Effective science communication requires more collaboration between researchers, communications officers and journalists. This was one of the key messages in a 2-day science reporting workshop jointly organised by the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), the United Nations University Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT), Netherlands and the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Accra. The workshop, dubbed “Reach & Turn” aimed to help bridge the gap between science communication and science journalism. Science Communication The first day of the workshop emphasised the need to communicate research findings not only to scientists but also to policy makers and the general public in a clear, compelling, non-technical and inclusive language. It encouraged researchers to consider policy makers and the general public as part of the target audience for their research activities and put research findings in formats that are easily accessible to these audience. The participants were urged to try and use different communication products such as policy briefs, factsheets, blogs and channels like social media platforms to communicate key research findings to non-experts. To facilitate the communication efforts, Dr. Elias T. Ayuk, Director of UNU-INRA, in his welcome address, admonished researchers not to make communication an afterthought of research projects. He said “involving communication officers at the inception of research projects is very important as this will give them the opportunity to understand projects better and work with researchers to share information on the project throughout the research cycle”. Presentations at the workshop highlighted how best to write, pitch and present research information to non-scientists. Science Journalism The discussions on the second day of the workshop focused on how communication officers and journalists can take advantage of the new media landscape to widely disseminate research findings to the benefit of the general public. The participants discussed the importance of citizen journalism, which has to do with reporting of issues or news events by members of the public using various media platforms. The workshop laid emphasis on how this concept of citizen journalism can be used especially by researchers to share information on research activities with journalists and the general public. The participants also discussed the principles of advocacy, with focus on environmental advocacy, where they identified the need to have media campaigns on environmental issues on continuous basis till there is a change in public attitudes. For the participants, it was a great experience and the knowledge gained will impact positively on their work. “Now, I will start thinking about how to clearly communicate my research findings in simple terms to the benefit of the general public and I hope to share this experience with my colleagues at work, remarked Dr. Timothy Khan Aikins, a researcher from the University for Development Studies, Ghana and a participant.The two-day workshop brought together 50 participants comprising researchers, communication officers and journalists from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda and Togo. The aim of bringing these categories of participants together was to give them the opportunity to work with each other and to see science communication and science journalism from each other’s perspective.
About UNU-INRA UNU-INRA’s mandate is to contribute to the sustainable management of Africa’s natural resources through research, capacity development, policy advice and dissemination. The Institute is one of the 14 Research and Training Centres / Programmes (RTC/Ps) that constitute the United Nations University’s (UNU) worldwide network. UNU-INRA operates out of its main office at the University of Ghana campus, and also carries out some of its major activities through operating units (OUs) in five other African countries, namely Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Namibia, Senegal, and Zambia. Each of these OUs focuses on specific areas of natural resources management.
The nominee appointed by President Akufo-Addo as Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) for the Brim South Municipality, Kofi Amponsah has been confirmed by the Assembly Members.
Thirty-seven (37) out of the thirty-eight (38) Assembly Members voted YES to confirm the nominee. The remaining one abstained from voting.
Mr Amponsah, who looked very happy after his confirmation, thanked the assembly members for the confidence reposed in him.
In his speech, he pledged to work to ensure that the municipality gets its fair share of the national cake.
He assured of an open, transparent and accountable leadership which according to him are the necessary ingredients that would ensure the effective and efficient utilization of the resources of the municipality for optimum benefit of the people.
He further urged parents to take advantage of the NPP’s flagship education programme, the Free Senior High School by enrolling their wards at the basic level so they can benefit from the policy when they complete Junior High School.
The ceremony which took place at Akyem Swredru was graced by the regional minister, Eric Kwakye Daffour.
Chaos and violence erupted at Makola Number 2 Market Friday morning during a ceremony by the Ga Traditional Council as part of rites preceding the ban on noise making towards the Homowo Festival.
