PRISONERS CRY OUT: Bring Your Campaigns To Us Too

Inmates of the Navrongo Prison in the Upper East Region, have called on politicians to visit and educate them on their manifestos to enable them to make informed electoral choices.

The inmates made the call when the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) visited them to educate them on political tolerance, the rights of a voter, electoral offences and the steps of voting.

Mr. Ganvu Paul Kwame, the Municipal Director of the Kassena-Nankana Municipal, said the programme was part of the Commission’s efforts to ensure all-inclusiveness in the political process.

Mr. Joseph Kwaku- Yeboah, the Deputy Regional Director of the NCCE for Upper East, told the inmates that as Ghanaians they were major stakeholders in the election process, hence the need to participate fully in the upcoming general elections.

He said voting was very essential since it enabled the electorate to hold politicians accountable and to also participate in the decision-making process of the country.

Mr. Joseph Yeboah urged all the inmates and the electorate to uphold the culture of political tolerance during the forthcoming general elections to ensure peace.

He called on the electorate to abide by all the electoral rules and also to vote correctly to minimize the incidence of rejected or spoilt ballots.

The inmates were educated on the steps of voting and the dos and don’ts of elections.

The Deputy Director, who also educated the inmates on the rights of the Ghanaian voter, said every citizen of Ghana of eighteen years of age or above and of sound mind had the right to vote and was entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections.

“I urge you all to vote with conscience and resist the temptation of accepting money and gifts from politicians”, he said.

The programme was funded by the European Union.

Editorial

GUNS AND GUNS

Last Sunday’s incident at the residence of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo –Addo, popularly known as Nima Flagstaff House must be a source of great worry for all who treasure peace.

The trouble is that guns were allegedly fired on both sides of the absolutely needless confrontation between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

We cannot understand why the NDC supporters had to pass in front of Nana Akufo- Addo’s house by all means and why some occupants of Nana Akufo- Addo’s residence took offence at the presence of their opponents.

This situation could have degenerated into a bloodbath.

In our view the security services need to act professionally to avoid a repeat of this very shameful incident.

They need to establish the origins of the guns used in the confrontation and to deal drastically with any offending party or parties.

We cannot allow NPP and NDC supporters to set our country ablaze.

FEMALE MINISTERS PERFORMING BETTER – Mahama

President John Mahama with Naana Opoku Agyemang

President John Mahama has called on Ghanaians to vote more women into parliament in the 2016 general elections.

According to Mahama, this will enable him to appoint more women as Ministers in his second term.

The President has rated higher the performance of his female appointees (Ministers) stating they have even outperformed their male counterparts. He argues women are kind, loving; caring and so when given positions they are able to deliver.

“If you look at my government, I appointed a lot of women into positions (ministers). These women perform their duties and responsibilities as diligently as their male counterparts. Most times they perform better than even the men,” the National Democratic Congress flagbearer said.

Addressing a mammoth rally at Nsawam Adoagyiri on his tour of the Eastern region, Mr. Mahama revealed the constitutional provision that says majority of ministers must come from parliament has been a challenge to getting more women into ministerial positions
“One of the reasons why I find it difficult to appoint more female ministers is because there are no many of them in parliament. The constitution says majority of ministers must come from parliament. 51% of your ministers must come from parliament. So if you go to a parliament of 275 members and only 20 are women, then it is difficult to make more women ministers.”

The President therefore charged residents of Nsawam Adoagyiri to vote for the National Democratic Congress Parliamentary candidate in the constituency, Benedicta Asante.
“So vote more women into parliament for them to also get influential positions to help in the development of the nation. You are fortunate the NDC candidate here is Benedicta Asante.”

Gender activists have been advocating for a quota from political parties to ensure more women go to parliament by fielding them in their strongholds. However, that is yet to materialize. The number of women in Ghana’s parliament remains insignificant.
President Mahama is on a 5-day tour of the Eastern region.

Death sentence should be maintained – Kofi Bentil

By Marian Ansah

Policy Think Tank, IMANI Ghana says it is opposed to calls for the death penalty to be abolished.

