Graphic that the Ghana High Commission had, indeed, given out a hotline but stated that the leadership of the association tended to receive more calls for help than...