The Traditional Council some few weeks ago, announced that this year’s ban on drumming and noise making will commence from Monday 8 May to Thursday 8 June, ahead of the annual Homowo festival.
As part of activities preceding the ban, some traditional leaders led by the Gbese Mante Nii Ayibonte I, performed rites around the Makola Number 2 Market but the ceremony was marred by violence, our reporter Nhyiraba Kwabena Asirifi reported.
Narrating the incident to Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm, he said, guns and tear gas were fired.
According to him, the chaos have extended to Mantse Agbonaa around the James Town.
He indicated that the violence started because a faction were in disagreement with Nii Ayibonte performing the rites.
According to them, he swore to abdicate his throne in 2016 should the NDC lose but has failed to so.
Homowo is a festival celebrated by the Ga people. The festival starts in the month of May with the planting of crops before the rainy season starts.
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Thursday, May 4, 2017, arrived in Ouagadougou, the capital of the Republic of Burkina Faso, to begin his 2-day tour of that country, with his agenda being “to develop the initiatives that will bring prosperity to our people.”
At a State Dinner held in his honour, and in responding to the remarks made by His Excellency Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, President of the Republic of Burkina Faso, President Akufo-Addo indicated that the most important of these initiatives “are the regional projects in the area of infrastructure, and especially transportation.”
According to President Akufo-Addo, “it would be, for me, perhaps, the highlight of my presidency if, indeed, I was able, together with you (President Kaboré), to launch the beginning of the Accra-Ouagadougou railway project.”
His commitment to this project, he told the Burkinabe leader, is evidenced by the fact that “right at the beginning of my government, I decided to establish a special Ministry for Railways Development in Ghana. In fact, the Minister himself is here to give testimony to the seriousness with which we look at this project.
“I would be very disappointed if the two sides are unable to find a solution to how we can get the Accra-Ouagadougou railway going”.
By the same measure, President Akufo-Addo stated that “the concern we have in Ghana, that you know about, is about the control of the water resources of our two countries”, adding that these “are matters that we are going to be able to address.”
The President was referring to the yearly opening of the Bagre Dam spillway, which causes flooding in the 3 Northern Regions of Ghana, resulting in the destruction of lives, farmlands, livestock, and property.
It is for this reason that the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Hon. Kofi Adda, MP; the Minister for Works and Housing, Hon. Atta Akyea, MP, and the Minister for Agriculture, Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, accompanied President Akufo-Addo on his visit to Burkina Faso to find lasting solutions, with their Burkinabe counterparts, to this phenomenon, by channeling the water spilled from the dam into productive ventures for the mutual benefit of the two countries.
Africa must stand together
President Akufo-Addo noted that the new crop of African leaders have come into office at a critical time in the lives of the African peoples, where old alliances are having to be reshaped, and, therefore, implying that Africa has to look for new sources and new areas of committing the development of the continent.
“The most important thing is to recognize the need for us to stand on our own two feet and resolve African problems with African resources and African personnel. We cannot and will not accept that other people can come and develop the continent of Africa for us. It will not happen, and the sooner all of us work together and recognize the necessity of collaborating on a platform that will lead to the prosperity of our peoples, the better,” he added.
Touching on the fight against terrorism, President Akufo-Addo assured President Kaboré that “in Nana Akufo-Addo and in his government, the people of Burkina Faso have a strong and steadfast friend.”
He expressed the appreciation of the peoples of West Africa for “the sacrifices the Burkinabe people, who are in the frontline of the fight against terrorism, are making to guarantee the peace and security not just of their own country, but the region as a whole.”
To this end, he reiterated Ghana’s commitment to “standing beside you in that fight and want you to know that whatever, within our modest means, we can do to promote the success of that struggle, you can count on us.”
With relations between the peoples of Ghana and Burkina Faso dating back to several centuries, President Akufo-Addo stressed that “even though there has been a change in direction and leadership in Ghana, our fundamental commitment to a close and sustaining relationship with the people of the Republic of Burkina Faso remains unchanged. Ghana continues to be by your side and continues to seek a relationship of intimacy and friendship.”