Even though Ghana has not recorded any incidence of execution by death penalty since 1993, the number of death sentences has increased from nine in 2014 to 18 in 2015.

As of December 31 last year, there were 137 people, including three women, on the death row in Ghana, seven of whom are foreign nationals.

Amnesty International, Ghana has described the situation as worrying and has called on the state to take appropriate steps to expunge the death sentence through a referendum.

But speaking at a debate organised by the Ghana Growth and Development Platform (GGDP) with support from Citi FM on the election of MMDCEs and the abolition of the death penalty, the Vice President of IMANI Ghana, Kofi Bentil, said it will be a wrong move for government to abolish the death penalty.

“As a principle we [IMANI Ghana] do not think that abolishing the death penalty is a good thing.”

Mr. Bentil believes “not every member of the society deserves to be around.”

“When they have crossed a certain line and they cannot be of use to the society but are likely to constitute a terrible blight on society then under the principle of the social contract and in the interest of everybody else it may be better for us to take them out of society.”

He also emphasized the need for society to draw the lines between what constitutes a crime that requires a death penalty sentence.

GIVE US FREE MENTAL HEALTHCARE

Alex Segbefia, Ghana's Minister of Health

By Samuel Akapule

Basic Needs, a Non-Governmental Organization, has called on Government to review the free medical treatment policy by including free mental health care services.

Mr Benard Azure, the Project Officer of Basic Needs Ghana, made the call during this year’s Mental Health Day celebration held in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

Mr Azure said the inclusion of mental health care into the National Health Insurance

Scheme would help to address the challenges of mental health and called on the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to consider the proposal in reviewing the amended National Health Insurance bill.

He said one of the major challenges confronting mental health was the ability of the client to purchase medicines coupled with irregular supply of medicines.

The Project Officer said the lack of specialists and middle level professionals, under-funding of the sector by government, were also major concerns and appealed to all stakeholders particularly families and communities to contribute their quota towards providing better health care for mental health patients.

Mr Philip Aboagye, a Psychiatric Nurse at the Ghana Health Service, said persons

confronted with mental health problems could regain their health if given proper care.

As part of the event, Basic Needs with funding from the Department for International

Development (UKaid), a United Kingdom based charity organization in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service provided free medical treatment to about two hundred mental health patients drawn from some selected districts in the Region.

The event which was on the theme: “Dignity in Mental Health: Psychological Mental Health First Aid for All”, attracted stakeholders including civil society organizations, seamstresses and beauticians, traditional and religious leaders and the media was preceded by route match throughout the Bolgatanga Municipality.

The Mental Health Day was set aside by the World Health Organization to create awareness of psychosocial disorders and to promote mental health across the world.

GNA

GHANA HAS ONLY 15 NEUROSURGEONS

Alex Segbefia, Ghana's Minister of Health

By D.I. Laary/Pomeyie Caroline

Ghana has only 15 neurosurgeons catering for over 25 million Ghanaians, Dr Kafui Tamakloe, a Neurosurgeon at Cocoa Clinic, Accra has said.

Speaking at a health talk organised by the Editors Forum Ghana (EFG) to commemorate their 10th anniversary in Accra on Wednesday, Dr Tamekloe said the few neurosurgical institutions in the country were also poorly equipped to provide the needed health services being demanded.

He said it was important for Ghanaians to adopt good posture, dieting and exercise to prevent spinal problems.

“More than 80 percent of health problems treated in the neurosurgical units are spine cases or the degenerative disc disease. Wear and tear of the spine affects the discs, bones, joints and ligaments of the spine.

“The surgery to treat the spine problem is extremely expensive although it does not reverse the damages that have been done so the public must be aware of the preventive measures and follow them.” he explained.

Dr Tamakloe said the degenerative condition of the spine is slow growing, accumulates over time, and activity dependent however it is not age specific so a young person can suffer the condition whereas an older person would not.

“Lack of vitamins in the body; wrong posture in sitting, walking, standing and lying down; and the body mechanism can cause spinal problems.

