Asoreba

NSAWAM MEDIUM SECURITY PRISON – STATE OF AFFAIRS

2009-05-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

WRITER: YIRENKYI OPARE-AKUFFO

INTRODUCTION
The Ghana Prisons Service as established by the 1992 Constitution of Ghana is mandated to ensure the Safe Custody and Welfare of Prisoners and whenever practicable, undertake their Reformation and Rehabilitation.
The Nsawam Medium Security Prison which is established on a one (1) mile square plot of land located at the outskirts of the Nsawam Township, and presently the only medium security prison in Ghana is no exception to this mandate. The Nsawam Medium Security Prisons (Male) like all other prisons in Ghana seem to have failed in this regard.
This is as a result of crime still being an ever-present occurrence in Ghana in spite of ongoing efforts to climb down criminals and improve human and social security of the country’s citizens.
This is because the country’s prison facilities where criminality is expected to end have become revolving indoors, and that too many of their residents – that is prisoners or inmates – return time and again; more than half of all inmates will be back in prison within six years of their release, my investigations have revealed.
As sad but unfortunately, the current 47 prison facilities across the country, whatever form they take, do not seem to correct, rehabilitate or treat criminal offenders to become useful citizens at the end of their jail terms.
They rather make them more embittered because of the degrading human conditions such as lack of food, water, clothing, medicals and detergents inmates face day after day, thereby serving as outdated ware-houses for real human beings who have been detained by the state.

HISTORY/BACKGROUND
The Medium Security Prison (Male) is the largest Prison in Ghana, and most probably the whole of West Africa. Its construction started in 1956 and was officially opened on 10th October, 1960. As a Medium Security Prison, it is reasonably fortified so much that the question of a successful internal escape is almost non-existent.
Also worthy of note is that though the Prison’s ideal average capacity is 717, it now holds almost 3,000 inmates making the prison a ware-house indeed. Currently, the lock-up is 2,825, of this figure; almost 60% are Remand Prisoners, some of them with expired warrants.

HUMAN RIGHTS
Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms are enshrined in the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana which makes every person (prisoners inclusive) in Ghana entitled to the fundamental human rights and freedoms as enshrined in chapter five of the constitution. Citizens are protected against abuse of basic human dignity, including any cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment that is “likely to detract from dignity and worth.” The aforementioned rights are simply not in existent let alone not being respected in the Nsawam Medium Security Prison (Male).
However, prisons in Ghana are overcrowded and seen as bitter penal institutions meant for social outcasts whom government believes should just be taken away from society and given the “just deserts” for their crimes. This is against the backdrop that government’s attention to the welfare of both prison officers and inmates is insignificant, leaving conditions at a deplorable state and weaken morale of officers of this paramilitary institution. The Ministry of Interior responsible for the Ghana Prison Service is equally to blame for the deplorable state of the prisons in the country as the Ministry have not lived up to its responsibilities.
The question arising out of this situation is whether it is realistic to expect that a significant portion of prisoners will successfully adjust to society after a lengthy stay in an overcrowded and bitter penal institution of state.
In this sense, prison success would be measured by factors such as physical security, length of incapacitation, relationship between crime rate and the number of incarcerated felons, and inmates’ perception that their treatment was fair and proportionate, experts say.

CLASSIFICATION OF PRISONERS
There are several types of prisoners in custody currently. They include convicts, condemned prisoners, remands, trials, debtors, lifers, lodgers and deportees. Furthermore, there are first offenders as well as recidivists, just as there are young and old inmates. Given the large number of inmates and the nature of the prison structures, Prison Officers are unable to do proper classification so as to avoid contamination.
However, prison officers try to limit contamination as much as they can by using indices like type of offence, sentence, age etc. as criteria for allocating them to the various blocks of dormitory – like cell units with in-built ablution facilities.

REMANDS
The overwhelming and continuously swelling number of Remand Prisoners whose cases are either under investigation or awaiting trial is of grave concern.
For example, in December, 2000, the Remand population stood at 202 whilst in December, 2002 the Remand lock-up was 324.
Currently, the Remand population has risen to 1,633, obviously turning the Nsawam Medium Security (Male) Prison facility into a Remand home which is the case in almost all the prisons in the country if not all. Four (4) of the eight (8) blocks in the Nsawam Medium Security Prison (Male) accommodating the prisoners now hold these Remand Prisoners. It is equally worrisome that some of these remand prisoners are there with expired warrants as some have been locked up for nearly 14 years without trial which is very degrading and dehumanizing indeed.

CONGESTION
The Nsawam Medium Security Prison (Male) is heavily congested as the prisons now holds a little over treble of the number the prison can accommodate. The situation has gotten out of hand as in the case of one of the blocks in the prison called Annex B which is suppose to hold one person per cubicle now holding 10 to 15 inmates per cubicle. The little said about the other blocks the better as rooms that are to hold approximately 20 inmates are holding 50 to 60 inmates. The question therefore of how they sleep in such rooms and cubicles without ceiling or standing fans, your guess is as good as mine.
Naturally, this comes with its attendant pressures on staff, logistics, health delivery and accommodation as well as the possibility of an epidemic.
The enactment of a Legislative Instrument for non-custodial sentences like community sentence, parole, suspended sentences, fines and other alternative punishments for lesser offences would no doubt help decongest the prisons especially for first offenders. Also, the speedy investigation and trial of Remand cases could go a long way to ease congestion.

CONCLUSION
I would like to conclude by drawing your attention to the fact that, given the numerous challenges facing the Medium Security Prison especially with the increasing numbers of remand prisoners, it is with tact, professionalism and by God’s abundant grace especially considering the inmate population vis-à-vis the staff strength, that the station is running successfully.

Yirenkyi sworn – in as Chief Justice

2009-04-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

Congress Journal

27th April, 2009 The official mouthpiece of Congress Volume 1 Issue 1

ANOTHER MILESTONE BY SRC
• Yirenkyi sworn – in as Chief Justice
Story: Fred Appiah Amankwah

Opare - Akuffo Yirenkyi was sworn – in last Friday April 24, 2009 as the first Chief Justice of the Students Representative Council of the African University College of Communications (A.U.C.C).
He took his oath of office before the 4th sitting of Congress. This was done in consonance and consolidation of the newly promulgated constitution of the SRC. In his capacity as Chief Justice, he leads the Judicial Council of the SRC which comprises of five other Justices. On the same occasion, Godfred Tetteh was also sworn – in as the Judicial Recorder.
The SRC President, Mr. Henry Marbell who administered the oath of office to them, congratulated them on their approval by Congress and charged them to be “fair, firm and objective in the performance of their functions.”
Rt. Hon. Joyce Tindana, Speaker of Congress commended the President for the timely appointments and for gracing the occasion. She was particularly elated that the Chief Justice had been appointed from Congress. She said, “it shows how diligent and capable members of the House are as well as their conduct within the student body at large”. “Opare has our full support and we wish him all the best in the discharge of his duties”, she added.
Opare - Akuffo yirenkyi who now bears the title of Chief Justice is a final year student of AUCC pursuing Communications Studies programme. He doubles as the President of the Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), a club on campus. Prior to the institution of Congress, of which is a member, he was a very instrumental member of the Constitutional Review Committee – Otoo Committee as it was popularly known. His Lordship, Opare - Akuffo is famous for his outspokenness and his association with the club called Kyekyeku.
Godfred Tetteh who is also in his final year is an adept poet and a member of the Face Aids AUCC, a club on campus.
According to Article six (6) of the SRC constitution: “The structure of Council in order of enormity shall be; Executive Council, Congress, The Judicial Council, The Permanent and Adhoc Committees”. Not long after the promulgation of the new constitution, the Executive Council instituted Congress and elections were held within the various classes for representatives. This process was largely
successful and presently Congress is functioning effectively within the tenets of the constitution.
In order to activate the principles of separation of powers, checks and balances as well as rule of law entrenched in the constitution. Article 9 subsection (c) i of the constitution demanded “ the Chief Justice who shall be appointed by the President subject to Congress approval, and subject to this constitution, be the head of the Judicial Council and shall be responsible for the administration and supervision of the Judicial Council”.
Amongst the many functions of the Judicial Council, Article 9 subsection (c)i states that it shall “have original jurisdiction on every matter relating to interpretation and enforcement of any provision in this constitution and in every matter where it is alleged that a body of persons have acted ultra vires to the powers conferred on them by the constitution”.
With the strict adherence to the constitution, it is expected that more appointments would be made subject to approval by Congress to man the various Permanent and Adhoc Committees.