The Minister of Information, Hon. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid today, led a government delegation comprising officials of the Information Ministry including all his Deputies and the Chief Director of the Ministry to embark on a historic working visit to the Network Broadcasting Group. The Network Broadcasting Group which is made up of Radio Gold, Montie fm, TV Gold and a host of other media outlets, is said to be very critical and somewhat "antagonistic" to the government because of its strong association with the opposition NDC.
But the Information Minister explains that the Akufo-Addo government is committed to working with every media house in the country regardless of their political affiliation. He said, for instance, that, the followers or listeners of media houses that are perceived to be anti-government, are also Ghanaians, who have equal right to access government information, just like any other Ghanaian taxpayer. The Hon. Minister therefore assured the managers of the Network Broadcasting Group that government doors are opened to them and that, they should feel to contact any government Ministry or Agency for information that they need.
He was however quick to admonish them against twisting facts and putting mischievous slants on such information for the purpose of making the government unpopular. He thus, charged them to stick to the ethics of the journalism profession which is underpinned on balanced and truthful reportage. On his part, the acting CEO of the Network Broadcasting Group, Mr. B.B Menson, who spoke on behalf of his outfit, commended the Minister for this novelty and promised to cooperate with the government in areas of cooperation whilst playing their watchdog role as appropriately as possible for love of country.
Credit: Radio Gold
Energy Minister, Hon. Boakye Agyarko, with two of his deputies, Deputy Energy Minister in charge of Petroleum, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, and Joseph Cudjoe, Deputy Energy Minister in charge of Finance and Infrastructure, and other technocrats, represented Ghana at this year’s Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston Texas, United States.
The event is the largest event in the world for industry players in the oil and gas industry.
It was held from May 1-May 4, 2017 and was attended by stakeholders from over 100 countries.
The team from Ghana led by the Minister engaged industry players in the oil and gas sector.
He also met with major oil companies operating in Ghana currently, as well as new entrants to attract investment into Ghana’s petroleum sector.
The Ghana police service has today [Friday], inaugurated about one hundred and thirty one (131) police personnel into the United Nations Peace Keeping Training.
The 131 police personnel of which 20 are females are the 3rd batch Formed Police Unit (FPU) for pre-deployment.
Speaking at the occasion, the Director General of Technical Operations COP Rose Bio-Atinga, who spoke on behalf of the IGP, acknowledged the US government for it continuous commitment and support since 1960 in maintaining peace and security is some part of the globe.
She added that, the vision of the Ghana police service is to be a world class police service capable of delivering plan democratic, protective and peaceful service up to standard of intentional best practices.
The Deputy Minister of Interior Hon Henry Quartey who also spoke on behalf of the Interior Minister also said, government is committed to enhancing the police service with more equipment and logistics to help maintain law and order in the country.
The eight (80 weeks training programme was wholly delivered by facilitators from International Peacekeeping Operations Support of the USA government through its Department of States.
By: Vivian Arthur
The acting National President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Ms Phillippa Larsen has said 90 percent of validation exercise for teachers has been completed.
According to her, 117,232 documents were received with 63,614 successfully validated, with 41,550 already paid their salaries.
She made these known when she addressed the fifth quadrennial delegates’ conference of the North and Central Tongu branches of GNAT at Mafi Adidome in the Volta Region last Wednesday.
The validation exercise she explained was still going.
Ms Larsen also stated that the government had paid the custodian of the tier-two pension scheme for teachers from September 2016 to January 2017, adding that the government still had arrears of 80 months, spanning January 2010 to August 2016, to be paid to the scheme.
According to her, the outstanding amount was in Temporary Pension Fund Account (TPFA) at the Bank of Ghana, adding that GNAT officials would soon go round the country to register members onto the scheme.