He said: “the wearing of high heels makes a woman look good however women must be aware of its implications as it alters the spines natural alignment”

Dr Tamakloe addressing the issue of the inadequate number of health practitioners particularly neurosurgeons said after medical school it takes five extra years to study neurosurgery in Ghana and seven in the United States and this could be a reason why there are very few studying neurosurgery.

“Considering the difficulty in studying neurosurgery, the duration of studies, and cost of becoming a neurosurgeon, a lot of work needs to be done to motivate the youth to study neurosurgery.”

Ms Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, the EFG Chairperson said the problem of inadequate doctors to offer health services is a national problem.

“Spinal problems are increasing in the country, and the fact that there are only 15 neurosurgeons in the country is alarming. The general public must be made aware of the situation.”

She called on the authorities involved to work towards creating massive awareness and making the health profession attractive to the youth.

Ms Yeboah-Afari acknowledged the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Accra Brewery, the Skuup, and the EFG members for their support.

GNA

Editorial

AN IMPORTANT TASK

 The disclosure that Ghana has only 15 neurosurgeons to cater for a population of 25 million people must be exceedingly worrying.

Why has this situation persisted and why haven’t the health authorities taken appropriate steps to deal with this clearly unwholesome situation?

The Insight urges Ghanaian health authorities to take immediate and appropriate steps to increase the number of neurosurgeons in the country.

In the short term, it may be prudent to ask Cuba or some friendly countries for immediate assistance.

In the long term however, Ghana needs to train its own neurosurgeons and to keep them.

No branch of our health of our service should be neglected.

STOP USING CHILDREN FOR CAMPAIGN ADVERTS - NCCE

Mr. Kenneth Kponoh, the Volta Regional Director, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has cautioned political parties against the use of minors in promoting political campaign advertisements.

He said using children under 18 in a “fierce political landscape” put them at the risk of thinking they were capable of doing what the elderly were into, though they were not psychologically mature for that.

Mr Kponoh gave the caution at a workshop, organised by the NCCE, in partnership with the Ghana News Agency, with funding from the European Union (EU) on the concept of Democracy ahead of the 2016 Polls.

He said the developing phenomenon where children were used to promote political agenda was bad for the country’s growing democracy; since the Children’s Act clearly spelt out when one was of age to join politics.

Madam Doris Gbongbo, the Deputy Director of Programmes, NCCE, expressed concern about the tendency of some to intimidate women, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and other marginalised groups in politics.

She, therefore, called on the public to put a stop to acts that hindered such people from exercising their democratic rights.

Mr Tenasu Kofi Gbedemah, the Regional Focal Person at the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), called on the major political parties to make elections more tolerable and “palatable”.

GNA

Undemocratic, Shocking and Disgraceful: Clinton suggested US should rig Palestine election

Election manipulator, Hillary Clinton

By Danielle Ryan

Hillary Clinton has spent a disproportionate amount of time lately complaining — without evidence — about “the Russians” interfering with the US election. But it turns out that interfering in foreign elections is totally fine if you’re the United States.

Clinton has used this notion of Russian interference as a non-stop talking point throughout her campaign. Any and all scandals she has faced have been blamed on Moscow, and she has used alleged Russian involvement as a convenient distraction. Her supporters have enthusiastically adopted the talking point. In light of the FBI’s decision to reopen the investigation into her use of a private email server, one congressman actually suggested that Russia may be behind the FBI’s decision. Yes, Russia has now infiltrated the FBI, which is working with Vladimir Putin to elect Trump and destroy Hillary. It’s all a massive conspiracy.

So, you would think given her apparent distaste for other countries supposedly meddling in the American electoral process, that Clinton wouldn’t have been caught on tape suggesting very candidly to a group of journalists that the US should have rigged a foreign election.

But she was. The tape is from a 2006 meeting Clinton held with the editorial board of the Jewish Press when she was running for re-election as senator for New York. Here is the quote in full, so there can be no accusations of taking it out of context:

“I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake — and if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win.”

That’s right. Clinton suggested the US should have made sure the outcome of a Palestinian election went in its favor. She was referring to the 2006 election for the second Palestinian Legislative Council, which saw the US-favored Fatah lose to Hamas (45 seats to 74 seats).