AUCC SRC CONSTITUTION

2009-04-03T01:59:00.000-07:00

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AFRICAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATIONS
STUDENTS REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL (SRC) CONSTITUTION
Preamble
IN THE NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD,
We the students of the African University College of Communications (AUCC),
COMMITTED to our belief in democracy, the rule of law and the promotion and safeguarding of student’s rights and responsibilities,
RECOGNIZING the need for an organized student body to articulate our views, seek our welfare, organize and coordinate our activities, liaise with the administration of the school and also promote generally our welfare nationally,
DESIROUS to participate actively in all national development programmes of this country taking into consideration the importance of education in national development,
WISHING to create the vital instrument through which we shall equip ourselves theoretically for practical revolutionary service to AUCC, Ghana and humanity as a whole,
CONVINCED of the paramount need for the formation and creation of an effective democratic, pro-active and progressive student’s organization to affect this noble and patriotic ideals,
DO HEREBY ENACT, ADOPT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.
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CHAPTER ONE
THE COUNCIL
Article 1: NAME AND STATUS
a. The council shall be known and called the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the African University College of Communications herein referred to as the Council. The Council does not operate in isolation but works with other institutions, Councils and recognized bodies.
b. The Council shall be a non-governmental, non-denominational, non-racial, non-partisan and non-ethnic organization.
Article 2: SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION
a. The constitution shall be the supreme authority of all students, clubs and associations among the student body and any other constitution found to be inconsistent with it to the extent of its inconsistency would be null and void.
b. For any student group(s), clubs or associations to come into existence within the University, it shall first notify the Council
c. Notwithstanding article2 (a), this constitution shall be subject to the laws of the University
Article 3: ENFORCEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION
a. All students shall adhere to all the provisions of this constitution.
b. In view of achieving clause (a) of this article, the Executive Council, Judicial Council and Congress shall have its officers and members subscribe to an oath of allegiance and oath of office to the Council when being inducted into office.
c. Any student(s) who alleges that:
(i). an act or omission of any person
(ii). a by law or a decision of a body
is inconsistent with or is in contravention of a provision of this constitution, may bring an action to the Judicial Council for a declaration to that effect.
d. For the purpose of declaration under clause(c) of this article, the Judicial Council shall make such orders and give such directions as it may consider appropriate for giving effect to the declaration so made.
e. Any student(s) or student body, to whom an order or direction is addressed under clause (d) of this article by the Judicial Council, shall duly obey and carry out the terms of an order or direction
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f. Failure to obey or carry out the terms of an order or direction made or given under clause(d) of this article constitutes a violation of this constitution and shall in the case of:
i. A student, not being eligible for election or for appointment to any office of the council.
ii. An Executive, Judicial and Congress Officer, constitutes a valid ground for the removal from office.
Article 4: MEMBERSHIP
a. All students admitted into the University shall be automatic members of the Council.
Article 5: AIMS AND OBJECTIVE
The aims and objectives of the Council shall include but not limited to the following:
a. Creating an effective liaison between the student body and the University in matters concerning academic work, discipline, welfare, referrals and administrative decisions affecting the University’s activities, individuals or the student body.
b. Promote unity among students.
c. Organize and promote student activities and participate in external programmes with other institutions that will bring about togetherness.
d. Promote African values to project the ideology of the University.
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CHAPTER TWO
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNCIL
Article 6: STRUCTURE
The structure of the Council in order of enormity shall be;
a. Executive Council
b. Congress
c. The Judicial Council
d. Permanent and Ad-hoc Committees.
Article 7: CONGRESS, COMPOSITION AND DUTIES
a. Congress shall be the parliamentary arm of the council which shall be the second highest decision making body.
b. Congress shall be made up of:
i, Speaker who shall be appointed by the President, subject to Congress approval and shall be the head of Congress and chair all meetings and proceedings.
ii. Deputy Speaker who shall act in the absence of the Speaker
iii. Clerk who shall be responsible for secretarial duties of Congress.
iv. Presidents and Vice-Presidents of all recognized clubs and associations under the Council.
v. Five(5) representatives from each class including the class representatives
vi. All Officers of the Executive Council except the President and the Vice-President.
c. The duties of congress shall include the following but not limited to;
i. Vet and approve all nominees for position under the Council.
ii. Receive and discuss budget of the Council.
iii. Debate issues concerning the interest of students and may pass resolutions on them
iv. Have the right to call upon an Executive or member(s) of Congress to explain issues concerning students.
v. Shall determine at the beginning of every academic year, the allowances and other benefits of the Executive Council Members.
d. All members of Congress shall be known and called Congress men and women
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Article 8: EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, COMPOSITION AND DUTIES.
a. The Executive Council shall be the highest decision making body which shall comprise of all the Executive Council Members namely;
i. President
ii. Vice president
iii. General Secretary
iv. Public Relations Officer (PRO)
v. Organizing Secretary
vi. Financial Secretary/ Treasurer
vii. Welfare Officer
viii. Women’s Commissioner
ix. Local NUGS/GUPS President.
b. The Executive Council shall perform the following functions;
i. Be responsible for the day-to-day administration and direction of the Council
ii. Enforce and maintain discipline in the council
iii. Shall in consultation with Congress appoint a patron or patroness for the Council
iv. Shall in consultation with Congress have power to organize or promote any
activity which is in the interest and well-being of the student body.
v. Shall determine at the beginning of every academic year, the allowances and other benefits of the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and Clerk of Congress subject to Congress approval.
vi. Shall determine at the beginning of every academic year, the allowances and other benefits of the Judicial Council members subject to Congress approval.
Article 9: JUDICIAL COUNCIL, COMPOSITION AND DUTIES
a. Justice emanates from the people and shall be administered in the name of the Council by the Judicial Council which shall be independent and subject only to this constitution. The Judicial Council shall comprise of ;
b. i. The Chief Justice who shall be appointed by the President subject to Congress approval, and subject to this constitution, be the head of the Judicial Council and shall be responsible for the administration and supervision of the Judicial Council.
ii. Judicial Recorder who shall perform the Secretarial duties of the Judicial
Council.
iii. Five other persons appointed by the Chief Justice subject to Congress approval who shall be known as Justices.
c. The Judicial Council shall perform the following functions;
i. Have original jurisdiction on every matter relating to the interpretation and
enforcement of any provision in this constitution and in every matter
where it is alleged that a body of persons have acted ultra vires to the
powers conferred on them by this constitution.
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ii. Have appellate jurisdiction in every issue relating to resolving conflict between students or group of students
iii. Have jurisdiction in cases of disputes between two (2) or more students, clubs and or associations under the Council.
iv. Have appellate jurisdiction against electoral disputes lodged against the electoral commissioner
v. Address petitions of electoral disputes within 24 hours
vi. Notwithstanding clause (v) of this article, the Judicial Council shall within 72 hours give hearing to any other petition brought before it.
vii. All decisions of the Judicial Council shall be binding and final without prejudice to any person(s).
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CHAPTER THREE
ELECTIONS AND REMOVAL OF OFFICERS
Article 10: QUALIFICATION FOR ELECTION
a. Aspirants contesting for any position of the council shall:
i. Be a full time student of the University
ii. Have one academic year ahead of him
iii. Not have been convicted of any criminal charge by any competent court of jurisdiction both within and outside Ghana.
iv. Not have been found guilty of any disciplinary charge leveled against him by the Judicial Council.
b. All appointees of the Judicial Council and Congress shall satisfy Article10 clause (a) sub-sections (i-iv) above.
Article 11: GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL FROM OFFICE
a. Any officer who proves incapable of holding office shall be removed before his term of office expires;
b. Such incapacity of an Officer shall include;
i. To have acted in a manner that contradicts and/or contravenes the provisions of this constitution.
ii. To have acted in a manner that has brought or is likely to bring the reputation of his office and that of the Council into disrepute, ridicule or contempt.
iii. To have embezzled or misused funds and other assests of the Council.
iv. To be unable/incapable to perform his duties by reason of physical and/or mental incapability.
v. To have neglected his duties as an Officer of the Council.
vi. To be disloyal to the Council.
c. Any officer, against who a charge of embezzlement, inefficiency, including failure to carry out legitimate instruction without tangible excuse, use of position for private gains or inactivity is leveled, shall face congress for hearing.
d. Any officer who violates any article or by-law of the council shall lose his right to membership either temporally or entirely as may be determined by the Council upon recommendations of the Judicial Council.
e. Such Officers so expelled shall have the right to appeal to the Judicial Council within five working days.
f. Where vacancy occurs as a result of expulsion, resignation, or suspension, the Executive Council shall nominate a member subject to Congress approval to fill the vacancy.
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g. Notwithstanding the above clauses, any Officer who wishes to resign shall do so in a written letter, stating his reason(s) to Congress through the Executive Council.
Article 12: PROCEDURE FOR REMOVAL FROM OFFICE OF AN EXECUTIVE OFFICER
a. For the purpose of the removal from office of an Executive Officer, a notice in writing shall be given to the Judicial Council head who shall notify all members of the Council.
b. The notice referred to in the clause above shall be accompanied by a statement setting out in detail, the facts, supported by the necessary documents on which the removal is sought.
c. The Judicial Council shall within two weeks add its independent opinion to the facts as to its merits or otherwise.
d. The Speaker of Congress shall convey a Congress meeting within one week after submission of the Judicial Council’s independent report.
e. Impeachment proceedings shall commence where applicable.
ARTICLE 13: PROCEDURE FOR REMOVAL FROM OFFICE OF A CONGRESS OFFICER.
a. For the purpose of the removal from office of a Congress Officer, a notice in writing shall be given to the Judicial Council head who shall notify all members of the Council.
b. The notice referred to in the clause above shall be accompanied by a statement setting out in detail, the facts, supported by the necessary documents on which the removal is sought.
c. The Judicial Council shall within two weeks add its independent opinion to the facts as to its merits or otherwise.
d. The Speaker of Congress or the Deputy Speaker of Congress shall convey a Congress meeting within one week after submission of the Judicial Council’s independent report.
e. Impeachment proceedings shall commence where applicable.
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ARTICLE 14: PROCEDURE FOR REMOVAL FROM OFFICE OF A JUDICIAL COUNCIL OFFICER.
a. For the purpose of the removal from office of a Judicial Council Officer, a notice in writing shall be given to the Executive Council head who shall notify all members of the Council.
b. The notice referred to in the clause above shall be accompanied by a statement setting out in detail, the facts, supported by the necessary documents on which the removal is sought.
c. The Executive Council shall within two weeks add its independent opinion to the facts as to its merits or otherwise.
d. The Speaker of Congress shall convey a Congress meeting within one week after submission of the Executive Council’s independent report.
e. Impeachment proceedings shall commence where applicable
Article 15: IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDURES
a. For the purpose of impeachment, Congress shall constitute upon the presence of not less than two-thirds of Congress members.
b. Congress shall hear the facts of the allegations given due recognition to the rules of natural justice.
c. An officer ceases to hold office upon the approval of seventy percent (70%) of Congress members present at the sitting.
d. The President shall appoint a person to act in such a capacity until a substantive officer is elected
Article 16: VACANCY OF OFFICE
a. An office shall be considered vacant if any officer;
i. Suffers an impeachment.
ii. Vacates his office for twenty one working days without any official notice
to the Executive Council and Congress.
iii. Resigns from office, dies or is incapacitated by ill health from
performing his functions.
b. The President shall notify the Judicial Council and Congress of any such occurrences.
c. Congress shall within seven days upon receiving such notice authorize the Electoral commission to organize an election to elect a substantive officer to assume the vacant position.
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d. In the event of the Vive-President resigning, the President shall nominate a person for the office of the Vice-President subject to Congress approval.
Article 17: REGULATIONS GOVERNING ELECTIONS
a) The Electoral Commissioner shall
i. Compile an electoral register
ii. Make rules for the conduct of elections and publish it at least 12hours before voting starts.
b) Where necessary, Congress shall formulate additional electoral by-laws
c) Aspirants shall have written copies of both documents within the above time frame before voting starts.
Article 18: VOTING
a. Voting shall be by secret ballot.
b. A person shall be considered as duly elected by simple majority.
c. An unopposed candidate shall have fifty percent plus one of the valid votes cast.
d. The electoral commission shall re-open nomination upon the unfulfillment of clause (c) above.
e. In the event of the same candidate returning unopposed for the second time, he shall be deemed duly elected.
Article 19: DECLARATION OF ELECTION RESULTS
a. The Electoral Commission shall declare the provisional election results within twenty minutes after counting of votes.
b. Notwithstanding clause (a) above, the Electoral Commissioner shall inform the Judicial Council of the reasons for any delay.
Article 20: CHALLENGING OF ELECTION RESULTS