The Deputy Minister of Transport and Member of Parliament (MP) for Tema East, Titus Glover has lambasted former president John Dramani Mahama for saying that he was honest to Ghanaians about the state of Ghana’s economy in the run-up to the 2016 elections.
The former president who was sharing some of the things that led to his loss in the 2016 elections at the World Economic Forum in Durban, South Africa on Thursday said, the promises by Nana Akufo-Addo swayed votes in his favour resulting in the loss of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
But speaking to Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm, Titus Glover stated that, the former president is now waking up from the slumber of his humiliating defeat.
The legacy of former president Mahama was a broken economy, corruption and high tariffs which led to the collapse of business, he added.
He said, the tax regime under Mahama suffocated businesses and did not make them grow.
Concerns raised by the business community he lamented fell on deaf ears under former president Mahama.
He further slammed the former president over his comment and made reference to the issuance of dud cheques by his [Mahama’s] brother, Ibrahim Mahama to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) adding, it was all part of the looting brigade under Mahama.
He dismissed claims that Nana Addo promised ‘Heaven’ to sway votes in his favour.
Nana Addo made realistic promises and we are delivering on them, the legislator to Kwame Tutu.
He said, ‘’we needed a courageous man to manage this country and Ghanaians found that in Nana Akufo-Addo.''
The legislator asked Mr. Mahama to come back home and make that comment so he will be replied accordingly.
The tax cut, the fight against galamsey are some of the successes chalked under the current administration.
He also accused Ibrahim Mahama of engaging in galamsey.
‘’If you are not careful, in the next five years, it will be difficult for us to have good drinking water. His [Mahama’s] brother is engaging in galamsey and destroying our water bodies. The Brim River has been destroyed, Ankobra is also gone, Tano has also been destroyed and for how long will this continue? You need an able, strong, very intelligent, and capable president like His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo to change this country…Mr. Mahama should come back home and make that statement so we can reply him accordingly.’’
A Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Koku Anyidoho says he is ‘’getting increasingly convinced that President Nana Akufo-Addo and his Vice are too sure what they are about.’’
The outspoken politician said in an interview with Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm that, the two are overwhelmed by the enormity of the job.
‘’They still think it’s about empty promises. They’ve not been able to fulfill their 2016 campaign promises yet, they are adding on to it.’’
He was reacting to President Nana Akufo-Addo’s assurance given to Ghanaians living abroad that he will ensure the full implementation of the Representation of the People’s Amendment Law (ROPAL) to give them the opportunity to exercise their franchise in local elections.
While interacting with the Ghanaian community in Lome, Togo as part of his two-day working visit to that country, President Akufo-Addo said: “But, as you know, the arrangements for elections are in the hands of the Electoral Commission (EC); they do not lie in the hands of the government.”
He added, the EC was the only independent body that had the constitutional mandate to manage elections.
But commenting on the comments made by the president, Koku Anyidoho questioned why he [Nana Addo] raised the issue when he knew it was not within his ambit to do so.
Koku Anyidoho noted, President Nana Addo is not on top of the game and gets carried away by crowd wherever he visits.
‘’I am honestly getting worried for this country. Politics aside, everything aside; I am convinced that the president is not really on top of the game and so he gets carried away by the crowd and continue to add on to his failed promises.’’
Koku Anyidoho questioned why Nana Addo will assure Ghanaians abroad of enforcing ROPAL despite the attack staged on the Electoral Commissioner and making unfounded allegation that the voters’ register was bloated.
‘’The president is obviously confused. We have a confused president and a more confused vice president.’’
He added, a few months ago, you made claims that the register was bloated but you have suddenly made a U-turn assuring Ghanaians abroad that you will allow them vote. What changed?
Koku Anyidoho opined that, the NPP are bound to lose the 2020 elections and because of that, they have decided to implement ROPAL.
He charged the president to come back home and pay salaries and stop going round making empty promises.