This is one of those stories that will be largely ignored or played down by the American media, which favor Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, and see it as their duty to get her elected. If Trump had made the same remarks, we would never hear the end of it. No doubt, some will try to water down the comment and imply that Clinton didn’t really mean what she said. But there is frankly no other way to interpret her words. This is Hillary Clinton casually suggesting that the US should have rigged a foreign election in its favor.

How else can you “determine” the outcome of an election before it happens? How else can you be “sure” who is going to win in advance? All the polling data in the world could end up being wrong — so unless you do something unsavory to fully ensure the outcome, then there’s no way you can be “sure” of anything. But don’t hold your breath waiting for journalists to push Clinton on what exactly she had in mind when she said the US should have done “something” about it.

Eli Chomsky, the journalist that released the tape, told the Observer that in the 2006 meeting with Clinton, he was surprised that “anyone could support the idea — offered by a national political leader, no less — that the US should be in the business of fixing foreign elections.” Chomsky’s bosses at the Jewish Press at the time felt the comments were not “newsworthy,” and so they weren’t published. In reality, he admitted, they simply didn’t want to offend Clinton should they need her “down the road.” Convinced it was in fact newsworthy, Chomsky held on to the tape for 10 years.

Clinton’s casual suggestion to influence an election in the US’ favor takes on more significance in light of the revelations that her campaign was working with the ‘neutral’ Democratic National Committee (DNC) to ensure she won the presidential nomination over Bernie Sanders.

Palestine will be free some day

Strangely enough, as the Observer also noted, in answering a question about the US talking to its enemies, the Clinton of 2006 sounded more like the Donald Trump of 2016. Asked if it was “worth talking to Syria,” she said that she didn’t see how it could hurt to talk to your adversaries, citing the fact that the US and the Soviet Union never stopped talking to each other. She continued: “But if you say, ‘they’re evil, we’re good, [and] we’re never dealing with them,’ I think you give up a lot of the tools that you need to have in order to defeat them…”

This is particularly odd because Clinton in recent years has been one of the biggest cheerleaders of the ‘Russia is evil and America is good’ ideology. But again, don’t expect Clinton to be questioned rigorously on any of this. American journalists only have 10 days left to get her elected. They’re not going to bother worrying about irrelevancies like the fact that she’s evidently totally fine with foreign election rigging.

You really couldn’t make this stuff up. Clinton spends months pretending to be outraged over Russia interfering in the US election (with no solid evidence), and then audio emerges of her unequivocally suggesting Washington should have rigged a Palestinian election. The level of hypocrisy and irony here is hard to fathom.

No doubt, one person who will enthusiastically pick the story up is Clinton’s opponent Donald Trump, who has been suggesting for months that she will somehow manage to rig the presidential election against him.

Clinton herself will probably find a way to pin the release of the tape on the Russians.

Revealed: How John Podesta's Email Was Easily Hacked

Can John Podesta recover from the shock and embarrassment?

The latest Wikileaks release has revealed exactly how Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta’s gmail account was hacked, and the domain in the phishing email is from an island off the coast of New Zealand.

The 21st email release included the actual March 19, 2016, email which provided the hackers with Podesta’s password. Podesta had received an email claiming to be from Google, warning him that someone in Ukraine had obtained his password, and that he was required to change it.

The form they linked to, however, was not from Google, but from a site mirroring the internet giant, which, after the password was unthinkingly reset within it, then sent his new password to the hacker. The phishing email came from no-reply@accounts.googlemail.com, which is not actually Google.

The initial email read as follows: “Someone just used your password to try to sign in to your Google Account john.podesta@gmail.com. Details: Saturday, 19 March, 8:34:30 UTC IP Address: 134.249.139.239 Location: Ukraine Google stopped this sign-in attempt. You should change your password  immediately.” It also included a link to the fake password reset, which was located at “myaccount.google.com-securitysettingpage.tk,” a simple observation that should have tipped the campaign off that the request was not real, as the domain.tk is from Tokelau, a small island off the coast of New Zealand, controlled by that country. “Sara, This is a legitimate email. John needs to change his password immediately, and ensure that two-factor authentication is turned on his account,” wrote Charles Delavan, a Hillary for America help desk staffer, to Sara Latham, Podesta’s chief of staff.