a. A person may challenge the results of an election at least two hours after the declaration of the provisional electoral results in respect of which the petition is presented.
b. The electoral commission shall proceed to declare the unchallenged results after the above time.
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c. The challenge shall be in the form of petition addressed to the Judicial Council head (the Chief Justice)
d. The Judicial Council findings shall be made known to the electoral commission within twenty four hours after the petition had been received by the Chief Justice.
e. A declaration of the Judicial Council shall be binding without prejudice to anyone.
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CHAPTER FOUR EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY OF THE COUNCIL, COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS. Article 21: THE EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY
a. The Executive Authority of the Council shall vest in the President and shall be exercised in accordance with the provisions of this constitution.
b. The Executive Authority of the Council shall extend to the execution and maintenance of this constitution and all laws made under or continued in force by this constitution.
c. Subject to the provisions of this constitution, the functions conferred on the President by clause (a) of this article may be exercised by him either directly or through his officers subordinates to him.
d. Except as otherwise provided in this constitution or by law not inconsistent with this constitution, all Executive acts of the Council shall be expressed to be taken in the name of the President.
e. The Executive Authority of the Council shall be exercised in order of enormity:
i. The President
ii. The Vice-President
iii. General Secretary
iv. Public Relations Officer (PRO)
v. Organizing Secretary
vi. Financial Secretary/ Treasurer
vii. Welfare Officer
viii. Women’s Commissioner
ix. Local NUGS/GUPS President.
Article 22: COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS The following committees and commissions shall be constituted within the council:
i) Electoral commission
ii) Finance committee
iii) Sponsorship and program committee
iv) Welfare committee
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v) Vetting committee
vi) Sports committee
vii) Audit committee
viii) Notwithstanding the above clauses, ad-hoc committees shall be formed when needed.
Article 23: AUDIT COMMITTEE
a. There shall be an Audit Committee of the Council which shall be headed by the Auditor-General who shall be appointed by the President subject to Congress approval. The Audit Committee shall account only to Congress
b. The accounts of the Council and all the committees and commissions established under this constitution or by a resolution of Congress shall be audited and reported by the committee to Congress.
c. For the purpose of clause (b) of this article, the Audit Committee shall
i. Have access to all books, records, returns and other documents relating to financial transactions or that may be relevant to those accounts.
ii. Have the power to subpoena any person including members of the Executive Council through the Judicial Council to appear before it.
d. The findings of the committee shall be communicated to Congress and the Executive Council together with its opinions as to the transparency or otherwise of the transactions undertaken by the Council, its Commissions or Committees.
e. The Audit Committee shall be constituted by Congress which shall have seven members.
f. External Auditors shall be called in when necessary.
g. The Audit Committee shall submit its final findings at least one month before the Councils year comes to an end.
h. The decision of the Audit Committee shall be final. Officers who may be adversely affected by the Audit Report shall within fourteen days make attempt and within twenty one day’s pay off and/or return assests of the Council.
i. Failure to do that, the Council shall adopt all possible legal means to retrieve the money and/or other assests of the Council.
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Article 24: VETTING COMMITTEE
a. Without prejudice to any provision to this constitution, any student aspiring to any position shall be subject to vetting by a seven member committee constituted by the President in consultation with the Executive Council subject to Congress approval.
b. The Vetting Committee shall not be subjected to any instruction of any person or body in the performance of its duties.
c. There shall be two Executive Council members at the Vetting Committee but shall not chair it.
d. It shall be responsible for ensuring that candidate(s) for any election under this Constitution satisfy requirements provided for in this Constitution or regulation as may be set out by the Electoral Commission.
e. It shall recommend or nullify a person’s candidature after vetting based on justifiable grounds.
f. Vetting results shall be declared not later than 24hours after vetting.
g. The Vetting Committee shall submit a confidential report to the Judicial Council after the performance of its duties.
h. A candidate who is affected by the Vetting Committee decision shall have 24hours within which to appeal to the Judicial Council.
Article 25: FINANCE COMMITTEE
a. The finance committee shall be chaired by the financial secretary/treasurer.
b. The committee shall be made up of not more than five persons who shall be appointed by the Executive Council excluding the financial secretary.
c. The committee shall assist the financial secretary/treasurer in discharge of his duties, though not exclusive to those specified in Article (35)
Article26: SPONSORSHIP AND PROGRAMMES COMMITTEE
a. The organizing secretary shall be mandated to nominate persons to form the sponsorship and programs committee in consultation with the Executive Council
b. The committee shall be responsible for the organization of the activities of the council and engage in sponsorship drive for the council.
c. The committee membership shall not exceed seven.
d. The Organizing Secretary shall however be the chairman of the committee
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Article 27: WELFARE COMMITTEE
a. The duties of the Welfare Committee are subject to those of the Welfare Officer outlined in Article (36) of this constitution.
Article 28: SPORTS COMMITTEE
a. The sports committee shall be constituted by the Organizing Secretary and shall be responsible for organizing sporting activities of the council.
b. It shall be responsible for the promotion of sports in the University.
c. The committee shall be made up not more than eleven persons who shall not be members of the executive council.
d. The Organizing Secretary shall however be a member of the committee but shall not chair it.
Article 29: ELECTORAL COMMISSION
a. The Electoral Commission shall be headed by the Electoral Commissioner who shall be appointed by the President and be responsible for the conduct of all elections of the council.
b. Two members from every class shall be nominated to serve on the Commission
c. An Executive Officer from the Council shall be appointed to serve on the commission but shall not chair.
d. Any member who expresses interest in contesting for office of the Council shall relinquish his membership on the commission.
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CHAPTER FIVE DUTIES OF OFFICERS Article 30: THE PRESIDENT
a. There shall be a President of the Council who shall be the head and the official mouthpiece of the Council.
b. The President shall take precedence over all other officers and persons of the council; and in descending order, the Vice-President, the Speaker of Congress and the Chief Justice, shall take precedence over all other persons and officers of the Council.
c. Before assuming office, the President shall take and subscribe before the students the Oath of Allegiance and the Presidential Oath set out in the first schedule to this constitution.
d. Shall in consultation with the General Secretary convene and preside over all Executive Council meetings.
e. Shall sign all documents and correspondence on behalf of the Council.
f. Shall be a co-signatory to the council’s bank account.
g. Shall see to the day-to-day implementations of the decision of Congress and other Committees.
h. Shall address the first and last meetings of Congress in each semester, giving the state of the Council address.
Article 31: THE VICE PRESIDENT AND SUCCESSION TO THE PRESIDENCY
a. There shall be a Vice-President to the Council who shall perform such functions as may be assigned to him by this constitution or by the President
b. A candidate for the office of the Vice-President shall be designated by the candidate for the office of the President before the election of the President.
c. The provisions of Article 10 of this constitution apply to a candidate for the office of the Vice- President.
d. A candidate shall be deemed to be duly elected as Vice-President if the candidate who designated him as candidate for election to the office of the Vice-President has been duly elected as President in accordance with the provisions of article 10 of this constitution.
e. The Vice-President shall before commencing to perform the functions of Vice- President, take and subscribe the Oath of Allegiance and the Vice- Presidential Oath set out in the first schedule to this constitution.
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f. Whenever the President dies, resigns or is removed from office, the Vice-President shall assume office as President for the unexpired term of the office of the President with effect from the date of the death, resignation or removal of the President.
g. The Vice-President shall before commencing to perform the functions of the President under clause (f) of this article take and subscribe the Presidential Oath set out in the first schedule to this constitution.
h. The Vice-President shall, upon assuming office as President under clause (f) of this article, nominate a person to the office of Vice-President subject to approval by Congress.
i. Where the President and the Vice-President are both unable to perform the functions of the President, the Speaker of Congress shall perform those functions until the President or the Vice-President is able to perform those functions or a new President assumes office as the case may be.
j. The Speaker shall, before commencing to perform the functions of the President under clause (i) of this article, take and subscribe the Oath set out in relation to the office of President.
k. Where the Speaker of Congress assumes the office of President as a result of the death, resignation or removal from office of the President and the Vice-President, there shall be a Presidential election within three weeks after his assumption of office.
l. Where the Speaker of Congress assumes the office of President as a result of the death, resignation or removal from office of the President and the Vice-President, he shall perform ceremonial functions only but not Executive functions.
m. The Executive Functions shall be performed in order of enormity as outlined in Article (21) of this constitution.
Article 32: THE GENERAL SECRETARY
a. Shall keep accurate records of all proceedings of Executive Council meetings.
b. Shall compile official records of the Council and its committees and commissions.
c. Shall be a co-signatory to the council’s bank account.
d. Shall be a co-signatory to all correspondence and documents of the councils
e. Shall be the custodian to all the Council’s documents and correspondence.
f. Any other duty as may be assigned by the President or Congress
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Article 33: THE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER (PRO)
a. Shall coordinate between the Council and the student body.
b. Shall promote programmes within the Council.
c. Shall be responsible for enquiries and inquiries upon consultation with the President and the Vice-President.
d. Shall be the communication link between the Council and the student body.
e. Any other duty as may be assigned by the President or Congress
Article 34: THE ORGANIZING SECRETARY
a. Be responsible for establishing, monitoring and coordinating field projects or activities.
b. Be responsible for developing, packaging, organizing and executing all programmes of the Council.
c. Be responsible drawing budget for specific programmes or activities.
d. Any other duty as may be assigned by the President or Congress
Article 35:.THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY/TREASURER
a. Be responsible for the proper management of the finances of the Council.
b. Ensure that proper books are kept and that all monies are accounted for.
c. Maintain a register for all assets of the council.
d. Present audited financial statement to Congress or as requested by the Executive Council or by resolution of Congress.
e. Present a budget to Congress at the beginning of every semester.
f. Assist Council’s representatives, in collection of monies before organized programmes by the Council.
g. Be a co-signatory of the Council’s bank account.
h. Any other duty as may be assigned by the President or Congress
Article 36: THE WELFARE OFFICER
a. Be responsible for the formation of a Welfare Committee in consultation with the Executive Council subject to approval of congress.
b. Preside over all Welfare Meetings and Counseling.
c. Interact with individuals and draft Welfare Promotional Programmes and activities for consideration at meetings.
d. Draft and determine from time to time Welfare benefits for members.
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e. Liaise with lecturers on the performance of the students and report standards to the Executive Council.
f. Mediate and counsel students on disciplinary issues and school code.
g. Any other duty as may be assigned by the President or Congress
Article 37: THE WOMEN’S COMMISSIONER
a. Be responsible for organizing the women in the University for Activities that seek to promote their welfare and well-being as women.
Article 38: THE LOCAL NUGS/GUPS REPRESENTATIVE
a. Be liaison between the University in all meeting of NUGS/GUPS and shall represent the University in all meetings of NUGS/GUPS, unless otherwise stipulated
. Article 39: THE EXECUTIVE OATH
a. All Executive Officers before commencing to perform the functions of an Executive member takes take and subscribe the Oath of Allegiance and the Executive Oath set out in the first schedule to this constitution.
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CHAPTER SIX SOURCES OF FINANCE FOR THE COUNCIL ARTICLE 40: FINANCE
a. The Council shall be financed through the following means:
b. Council dues charged to semester fees which shall be channeled into the account of the Council
c. Contributions by members of the Council
d. Proceeds from the Council’s projects
e. Donations with no string attached
f. Sponsorship
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CHAPTER SEVEN LOCAL NUGS/GUPS SECRETARIAT AND ITS DUTIES Article 41: LOCAL NUGS/GUPS SECRETARIAT
a. There shall be a Local NUGS/GUPS Secretariat which shall be deemed part of the Council of the University.
b. The Secretariat shall comprise of the Local NUGS/GUPS President, the Local NUGS/GUPS Secretary, Local NUGS/GUPS Treasurer and the Women’s Commissioner.
c. The Local NUGS/ GUPS Secretary and Treasurer shall be appointed by the Local NUGS/GUPS President with the approval of the Executive Council.
Article 42: DUTIES OF THE LOCAL NUGS/GUPS SECRETARIAT
a. The Local NUGS/GUPS Secretariat shall serve as a liaison between the Council and the National Secretariat.
b. The Local NUGS/GUPS Secretariat shall be accountable to the Council.
c. The Local NUGS/GUPS Secretariat shall make all correspondence of NUGS/GUPS public, for public consumption.
ARTICLE 43: DUTIES OF THE LOCAL NUGS/GUPS SECRETARY
a. Shall keep accurate records of all proceedings of the Local NUGS/GUPS Secretariat.
b. Shall compile official records of the Local NUGS/GUPS Secretariat
c. Shall be a co-signatory to all correspondence and documents of the Local NUGS/GUPS Secretariat
d. Shall be the custodian to all the Local NUGS/GUPS Secretariat’s documents and correspondence.
e. Be liaison between the University in all meeting of NUGS/GUPS and shall represent the University in all meetings of NUGS/GUPS, unless otherwise stipulated
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ARTICLE 44: DUTIES OF THE LOCAL NUGS/GUPS TREASURER
a. Be responsible for the proper management of the finances of the Secretariat
b. Ensure that proper books are kept and that all monies are accounted for.
c. Maintain a register for all assets of the secretariat.
d. Present a budget to the Executive Council through the Financial Secretary/Treasurer at the beginning of every semester.
ARTICLE 45: FINANCE The Local NUGS/GUPS Secretariat shall be financed through the following means:
a. Ten percent (10%) of all the Council’s fees charged to semester fees.
b. Donations with no string attached.
c. Sponsorships.
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CHAPTER EIGHT MEETINGS AND QUORUM Article 46: CONGRESS MEETINGS
a. Congress meetings shall take place at least twice every semester at a time and place to be determined by the Speaker of Congress.
b. Seven days notice shall be given to convene Congress meeting, stating the agenda, venue, date and times for such meetings.
c. The Speaker shall direct the Clerk to communicate all changes in Agenda, Venue, Date and Time or postponements of meetings to members.
d. Decisions of Congress
i. Decision taken by Congress shall be binding in their entirety.
ii. Recommendations shall be binding to the aims to be pursued but shall leave the choice of the appropriate method for achieving those aims to those whom the recommendations are addressed to.
e. Emergency Congress meetings may be convened at any time before the regular days of meeting when circumstances so justify.
f. Notwithstanding clauses (a) and (e) of this article, an extra-ordinary Congress meeting shall be conveyed after the general elections to vet and approve nominees for the appointment as Judicial Council and Congress Officers.
g. The Executive Council and the Judicial Council shall however meet as and when they deem fit.
Article 47: QUORUM
a. A quorum of Congress, apart from the person presiding shall be one –third of all members of Congress.
b. Quorum for Executive Council and Judicial Council shall be determined by them respectively.
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CHAPTER NINE CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS Article 48: CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS
a. All Clubs and Associations or Groups in the University shall be subject to the laws of the Council, within the frame work of the laws of the University.
b. Clubs, Associations or Groups that wish to hold any meetings or programmes shall first notify the Council
c. Any person or persons with the intention of forming a Club or an Organization shall first notify the Executive Council which shall forward their application with the Council’s recommendations to Management for approval.
d. The aims and objectives of such person or persons shall not be inconsistent with the laws of the Council and the University.
e. Clubs and Associations shall within ten (10) working days after re-opening submit their programme of activities for the semester to the Council through the Executive Council.
f. At least ten students can form a new Club or Association within the Council who shall submit their constitution, mission statement and their overall objectives to the Executive council for approval.
g. The mission statements of new Clubs and/or Associations shall conform to the overall mission statement of the University.
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CHAPTER TEN MISCELLENOUS Article 49: UNCONSTITUTIONAL PORTFOLIOS
a. The Council shall not recognize any leadership structure or designation erected into its fold by any establishment or authority within or outside its confines unless by due amendment of this Constitution.
b. The Council shall therefore dissociate itself from the utterances and actions of such persons.
Article 50: VOTING
a. All decisions at all levels of the Council shall be reached by consensus. Where this fails, voting shall be by simple majority of votes cast unless otherwise decided by this Constitution.
b. Members abstaining shall be considered as non-voting.
Article 51: STANDING ORDERS
a. The Executive Council, Congress, Judicial Council and all other committees/commissions of the Council shall adhere and be guided by the standing orders of the Council at all times.
b. The Standing Orders of the Council are clearly spelt out in the Standing Orders of Congress.
Article 51: COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY
a. All members of the Executive Council, Congress, Judicial Council and all other committees/commissions and delegations shall be jointly and severally responsible for any decision(s) they take.
b. Notwithstanding clause (a) above, satisfactory reason(s) may be accepted and member(s) exonerated from the consequence(s) arising out of a decision, action or omission on their part.
Article 52: RESIDUAL POWERS OF THE COUNCIL
a. Where on any matter or issue, no provision has been made for it in this Constitution, the Executive Council in consultation with the Judicial Council shall issue directives and provide for that matter or issue as it may deem fit.
b.
Article53: THE COUNCIL’S HANDING – OVER CEREMONY
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a. The Council’s Handing – Over Ceremony shall take place within Eight (8) weeks after elections.
b. The Ceremony shall be organized by both the Out – Going and the In – Coming Officers or an ad-hoc committee established to perform such task.
c. Both the Out – Going President and the In – Coming President shall address the gathering.
d. Notwithstanding clause (c) above, the organizers may invite other dignitaries to address the ceremony.
e. Swearing – In of new executive shall be done by the Out – Going Chief Justice or any other person appointed to do so.
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CHAPTER ELEVEN AMENDMENTS, BY-LAWS AND INTERPRETATIONS Article 54: AMENDMENTS AND AMENDMENT PROCEDURE ENSHRINED PROVISIONS
a. Subject to the provision of this constitution, Congress shall reserve the powers to amend the enshrined provisions of this constitution.
b. A proposal for an amendment to an enshrined provision of this constitution shall have at least the signatures of eleven Congress Members including that of the member moving for an amendment.
c. A proposal for an amendment shall be sent to Members of Congress at least two weeks before Congress meets.
d. The President and the Speaker shall be notified of the proposal of an amendment at least two weeks before Congress meets.
e. The Speaker shall notify the Clerk of Congress to make the amendment proposal part of the agenda of Congress meeting.
f. Congress shall discuss the amendment proposal to consider the merits of it.
g. An amendment shall take effect by two-thirds of the Congress Members present and voting.
h. Congress shall communicate its decision in a letter to the Executive Council and the Judicial Council.
ENTRENCHED PROVISIONS
i. Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, and Nine shall be considered as entrenched provisions.
j. A proposal for an amendment to an entrenched provision shall have the signatures of 50% of Congress Members including that of the member(s) moving for an amendment and 30 signatures of non-Congress Members from various classes (Diploma and Degree) and copied to both the Executive Council and Congress.
k. A proposal for an amendment of an entrenched provision shall be considered by the Executive Council and Congress.
l. The Executive Council and Congress upon consideration shall mandate the Judicial Council to make an independent opinion to Congress.
m. Pursuant to clause (l) above, the Executive Council shall appoint not more than four additional members to join the Judicial Council in its sittings on the amendment.
n. Upon the submission of the independent opinion of the Judicial Council, a Referendum shall be organized where applicable for the purpose of the amendment.
o. The Executive Council shall mandate the Electoral Commission to organize a Referendum within seven (7) days after the submission of the independent opinion by the Judicial Council.
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p. Entrenched provisions shall be duly amended by 70% majority of votes in favour of the total votes cast.
Article 55: BY-LAWS
a. This Constitution allows By-Laws which the Executive Council shall deem appropriate to promote the Council’s aims and objectives subject to Congress approval.
b. Where at any level, a by – law is found to be inconsistent with any provision of this Constitution, the Constitutional provision shall reign supreme.
Article 56: INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION
a. The Judicial Council shall reserve the power to interpret the provisions of this constitution whenever an ambiguity arises;
b. It shall also rule on matters in the Constitution which is silent, within the framework of the laws of the University.
c. Any such ruling or interpretation shall become a precedent and documented accordingly in a special file for that purpose until it is amended, annulled or reviewed in accordance with Article (54) of this Constitution
d. In this constitution unless the context otherwise requires
i. Article means an Article of this Constitution
ii. Council refers to the Students’ Representative Council
iii. Congress refers to the Parliamentary arm of the Council.
iv. Functions and duties refers to powers and responsibilities
v. Any pronouncement made in this constitution in the form of a pronoun shall be deemed to include female.
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FIRST SCHEDULE FORMS OF OATHS THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE I ……………………………………………………………………………………… do ( in the name of the Almighty God swear )(solemnly affirm) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Students’ Representative Council ( SRC) of the African University College of Communications (AUCC), as by law established: that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of the council; and that I will preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the council (so help me God). To be administered by the SRC President THE PRESIDENTIAL OATH I …………………………………………………………………………………………… having been elected to the high office of the SRC President of the Students’ Representative Council(SRC) of the African University College of Communication (AUCC) do ( in the name of God Almighty swear) (solemnly affirm) that I will be faithful and truthful to the Council; that I will at all times preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Council; and that I dedicate myself to the service and well-being of the students of AUCC and do rights to all manner of all persons. I further (solemnly swear) (solemnly affirm) that should I at any time break this oath of office I shall submit myself to the laws of the Council as well as the University and suffer the penalty for it. (So help me God) To be administered by the Chief Justice or any other person appointed to do so. THE VICE-PRESIDENTIAL OATHS I …………………………………………………………………………………………… having been elected to the high office of the Vice-President of the Students’ Representative Council(SRC) of the African University College of Communication (AUCC) do ( in the name of God Almighty swear) (solemnly affirm) that I will be faithful and truthful to the Council; that I will at all times preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Council; and that I dedicate myself to the service and well-being of the students of AUCC and do rights to all manner of all persons. I further (solemnly swear) (solemnly affirm) that should I at any time break this oath of office I shall submit myself to the laws of the council as well as the university and suffer the penalty for it. (So help me God)
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To be administered by the Chief Justice or any other person appointed to do so. THE EXECUTIVE OATH I.................................................................... do (in the name of God Almighty swear) (solemnly affirm) that I will at all times well and truly serve the SRC of the African University College of Communications (AUCC) in the office of ………………………………………… and that I will uphold, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and laws of the Council as by law established. (So help me God) To be administered by the Chief Justice. THE JUDICIAL OATH I.................................................................... having been appointed (Chief Justice or a member of the Judicial Council, do (in the name of God Almighty swear) (solemnly affirm) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the SRC of the African University College of Communications (AUCC) as by law established that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of the Council and that I will truly and faithfully perform the functions of my office without fear or favor, affection or ill will; and that I will at all times uphold, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and laws of the Council. (So help me God) To be administered by the SRC President before Congress. THE SPEAKER ‘S OATH I ……………………………………………………………………………………… do ( in the name of the Almighty God swear) (solemnly affirm) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Students’ Representative Council ( SRC) of the African University College of Communications (AUCC), as by law established: that I will uphold the integrity of the Council; and that I will faithfully and conscientiously discharge my duties as speaker of congress; and that I will uphold preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Council: and that I will do right to all manner of persons in accordance with the Constitution of the Council and the laws and conventions of Congress without fear or favor, affection or ill-will (so help me God). To be administered by the SRC President before Congress
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THE OATH OF MEMBER OF CONGRESS I …………………………………………………………………………………………… having been elected a Member of Congress of the Students’ Representative Council(SRC) of the African University College of Communication (AUCC) do ( in the name of God Almighty swear) (solemnly affirm) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Council; as by law established; that I will uphold preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Council; and that I will faithfully and conscientiously discharge the duties of a Member of Congress. (So help me God) To be administered by the Speaker of Congress THE OATH OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL I …………………………………………………………………………………………… having been appointed Auditor-General of the Students’ Representative Council(SRC) of the African University College of Communication (AUCC) do ( in the name of God Almighty swear) (solemnly affirm) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Council; that I will uphold, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Council; and that I will truly and faithfully perform the functions of my office without fear or favor, affection or ill-will(So help me God). To be administered by the SRC President before Congress
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SECOND SCHEDULE TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS
a. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution, all persons elected or appointed into any position or portfolio of the Council before coming into force of this Constitution, in anticipation of meeting the requirements of this Constitution shall be deemed to have acted for the purpose of this Constitution and shall be deemed to have been duly elected or appointed for the purpose of this Constitution.
b. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution, all activities and meetings of the Council carried out before the coming into force of this Constitution, in anticipation of meeting the provisions of this Constitution shall be deemed to have been duly done for the purpose of this Constitution.
c. This Constitution shall come into force on 30th January 2009
DATED ON THE 30th DAY OF JANUARY 2009 A.D IN ACCRA, GHANA UNDER THE HANDS OF; Signed SOLOMON OTOO CHAIRMAN (CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW COMMITTEE) AND Signed HENRY MARBELL SRC PRESIDENT (2008/2009 ACADEMIC YEAR)
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CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW COMMITTEE
1. Solomon Otoo Chairman
2. Antonio Asinyo Edem Kobby Secretary
3. Yirenkyi Opare-Akuffo Convener
4. Linda Mireku Member
5. Leslie Nii Anertey Tetteh Member
6. Dennis Moot Member