Latham quickly sent a panicked email to Podesta, and copied the Hillary for America tech manager Michael Fisher, who, ironically, used to work at Google, and should have immediately known that the email was a simple phishing attack “The gmail one is REAL Milia, can you change — does JDP have the 2 step verification or do we need to do with him on the phone? Don't want to lock him out of his in box!” Based on the fact that we are now reading these emails, we can assume that Podesta took some ill-advised advice.

THE PUBLIC AND PEACEFUL ORDER RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION

Charlotte Osei, Electoral Commissioner

By Akyaaba Addai-Sebo

The Electoral Commission (EC), above all else, is an enabling public institution with a constitutional mandate to conduct free and fair elections (in keeping with the dictates of our national motto of Freedom and Justice) to sustain a peaceful order all in the national interest.

The EC therefore has a public responsibility to first draw the attention of applicants to errors made in the filing of nominations and assist such applicants to correct such errors so detected by the commission in the discharge of its duties. Such is the enabling function of the EC to sustain a peaceful order by assuring a level playing field.

The EC has a primary duty to inform the political parties of any infraction including fraud detected during and after the electioneering process so that the commission together with the stakeholders will see to it that such infractions of the electoral law do not occur again.

It is the due diligence exercise of all parties and stakeholders that deters and eliminates possible infractions and fraud. The onus of such responsibility is more on the commission as the clearinghouse of all electoral data and information. Such forensic capacity and scrutiny rests with the commission and exercised as such and duly on behalf of and in the public interest. In essence, the commission is like the proverbial mother hen, who is all and at the same time an arbiter, referee and ombudsman to sustain a peaceful order. The mother hen may step on her chicks but not to hurt or kill them.

To deter and prevent future infraction and fraudulent acts punitive sanctions and their nature, degree or character must be discussed, approved and reviewed periodically by all stakeholders. This understanding becomes a civic education responsibility of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the EC itself.

The enabling functions of the EC is to foster trust, freedom and justice, above all else. When such trust is found amiss then it is the precipitation of disorder. For example, a situation should not arise when a suspicious or mistrusting party calls for a public enquiry on a decision of the EC seen as patently unfair and to the grave disadvantage of the complainant or disaffected party. In this case, the approval or disqualification of parties in a nomination filing process which gave cause for the disqualified party to ask for a public forensic audit or enquiry must bear the burden of proof that the EC acted prejudicially.  In other words, the burden of proof of victimisation is with the complainant or aggrieved party.

Where trust is lost the judgment of the commission comes into rude question here. The EC has a public and therefore constitutional responsibility not to place its function in a position of mistrust to foster disorder. A level-playing field and an entrusting refereeing are enabling factors of the electoral process. This balancing order must not be jeopardised by all parties and stakeholders in the national interest. Therefore, the public trust to know and to be duly and accurately informed as such is a sacred right and the fulcrum point of representative governance and democratic order.

The functioning of the EC must, in no way, lead to entrapment, victimisation, discrimination and marginalisation and must as well not give undue credence to this. The strength and discipline of mind and mind-set required here is of the highest to achieve that efficiency of purpose in the maintenance and sustenance of public and peaceful order, all in all, in the national interest.

Although to err is human and to forgive is reconciling the EC must not err.  In essence, the functioning of the EC must be free of prejudice.

©Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, Independent Consultant on National Interest and Preventive Diplomacy.

Tel: 0246390024  Email: addaisebo1@gmail.com

Editorial

WE MUST HURRY WITH THE COURT

The threats to drag the Electoral Commission to court over the disqualification of 12 presidential candidates cannot worry anybody.

The fact is that applying the processes in the court to settle legal issues is part of our democracy.

Those who really feel that the EC erred in disqualifying the candidates must be encourage to go to court to settle the issues once and for all.

However, we ought to be careful not to encourage the abuse of the process.

This can occur if some of the aggrieved parties decide to use the court process not as a means of settling legal issues but deliberately disrupting the electoral process as revenge.

We believe that the courts will not lend themselves to abuse.