FACE AIDS AUCC Chapter inaugurated

2009-02-11T05:33:00.000-08:00

STORY BY: YIRENKYI OPARE-AKUFFO

A chapter of Face Aids, a Rewandan-based organization, has been inaugurated at the African University College of Communications (AUCC) to join the national response to HIV and AIDS.
The inauguration which took place at the premises of AUCC on Friday 6th February, 2009 was under the theme; “Fighting HIV and AIDS in Ghana, the role of students.”
The ceremony was held under the chairmanship of Prof. Absalom Mutere, Dean, Journalism and Communications of AUCC.
Opening the event, Prof. Mutere said, HIV and AIDS is an incurable disease which puts everybody at risk and said everybody must be cautious in order not to be infected. Prof. Mutere expressed concern about the high levels of HIV and AIDS cases in Africa and attributed that to high illiteracy rates, poverty and the high cost of anti-retroviral drugs.
Being an HIV and AIDS prevention activist himself, Prof. Mutere advised African communities to raise standards on moral attitude as a way of preventing HIV infections. “A society of high moral standards will surely win the fight against HIV and AIDS and other deviant behaviors.” He said.
Prof. Mutere added that, Face Aids (AUCC Chapter) should be given all the necessary support and encouragement to promote good dialogue to prevent HIV infection in Ghana and in other countries and promised his personal support towards that.
Prof. Mutere advised students to take active part in the activities of the club in order to help eradicate the gloomy picture that confronts the country today. He said that, as student Journalists, members of the club need to take the lead role in the fight against the pandemic since society depends on the media for information and advised students to put their hands on deck in order to win the war against HIV and AIDS. This he said, will secure a better society for the younger generation and the generations yet unborn.
In her address, the guest speaker, Miss Gladys Damalin, Program Officer of the Opportunities Industrialization Centres International (OICI), revealed the rather scary information that 63% of the world’s population living with HIV and AIDS are in Sub-Saharan Africa which is a great course for concern. By this statistics, according to Miss Damalin six out of every 10 people in Sub-Saharan Africa is living with HIV.
Yet another shocking revelation by Miss Damalin was that 250,000 people are living with HIV in Ghana of which 60% of them being women and 17,000 being children. Miss Damalin emphasized that these scary figures only represent the reported cases which means the number could be higher as a lot of cases are not reported.
She advised the youth to seek education, go for voluntary testing and counseling and encourage others to do the same.
Advising them also, she said they must desist from stigmatization and lead a responsible life since these are sure ways of reducing the disease if not to eradicate it.
Mr. Ato Amoaning-Anna, Associate Dean Diploma Program and Student Affairs of AUCC in a presentation said HIV was not given enough attention and coverage by the media when it was first detected leading to lack of information and awareness of the disease. He was however happy that the media houses are now giving much coverage to the pandemic which has created enough awareness of the disease.
Mr. Amoaning-Anna urged media houses to expand the coverage of HIV and AIDS and go into detail in their reportage on the issues of stigmatization, discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS among many others.
He encouraged journalists especially student journalists to be interested on how to report stories on HIV and AIDS. He said “it is only when you understand the language of the disease that you will be able to report on it accurately.” This will surely help solve or better still reduce the enormous problems that HIV and AIDS poses.
Mr. Dennis Moot the President of Face AIDS (AUCC Chapter), in his remarks said that HIV and AIDS is no respecter of persons and advised his colleagues to live upright lives since every body is at risk of the epidemic.
He appealed to stakeholders, opinion leaders, organizations, corporate institutions and individuals to support the efforts of Face Aids to win the fight against the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

MEDIA BRIEFING ON DISCRIMINATION

2008-10-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

Yirenkyi Opare-Akuffo

The Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) has organized a seminar to brief and sensitize media practitioners on Ghana’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Periodic Reports to the United Nations Committee on the eradication of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and recommended actions.

The seminar which was held at the Coconut Groove Hotel in Accra forms part of Ghana’s obligation to coordinate and ensure implementation of recommended actions by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other stake holders.

In an opening address delivered by Mr. V. T. Kuzuume, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs on behalf of the Deputy Minister, he said, Ghana has come very far as a country in addressing issues relating to women and children’s survival, protection and development and is still moving forward. A number of giant strides have been taken by Ghana in fulfillment of its national, regional and international communities, he said.

At the international level in particular, Mr Kuuzume said, Ghana demonstrated its commitment and political will by not only signing, ratifying various conventions, treaties, protocols, and resolutions but also through promulgation of laws and implementation of various strategies with the view to creating a society in which women enjoy full equality with men and the full realization of their rights as guaranteed under the Constitution and the laws of Ghana.

Mr.Kuzuune urged media practitioners to assist MOWAC and other stakeholders by actively participating by giving innovative and implementable strategies on how to communicate effectively to move the gender agenda forward to address issues of subtle discrimination against women and girls in the Ghanaian society.

Mrs. Doris Mawuse Aglobitse, The National Professional Officer, Advocacy and Resource Mobilization, representing the United Nations (UN) System said, Ghana ratified the United Nations Conventions on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against women without reservation in July 1986 and consequently submitted its initial and second Periodic reports in 1991, as required. In 2005, she said, Ghana further submitted its 3rd, 4th and 5th Periodic reports to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and defended these reports in August 2007.

Mrs. Aglobitse said the role of the UN in Ghana has been in the area of providing technical assistance as well as some funding to the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs and other NGOs in implementing programmes that are of benefit to women and girls. Currently, she said, the UN System has a joint programme with MOWAC on the implementation of the Domestic Violence law which was passed last year. Aspects of the programme dowel on awareness creation, capacity building for law enforcers and rehabilitation of abused victims.

Mrs. Aglobitse said, the UN System in Ghana will continue to provide support in these areas based on what the government presents as its area of priority.

Mrs. Marian .A. Tackie, Director of MOWAC in presenting the overview of the United Nations conventions on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and status of implementation said, CEDAW was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979 to reinforce the provisions of existing international instruments designed to combat the continuing discrimination against women. She said, CEDAW identifies many specific areas where there has been discrimination against women such as political rights, marriage and family employment. Mrs. Tackie continued that CEDAW spells out specific goals and measures that are to be taken to facilitate the creation of a global society in which women enjoy full equality with men and the full realization of their guaranteed human rights.

On Implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Mrs. Tackie said, Ghana ratified the CEDAW without reservation in July 1886. Ghana follows a dualistic approach towards the incorporation of treaties into domestic law. This means that international conventions need to be incorporated into domestic laws by legislation to give them full legal effect. She said, other provisions of CEDAW were complied with through review or amendment of existing legislations or promulgation of new legislations. Examples are the Domestic Violence Act and the Human Trafficking Acts which are in incompliance with UN Declaration on Elimination of all Forms of Violence against Women. Ghana has complied with its reporting obligation under the convention and submitted five periodic reports to the UN Committee on CEDAW. She said Ghana’s 6th and 7th reports are due in 2011.

Mrs. Tackie said, further action taken since the submission of its 3rd, 4th and 5th reports include, press reporting on Ghana’s presentation of it’s CEDAW reports to CEDAW Committee, printing of 3rd, 4th and 5th periodic reports and the other related document for dissemination to all stakeholders among many others. Mrs. Tackie further stated that certain measures have been taken in line with CEDAW periodic reports to increase women’s participation in politics and decision-making. She stated some of them as sensitization of and capacity building programmes for women to run for office are organized periodically. Also, a high level of consultative dialogue was organized as part of Ghana’s 50th anniversary under theme: “Enhancing participation of women in decision-making positions”. She added that political parties have also been urged to incorporate gender issues in their political agenda and to ensure that women participate in leadership on equal basis with men.

Ghana, Mrs. Tackie said, has taken concrete measures to translate various conventions, treaties and protocols Declarations and Resolutions relating to Gender Equality and Women and Children’s Rights to development into implementation policies, programmes. She said, a major constraint however, is the lack of adequate financial resources to translate all its commitment into desired measurable results. Mrs. Tackie said, with the injection of more financial inflows especially from the UN System funding agencies, Ghana would be able to achieve its development goals targets relating to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

ISHMAEL TAKES OVER

2008-10-01T04:56:00.000-07:00

Yirenkyi Opare-Akuffo

Ishmael Tweneboah-Kodua, a student of the University of Education, Kumasi Campus has been sworn-in as the 43^rd President of the National Union of Ghana Students. (NUGS)

The swearing-in took place during the NUGS handing-over ceremony which was held at the Sonat Court Hotel in East Legon here in Accra. The impressive ceremony was well attended by a lot of students across the length and breath of the country who were all eager to witness the solemn occasion.

Ishmael won the Presidency in a fiercely contested elections held at the University of Development Studies, Nyankpala Campus during the 42^nd annual delegates congress a month ago. He took over from Mr. Kweku Tuoho-Bombason. The other national officers sworn-in include Billy Jones Owusu, the General Secretary, Gabriel Adomako-the Financial Controller and Patrick Ayittah- the Coordinating Secretary. Also sworn-in are Daniel Thompson for the position of the Programs and Projects Secretary, Bahiratu Kamal as the Women’s Commissioner and Delali Pearce-Kporha sworn-in as the International Relations Officer. The rest are Banning Ahmed and Malik Abass Daabu sworn-in as Education and Democratization Secretary and Press & Information Secretary respectively. Simon Amanor, Kwaku Mensah John and Abdul Karim were also sworn-in by the new NUGS President to represent NUGS on the National Youth Council, GETFund and the All African Students Union respectively.

Mr. Kweku Tuoho-Bombason the out-gone NUGS President in his farewell speech paid a glowing tribute to the late Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu saying, the late Minister had been very supportive to his administration and NUGS in general.

Mr. Bombason said, the past NUGS year has been eventful, one carrying with it both memorable and regrettable ones. He said, “regrettable as some of those moments may be, they provided us with great learning opportunities that guided us in our resolve to ensure that the interests of our constituents were adequately protected”.

Mr. Bombason enumerated some of the successes chalked by his administration. He said, primary among them was the redefining of NUGS, which meant having a united student front capable of bargaining and lobbying strongly for its needs, a student front which will allow its internal structures to work, and one that will resolve its disputes without having to resort to media war thereby ridiculing its own leaders. He said it was through the hard work of his administration that NUGS now have a seven year strategic development plan that will serve as a blue print for the Union’s development, a new Constitution, and financial procedures manual to regulate the management of the Union’s finance.

Mr. Bombason said, it was under his leadership that NUGS got the international recognition that it deserved. He said, this was evident in the Union’s invitation and participation in a United Nations programme in the United States, a youth leadership programme at the Liverpool University in the United Kingdom, and Global University Network for Innovation –Africa programme in Nigeria. He also touched on the successful organization of the 42^nd National Delegates Congress which was recently held at the University for Development Studies on the theme; “Ensuring Peaceful, Free and Fair Election 2008; the Role of the Student”. He said all these and many more successes could not have been possible if not for teamwork and discipline on the part of national officers against the background that "I and my colleagues inherited a suspicious, image battered union", he said.

The out-gone NUGS President seized the opportunity to advise the in-coming national officers to make teamwork their habit, and to be wholly committed to the struggle for the students of Ghana. He reminded them of the need to leave above partisan politics as that some few years ago was the waterloo of the union but rather place the interest of the students of Ghana as their core business.

Mr. Bombason advised politicians to be more tolerant of each other and dissenting opinions, for he said, these are fundamental elements of a true democracy. He reiterated NUGS call on all well-meaning Ghanaians to put their hands on deck to ensure a successful election come December 7.

Ishmael Tweneboah-Kodua in his acceptance speech said, he and his colleagues are aware of the task ahead of them. He said moving the union forward in historic strides on her progressive path as the champion of students’ unity and freedom shall be a non-negotiable agenda. “Fellow students, he said, to respond is positive but to react is negative and so NUGS under my tutelage will not be a reactionary organization and will not take adhoc decisions.

Mr. Tweneboah-Kodua said, “the unprecedented overwhelming endorsement I received from students across Ghana at Nyankpala during our congress speaks volumes of the level of confidence my colleagues have in me. I cannot betray that trust and confidence reposed in me as well as my colleagues”.

He called on all other stakeholders to partner his administration because every support extended to us will be applied only to the benefit of the Ghanaian student in particular and Ghanaians in general. He said.

The Chairman for the occasion, Professor Nana Steve Sobotie advised the new executives to live above reproach and let their lives reflect their new responsibilities. He said they should first and foremost remember that they are students, and must therefore combine effectively their new roles as student leaders and their academic work. He said there is the need for them to change a lot of things about them especially the way they talk and relate to people.

Military must take over if……

2008-09-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

Yirenkyi Opare-Akuffo

Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso, a Research Fellow at the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA) has advocated for a military takeover in Ghana if there is any violence after the December 7 general elections.

He said a military takeover will be necessary to avert any calamity that may befall the nation after the December polls since all the political parties, especially the NPP and the NDC are claiming victory way ahead of the polls. He said if the political parties refuse to accept the results of the elections; the military must intervene for at least two years to restore law and order after which fresh elections will be organized.

Dr. Antwi-Danso was speaking in an exclusive interview with the Accra Daily Mail (ADM) on power sharing in Africa and a possible power sharing arrangement in Ghana, as the country holds crucial elections in three months time.

On the likelihood of electoral crisis erupting in Ghana before, during or after the December polls that could lead to power sharing Dr. Antwi-Danso said, it is possible but not probable for an electoral dispute to arise after the December polls considering the entrenched positions the political parties have taken especially the ruling NPP which is looking for a historic third term and the NDC which has also promised to reject any result that will give victory to the NPP.

He was quite unequivocal. He told ADM that should there be an electoral crisis in Ghana after the December polls which threatens peace and stability, the military must takeover to save lives and property but said it is not a probability for electoral dispute to erupt after the polls because of Ghanaians’ compassion for one another and willingness to let go in the name of peace.

On the issue of why there are so many electoral disputes in Africa, Dr.Antwi-Danso said the Westminster/presidential type of governance where the winner takes all or first-past-the-post is not favourable and proving to be difficult in Africa because of the economic and ethno-political mosaic of the African people. Neo-patrimony, in which an office of power is used for personal use and gain, as opposed to a strict division of the private and public spheres or corruption are contributory factors to electoral crisis in Africa.

The politics of vengeance, said Dr. Antwi-Danso, and vindictiveness are other factors contributing to electoral violence in Africa. He cited Ghana as an example where the NDC will want to win power by all means so as to be able to imprison NPP functionaries because the former claims the latter has imprisoned its members, the latest being Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata.

He said a critical factor is that politics in Africa has become a conduct not for service but for luxury and fame and therefore everybody wants to get there through fair or foul means. Africa therefore must re-look at the type of democracy that it needs to suit Africa’s own specificities. “This is the only sure way Africa and for that matter Africans can enjoy economic and political stability and prosperity” he said.

He advised politicians to always seek the interest of the nation and the people they seek to lead first, instead of putting their own parochial interests ahead of everything.

Power sharing in Ghana?

2008-09-09T03:56:00.000-07:00

Yirenkyi Opare-Akuffo

The peace and tranquility that our country has enjoyed over the past years will indeed stand the test of time come December 7 when Ghana goes to the polls.

The world will be waiting to see if Ghana will continue to be the pacesetters and take its democracy a step further or will crumble like many African countries which include Kenya and currently Zimbabwe.

It is indeed significant to note that Ghana had gone through four general elections successfully and peacefully. Indeed one will not be wrong to say that Ghana is a peaceful nation in the troubled Sub-Saharan Africa. If Ghana is peaceful, then the question that readily comes to mind is what is peace?

Peace can be a state of harmony or the absence of hostility. "Peace" can also be a non-violent way of life. "Peace" is used to describe the end of a violent conflict. Peace can mean a state of quiet or tranquility — an absence of disturbance or agitation. Peace can also describe a relationship between any people characterized by respect, justice, and goodwill. Peace can describe calmness, serenity, and silence. This latter understanding of peace can also pertain to an individual's sense of himself or herself, as to be "at peace" with one's own mind. Peace can be also the living of the family calmly together without any quarrels.

If this is what peace is all about then, we can say that Ghana is in the safe zone. It is also refreshing to see and hear all the political parties contesting in this year’s general elections in December 7 preaching peace and the need to tolerate diverging and dissenting views since democracy is all about agreeing to disagree

Proponents of the democratic peace theory argue that strong empirical evidence exists that democracies never or rarely make war against each other. However, recent developments especially on the political arena, give us something to be concerned of.

Just last week, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Presidential Running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumiah was in Tamale in the Northern Region to campaign for his party and there was a clash between the supporters of the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which left at least seven people dead and several others injured and displaced not forgetting the massive damage to properties worth thousands of Ghana cedis. Not long ago, the Presidential Candidate of the opposition NDC was reported to have said that, he and his party will not accept anything than victory in the forthcoming general elections, since there is every indication that the ruling NPP have failed and Ghanaians will reject them come December 7. He was reported to have said that, if the NDC does not win, “There will be Kenya in Ghana”. Indeed, we are all witnesses to the bitter experiences the Kenyans went through after their disputed Presidential elections in December 27, 2007. The violence that erupted after that disputed elections claimed thousands of precious and innocent lives and caused extensive damage to properties.

Reports from the camp of the ruling NPP also suggests they are not ready to relinquish power, since they claim their government under President Kuffour has done marvelously well economically, politically and socially and therefore looking forward for a historic third term to continue with their good policies. The NPP also claims that they have discovered oil in commercial quantities and must therefore stay in power to manage the oil revenue effectively and efficiently.

Equally disturbing is the rigging scare ex-President Rawlings continues to spread around thereby calling on the supporters of the NDC to reject any result of the election that will declare the NPP as the victors.

This development in our political arena indeed leaves much to be desired. It is these same politicians who go about preaching peace yet again the same politicians are preconditioning the minds of their teaming supporters to reject the results of the polls when it does not go in their favour. What a contradiction!

It is interesting to note that, the two major political parties in Ghana, thus the NPP and the NDC are accusing each other of planning to rig the forthcoming December 7 elections so as to win power. It is equally interesting that both the NPP and NDC are claiming victory ahead of the December polls. This situation indeed threatens the rather young democracy we seek to guide jealously.

Considering the entrenched position taken by the two major players in our political game ahead of the December polls, one begins to wonder if the two major parties are beginning to sing the chorus of power sharing which seems to be the new trend in the African politics.

The questions that readily come to mind are among others, is Ghana prepared for a parliamentary system of government, where we have a President who is the head of state and a Prime Minister who is the head of government? Do we have the resources as a nation to support this type of government? Will the NPP agree to share power with the NDC when they win power and vice-versa? Who then become the President and the Prime Minister? Since Ghana has a peculiar problem where none of the Presidential Hopefuls is a sitting President. Where will the executive powers reside? With the President or the Prime Minster? How many people will have to die before the power sharing agreement is brokered? This is because thousands of people died both in Keyan and Zimbabwe before the power sharing agreement was reached. In the event of power sharing, who will become the Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces? The President or the Prime Minster? Who will be the boss?

With all these questions unanswered, our politicians especially the Presidential candidates of the two major political parties should spare us the agony of Keyan and currently Zimbabwe.

As Ghana decides come December 7 , all we can say is God save Ghana.

Student leader decries indiscriminate posting of posters

2008-09-09T03:11:00.000-07:00

Yirenkyi Opare-Akuffo

The President of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the African University College of Communications (AUCC), Mr. Henry Marbell, has expressed concern about politicians pasting their campaign posters around the country indiscriminately.

He said they are behaving as though there are no rules and regulations covering the pasting of posters, especially in Accra, the national capital. He said the practice “has made the streets an eye sore and does not give a good impression about us to people visiting Ghana for the first time.”

Mr. Marbell said it is disheartening to see politicians, who are seeking the mandate of the people to lead and therefore should know better offending against bylaws. Politicians, he said, violate the bylaws of the district assemblies with impunity, “and yet expect the citizens to be law abiding”.

He called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to ensure that bylaws are enforced and advised politicians and event organizers to employ other forms of modern communication to drum home their messages.

Mr. Marbell said leadership is by example and so politicians seeking the people’s mandate “should not take us for granted but rather abide by simple rules and regulations”.

NUGS elects new President

2008-09-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Yirenkyi Opare-Akuffo

The National Union of Ghana Student (NUGS) has elected Ishmael Tweneboah-Kodua a student of the University of Education-Kumasi Campus as the president of the union for the 2008-2009 NUGS year.

At elections held during the 42^nd annual residential delegates’ congress of the NUGS at the University for Development Studies-Nyankpala Campus, Tweneboah-Kodua polled an overwhelming 252 votes representing 53.96% to clinch the presidency, thus becoming the 43^rd NUGS President.

The congress was themed: “Ensuring Peaceful, Free and Fair Elections 2008: The Role of the Student”.

Kofi Boateng, a former treasurer of NUGS in the 2006-2007 academic year and currently a student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism, managed a disappointing 156 votes representing 33.4% of total votes of 467, placing second to Tweneboah-Kodua.

Edward Awunnore, Hakeem. H. Hamisu and Malik Cheno, the other contenders of the presidency only secured 37, 14 and 6 votes respectively. Two votes were however rejected.

Meanwhile, Billy Jones Owusu from the University for Development Studies-Nyankpala Campus has been elected General Secretary of NUGS. Owusu secured 317 votes out of a total of 467 representing 67.88% to beat his contender Maxwell. Z. Agbambilla a student of the University of Ghana-Legon, City Campus who managed 145 votes representing 31.05%.

With the Financial Controller portfolio, Gabriel Adomako beat his two other contenders with 214 votes as against 151 and 99 votes for Ernest Asare and Zimblim Saaka respectively. Two votes were rejected from total votes of 466.

Patrick Ayittah, a former student of Jayee Institute and the out-going President of the Ghana Union of Professional Students (GUPS) was elected the Coordinating Secretary with 215 votes from total votes of 466. His contenders, Daniel Dotse Yao from the University of Ghana-Legon and Samuel Afriyie from GIJ secured 140 and 106 votes respectively.

Daniel Thompson of the University of Ghana, Legon, secured the mandate of the Programs and Projects Secretary with 268 votes.

Ophelia Akosua Brantuo of the University of Education, Kumasi Campus, could not stand the heat from her contender, as she succumbed to Bahiratu Kamal by losing with 167 votes as against Bashiratu’s 296 votes from a total of 467 votes cast.

Delali Pearce-Kporha outpaced his contenders with 247 votes to clinch the position of the International Relations Officer of NUGS.

The Education and Democratization Secretary and the Press & Information Secretary which were contested unopposed went to Banning Ahmed and Malik Abass Daabu respectively.

Simon Amanor, Kwaku Mensah John and Abdul Karim all secured the mandate to represent NUGS on the National Youth Council, GETFund and the All African Students Union respectively.

Meanwhile, James Hamilton who lost the position of treasurer by a single vote has filed a petition challenging the results as to why total votes cast summed up to 470 instead of 467.

Zenith College holds matriculation

2008-08-19T03:05:00.000-07:00

“Be the change you want to see”

Zenith College holds matriculation

Yirenkyi Opare-Akuffo

The President of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of Zenith College, Mr. Faisal Ibrahim has advised the youth of the country to use dialogue and non-violence in addressing their grievances for that, he said, is the only way of reaching a consensus and finding amicable solutions to disagreements.

He was speaking at the Sixth Matriculation and “Akwaaba” Week Celebration of Zenith College in Accra on the theme of “Be the change you want to see”.

The SRC President said gone are the days when students used radical and violent means in addressing their grievances which let to mayhem and in the extreme cases loss of precious lives and damage to properties.

He urged the youth to reject any politician who will preach violence in the forthcoming December elections. This he said “is the only way we can be the change that we want to see”.

Mr. Lawrence Nyarko, the Dean of Students said, the theme for the occasion could not have been more appropriate. He said “If the freshmen and women want to be the change that they want to see, they should be serious with their academic work, and go beyond classroom work to acquire more knowledge in order to cause the change that they want to see”.

Mr. Davis Nii Armah, a guest speaker at the celebration, advised the youth to change their attitude and believe in themselves. “If nobody believes in you, you will surely succeed but if you do not believe in yourself, then you are bound to fail, so believe in your capabilities and abilities” he said.

Kwabena Osei Kuffour a musician known popularly as ‘Obour’ said life did not begin at forty of said but life begins now. He said anybody who believes life begins at forty is a failure. “The youth hold the key to our national development”

He encouraged the students to take active part in school activites especially student politics so as to be politically mature to take up higher political responsibilities after school.

He advised the students to be law abiding especially as Ghana decides in December and do away with any politician who does not preach peace. “Be the change that Ghana needs not the change that greedy politicians need” he said.

Traffic lights or Decoration Poles

2008-08-12T03:20:00.000-07:00

Away from the politics of running mates to the politics of…

Traffic

Lights

As a measure of our underdevelopment. Why don’t they work? Who is in charge?

Who pays for the accidents caused by faulty ones? No answers from AMA, the Police, Urban Roads and signalling companies…

An Accra Daily Mail (ADM) Special Survey by Yirenkyi Opare-Akuffo and Mary Samini

In this election year, any presidential candidate who can assure the Ghanaian electorate that they can make traffic lights work, would most definitely win many votes from the thousands of motorists and pedestrians who have become victims of the country’s non-performing traffic lights. Traffic lights in the national capital and other cities are often at best mere unsightly decorations and at worst instruments of confusion, destruction and death.

A simple invention, but one of the most inspired in human history, traffic lights are everywhere. They are to cities, towns and villages, what valves are to the human heart. Without them, there would be no controlled pulse to modern human habitation and life itself would be threatened. With only three colours, green, amber and red, traffic lights direct movements of cars, trains, human beings and just about anything that moves in human settlements with motorized means of transport. They were invented in the last century by an African American at a time when modern cities were beginning to experience “jams” between cars, humans, horse-drawn carriages and trains. Traffic lights, without doubt, can be described as the heart of the modern human settlement. In a sense, traffic lights are a measure of a society’s civilized behavior.
They are signaling devices positioned at a road intersections, junctions, level crossings, pedestrian crossings or any location that requires orderly and ordered movement. They are found all over the world and in Ghana there are about 138 signalized systems in the capital, Accra. This number, many transport and traffic experts, say is totally inadequate for a city the size of Accra.

Though the Ghanaian figures are unimpressive, many problems continue to be associated with the few traffic lights in Ghanaian cities which compound human and vehicular traffic in the country. Traffic light locations have become sites of terrible smash-ups leading to serious injury and destruction of automobiles. In a survey conducted by ADM, it was clear that traffic lights in the national capital just don’t work and some have been out of commission for months on end without being repaired or replaced.

When ADM took up the issue with Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Daniel Julius Avorga, Commanding Officer of the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, he said the police are not responsible for the installation and management of the traffic lights in the country.

He told ADM that “FACOL and Signals and Controllers Limited are responsible for the maintenance of the traffic light” in the city.

ACP Avorga said the police have been reporting the cases of faulty traffic lights to the two companies but “keep on receiving the same complaints of power fluctuations, hit and run drivers, obsolete spare parts and thieves stealing parts of the lights making replacements very difficult.”

Asked why the police are not present at the locations where traffic lights do not work, he attributed this to lack of manpower in the police service. This has led to the often dangerous and embarrassing presence of bedraggled unemployed youths “volunteering” and taking over those locations to direct traffic whilst at the same time badgering motorists for money.

On that, he told ADM that such “volunteers” are being arrested and some of them have been prosecuted and made fined GH¢ 60 (600,000 old cedis). Hardly a solution to the problem.

The ACP also disclosed that some of the volunteer wardens were drug addicts. “When twelve of them were put under observation”, he said “they were found to be suffering from withdrawal symptoms.” He advised all road users to be cautious on the roads especially where traffic lights are not working and pleaded with the public and other stakeholders in traffic management to appreciate the efforts of the police and cooperate with them to make the roads safe for all.

The press, he said, should also be circumspect and stop reporting only on the negative aspects of police work.

When then the PRO of the AMA was contacted he lamented saying, “I am sorry we are not responsible for the traffic lights, but go to urban roads and they would help you”. Mr. Theodore Quaye, the Accra Metro Roads Traffic Engineer of the Department of Urban Roads told ADM that most of the traffic lights in the capital are not working because they have outlived their useful life spans of 10 to 15 years.

Because of this problem, he said, their parts are out of production. “Even where you are lucky enough to get some of the spare parts of these obsolete traffic lights, they are very expensive as compared to replacing the traffic lights entirely,” he said.

The Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) frequent and constant power fluctuations, he explained, also lead to the failure of the traffic lights.

The traffic lights, he said, can take 230 volts but sometimes go under voltage and over voltage resulting in the burnout of the circuits of the lights.

“Hit and run drivers” he also claimed “are also a major source of the problem.”

Mr. Quaye, however said, traffic lights in Accra are being changed from the incandescent bulbs to light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs which are cost effective and energy saving.

He said so far about 25 of the traffic lights have been replaced with LED and very soon the whole of Accra will be covered.

He revealed that there is a project soon to be started by the Department of Urban Roads where all the traffic lights will be changed under an area-wide signal control for Accra.

The fund for the project, he said, has been secured by the government, and it is expected to be completed by 2012.

“Under this project, all the 138 signalized systems in Accra will be computerized, monitored and controlled from one control room…This means the issue of non-functional traffic lights will soon be a thing of the past,” he said.

Mr. Leonard Casely –Hayford, the Managing Director of Signals and Controllers Limited, one of the two companies contracted to manage and maintain the traffic lights in Accra also confirmed the problems enumerated by the Accra Metro Roads Traffic Engineer, but said technology is leaving Ghana behind “and we should try to catch up with the rest of the world.”

Traffic lights in Ghana should be state-of-the-art technology as in other parts of the world.

“Non-functional traffic lights will soon be history,” he said.

But the question still remains: Who is in charge of Accra’s traffic lights? Who takes responsibility for locations where traffic lights don’t work? Who pays for the accidents that arise due to faulty traffic lights?

Another question, which touches very deeply into the Ghanaian psyche is why don’t Ghanaians respect traffic lights? Ghanaian drivers drive to beat traffic lights not to obey them. Amber to the Ghanaian motorist means “speed up” instead of “prepare to stop”. As the society grapples with the problems of non-performing traffic lights, the indiscipline of the traffic light cheating driver also imposes its own problems. The simple traffic light could after all be the best yardstick of our level of underdevelopment…

WELCOME MARBELL, WE LOVE YOU

2008-07-09T04:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, 8th July, 2008 was the day AUCC students went gay. The Reason? Marbell was elected S.R.C President that special day. We drunk and danced the whole night with our jubilation knowing no bounds.
May God bless this fine Tuesday when all AUCC went gay. We say Marbell we love akwaaba awaawaatuu.
We say may you find favour with the Lord. May your reign be filled with success. We promise you today of our unflinching support for your Presidency. We say Congratulations. Ayikoo. Mo ne oko pa a woa ko awie. Berima Katakyie ye ma wo amo ne adwuma den. Wo se na wo fata enti ko so ara na di wo hene.
Welcome and we love you

MARBELL IS THE PRESIDENT

2008-07-09T04:20:00.000-07:00

Marbell Henry was yesterday, 8th July, 2008 elected the S.R.C President of AUCC for the 2008/2009 academic year in an election held in the school.
Marbell who is also known as IGWE emerged as the winner of the Presidential election polling 139 votes from a total of 251 valid votes cast representing 55.4% with his contender, Asinyo Edem Kobina Antonio managing only 112 votes representing 44.6%
Ironically both men have been the best of friends for some years now.

The result came as no surprise as Marbell was widely expected to win and it is worthy of note that Antonio gave Marbell a run for his money. The election which was keenly contested, with both candidates virtually sitting on thorns, started at about 8:30am with low voter turnouts in the early hours of the day but later picked up.
By the results of the elections, Marbell becomes the sixth S.R.C President of AUCC with the elections going down into history books as one of the most fiercely contested between two fine gentlemen who are the best of friends.

Meanwhile, Fiifi Ninson Botchway was elected Vice President with 141 votes representing 56.2% against Bertha Eyram’s 102 votes representing 40.6% with 8 rejected votes representing 3.2%. Frederick Takyi also succumbed to his contender managing a disappointing 99 votes of total valid votes cast representing 39.4%. His contender, Bernard Attiah Donkor popularly known as Bananey secured 145 votes representing 57.8% to clinch the Organizer position with 7 rejected votes representing 2.8%

With the General Secretary/Public Relations Officer portfolio, Linda Mireku beat her other three contenders massively, as she secured 167 votes representing 66.5% with her closest contender Wendy Marfo, a late entrant managing 31 votes representing 12.4%. Eunice Raquel Antwi-Adjei and Jonnel Dotse were a disappointment securing 26 and 20 votes representing 10.4% and 7.9% respectively. 7 votes representing 2.8% were rejected. On the other hand, Ruby Azalatey was not able to stand the heat as she gave way to her contender by losing the Welfare Officer portfolio with 109 votes representing 43.4% to Ella Nongo who scored 55.8% translating into 140 votes. 2 ballots were rejected representing 0.8%

The other positions were however contested unopposed. The Women’s Commissioner went to Nana Ama Banful, who polled 204 votes and the Local GUPS/NUGS President going to David Kweku Babayara, securing 220 representing 81.2% and 87.6% respectively. Frederick Duodu however secured 224 votes representing 89.2% to clinch the Financial Secretary.

The election was free, fair and transparent and I commend the electoral Commission for a job well done. At the close of polls 251students out of a total number of 329 on the voters register cast their votes representing a voter turnout of 76.3% which is highly commendable.

LEADERSHIP CREDENTIALS

2008-06-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

I was class prefect in primary five and six and a compound over-seer at Oda Wesley Primary School from 1995-1996

I became the assistant class prefect in JSS One, then rose the class prefect position in JSS Two and Three respectively and a sectional leader/house prefect in my final year, at Oda Wesley JSS from 1997-1999.

I became an assistant class prefect for two academic terms at Koforidua Sec/Tech School in the 2000-2001 academic year.

I then became a class prefect from secondary school form one to first term form three at Akim Swedru secondary School. I rose to the position of Head Prefect, became a member of my school’s SRC and subsequently got elected as a Regional Trustee of the Eastern Regional Students’ Representative Council (ERSRC). I was the President of my school’s branch of the National Union of Presbyterian Students of Ghana at Akim Swedru Secondary School in the 2002-2003 academic year.

Currently, I am the Class Rep. of the first year students noon session of the African University College of Communications (AUCC). I am also the Domestic Projects Coordinator of the Journalists for Human Rights Chapter of AUCC.

I am also the Regional Coordinator for Programmes & Administration of the ERSRC and the General Secretary of the Conference of Heads of all Regional SRCs. I am also the ERSRC’S Representative on the Federation of Youth Associations of Ghana (FEDYAG) Eastern Regional Branch.

AUTHOBIOGRAPHY OF YIRENKYI

2008-06-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

THE BOY IN HIS YESTERDAYS

Yirenkyi Opare – Akuffo was born on the 11th day of March, 1984 to Akuapem parents, Nana Kwaku Opare - Akuffo and Juliet Akua Obiribea Asante as father and mother respectively, from Akropong – Akuapem and Mamfe-Akuapem respectively in the eastern region of Ghana.

I had a very humble beginning starting from the Local Authority (L.A) nursery school at Suhum also in the eastern region where I stayed in that department for only six months and was transferred to Wamfie in the Brong Ahafo Region to join my father and my step-mother. As a child I was particularly interested in sports especially football but due to ill-health I had to forego my ambition of becoming a great football star.
When I got to class one, my father traveled to Nigeria and my step-mother sought transfer to her home town, a village called Anamase in the eastern region. My step-mother was taken ill short after our arrival in the village and my father also met a lot of misfortunes in Nigeria. Life became so difficult for me and my siblings and the future was so bleak for us. All this while I was just seven years old. But I never lost hope as I had faith in God. And it was the timely intervention of my grand mother that saw my self and my siblings back in school again.

My father returned from Nigeria three years later and we moved from Anamase to Akim Oda. In a new community, and a town for that matter I could not find my bearings until some months. At the Birim LA primary school I became the main topic for discussion as a boy from the village, I settled so fast and begun to dictate the academic terms of my class thus class four. Unfortunately, the school was just to see only one year of me as I was transferred to another school, Oda Wesley Primary school.

In my new school my academic prowess began to show as I was nominated class prefect of my class thus class five three weeks after reporting. My interest in extra curricular activities saw me joining the drama troop. That same year my school joined other Methodist schools in the district and in fact Ghana to celebrate John Wesley Day. My school was asked to perform a play depicting the calling of John Wesley-the founder of Methodism. I was given the responsibility of acting the role of John Wesley. With my quest to make an impact everywhere I find my self, I acted it so well that I was quickly called John Wesley even by The Reverend Ministers right after the programme.

In primary six, I was nominated by my teachers for the post of compound over-seer a position I handled to the admiration of all my teachers. I also became the overall second best student that same academic year thus the 1995-1996 academic year. I graduated to Oda Wesley Junior Secondary School (JSS) now Junior High School (JHS). There we were asked to write an entrance examination, and yet again I came out as the third best student out of 150 applicants. After two weeks in JSS/JHS 1 I was elected the assistant class prefect. In JSS/JHS 2, I was unanimously elected the class prefect due to my hard work and the desire of always making an impact and serving as role model to my colleagues. It was therefore no surprise when I was elected house prefect/sectional leader in my final year while I was still the class prefect. Yet again my academic prowess showed when I was the joint best student of my school after the release of the results of the 1999 Basic Education Certificate Examinations.

I gained admission to Koforidua Secondary/Technical School in 2000 to purse General Arts. As fate will have it, the long and icy hands of misfortune caught up with me once again as my father lost his job. This made it impossible for me to pay my school fees and as a result spent only two academic terms in the school. I then went to stay at home with the idea that I have become a school drop out and my dreams and aspirations shattered. It air worth noting that even with my short stay at Koforidua Secondary/Technical School, I was the assistant class prefect and a member of the school’s drama troop. I was also part of the contingent that represented my school and won the 43rd Independence Day March Past Award in the Eastern Region.

Lady luck however smiled on me the following academic year as my grand father secured a scholarship for me. This enabled me to get back to school again, however to repeat the class and in a different school-Akim Swedru Secondary School (AKISSS) in 2001. I immediately announced my presence in the school as soon as I was admitted by contesting in the then weekly debate organized by the Junior Graphic and won the first prize. That made me the toast of both teachers and students and was immediately elected the class prefect. Few weeks later, I led a team of first years as a Principal Speaker in a debate contest against the second years and won handsomely. I was then given the huge responsibility of leading my school’s debate team into challenging the best debating school in the Birim South Distict now Birim Central Municipality, Oda Secondary School. My resolve to always be among the best if not the best, and the desire to always make an impact motivated me into the battle. This time around, the status-quo changed and we emerged the victors. It is also worth mentioning the record I set in the in the school and still hold. I came out tops for two unprecedented academic years only dropping to the third position in my final year.

In my third year, I had to resign as the class prefect because I was elected the head prefect or school prefect and by default became an executive member of the students’ representative council. I was also elected the President of the National Union of Presbyterian Students’ of Ghana (NUPS-G) branch in my school. The student activism in me wouldn’t let me rest until I contested and won emphatically as the first Zone Five Trustee of the Eastern Regional Students’ representative Council (ERSRC) with eleven secondary schools under my jurisdiction all in the 2002-2003 academic year. I also led my school’s team into a constitutional week celebration quiz organized by the District Directorate of the National Commission on Civic Education of the Birim South Disrict Assembly now the Birim Central Municipality for all the seven secondary schools now senior high schools which my school came out tops.

I taught as a pupil teacher after secondary school at Mawuli International School at Akim Oda from September 2003 to May 2004. There again my leadership instincts showed as I was nominated to act as the secretary of Parent-Teacher Association (PTA). I was nominated as the staff secretary and as the head of the examinations committee.

My bid to excel in communication motivated me to enroll at NIIT in 2004 to study computer networking since I believe communication and Information Technology go hand-in-hand. I graduated in 2006 with an Honors Diploma in Network Engineering.
For me, I have always maintained that position is not an end but indeed a means to an end.

THE BOY IN HIS TODAYS

My desire to cause a positive change in the lives of students in Ghana and the eastern Region in particular sent me back to the region in August 2007 to contest the post of Regional Coordinator in charge of Programmes & Administration which I won convincingly. Barely two and a half months later I was unanimously elected the General Secretary of the Conference of Heads of all Regional SRCs. By dint of the fact that I am the Regional Coordinator of ERSRC, I represent the ERSRC on the Federation of Youth Associations of Ghana (FEDYAG). I was a member of the team that represented all Regional SRCs at the 41st National Congress of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) in August last year at the University of Education, Winneba. This I did in my position as Regional Coordinator-Programmes & Administration.

As a student of the African University College of Communications (AUCC) where I have enrolled to pursue a two-year diploma in communications, I have equally paid my dues as a student in activism. In just two weeks of admission, I was unanimously nominated as the class representative a position I am still holding. Just a little over one month after my admission, I was identified by the Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) a club in the school and subsequently nominated to the position of Domestic Projects Coordinator. A position I have held till now and have discharged my duties effectively and efficiently. I was also identified to be a member of the committee that drafted the constitution of JHR. This I did with the support of people like Henry Marbell as the chairman, Dela Odoo a member, Susuana Ago as the secretary and Fiifi Botchway also a member. The work was done within three weeks. People both internally and externally including Mr. Kofi Attoh, an Accra based Lawyer and a Lecturer of AUCC has described the constitution as one of the best he has seen.

I have fairly represented AUCC on several students’ platforms including the Ghana Union of Professional Students (GUPS) re-union night at NAFTI in Accra, the GUPS central committee meeting at the Trans Africa College also in Accra and the Emergency NUGS congress at the University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana. Also worthy of note is that I was part of the first year debate team that beat the second years’ in a debate competition during the “Akwaaba Week” celebration to formally welcome the freshers into the university fraternity. I was also a member of AUCC’S debate team that trashed JAYEE Institute during the SRC’S Women’s Week celebration of the former.

I have participated in some club activities. These clubs include the Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) and the Institute of Public Relations (IPR) AUCC Chapter though I am yet to join the later.

I was a member of the students’ delegation which attended the funeral of the late Phidelia Alornyeku a student of AUCC who died after a short illness.

MY TOMORROW

I stand at the bank of the river and shout “floret” “floret” for the today I see shall be seen no more. What I welcome is my tomorrow and with a beam of smile, I embrace it with all the goodness it brings. I also say when you dream, dream big. For the dream may come true.
Yirenkyi Opare - Akuffo

Yirenkyi believes the future is today’s contribution and that what one does in future is only the completion of what one has started yesterday. This conviction has necessitated why I believe I am going to continue with my student’s service. I wish to cease the opportunity to state here that I am neither an opportunist nor seeking my selfish desire, but partisan I only desire to cause a positive change wherever I find my self and to make a strong impact as well as be a source of inspiration and motivation to others...

My greatest desire is to become a communication expert in human rights reporting, an international lawyer, and work with any international organization that is into human rights issues. I wish also to be a great and vibrant politician to continue causing positive change in people’s lives.

Personal Ideologies: Personally I believe that the African is his own enemy as a result of the number of coup de tars which only retard development and progress. But I also do believe Africa’s problems have been blown out of proportion and that we, are just like other people, on the earth surface. Every country and continent has challenges. Those challenges of the African continent could be solved by the very Africans and that the Brotonwood societies are only helping us to compound our challenges whiles they whitewash their own. I am a socialist and do believe there should be an equal access to national assets and worth.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT, FOR THE BEAUTIFUL GIRL.

2008-06-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

U beautiful girl you must be vigilant. Always take care of yourself. For men have only deceptive tongues. Their sayings are not consistent with their characters. Their tongues are as sweet as honey and you are like a big drum every one wants to beat. Boys will pretend they love you but deep, deep in their hearts they don’t love you. They only want to have their way with you. Wait upon the lord for the right time. For sure, God has a project for your life. And remember the motor of men and boys; thus love is the name and sex is the game so forget the name and play the game. Be wise my beautiful girl.

When life makes you to put up with mean and hateful people, just think of them as sand paper. They may scratch you and rub you the wrong way, but you end up smooth and polished; and the sun paper would be worn out and ugly. Beautiful girl, love your enemies it will drive them crazy.

YOU BEAUTIFUL GIRL

2008-06-03T06:48:00.000-07:00

1. U beautiful girl, indeed you are beautiful. There was a great vacuum created in my life, which I thought no man or woman conceived of a woman can fill it. But I was wrong after all. All of a sudden I felt the vacuum being filled I though I was day dreaming but it was real. You were there to fill the vacuum for me. You beautiful girl indeed you are God sent.
2. U beautiful girl indeed you are beautiful. My whole world came to a stand still, when I was deserted by the person that I have ever loved with all my heart, my soul, body and everything within me. My whole life became meaningless and life was nothing to me any longer. But then you brought light and hope back into my life. You gave me a reason to live as a normal man again. You beautiful girl, you brought meaning into my life; you are the source of my joy and happiness. Indeed you beautiful girl, you are the life line to my dead line.
3. U beautiful girl indeed you are beautiful. I was deserted and rejected by everybody around me especially those I loved most. The whole world rejected me, and everything in this world also rejected me. I was lonely and had no body to talk to, no body to give me warm embrace, and nobody to love and care for me. I had nobody to defend and protect me. Indeed the whole world had crumbled on me. But then you came to love and care for me. You came to defend and protect me. You came to embrace with a warm smile and said to me, I love you. You told me you will never leave me and that I will never be lonely again. You said you will always love me. U beautiful girl indeed you are my dream come true and my savior. U are indeed beautiful.
4. U beautiful girl indeed you are beautiful. I set out on a journey to the four corners of this world my mission? Simple, I was looking for love. I was not looking for just love but I was looking for a true real and unconditional love. A love that is natural and the person who will love me for what I am but not for whom I am. I have been searching for this love for several years and could not find it. I went to the length and breadth of this world but all to no avail. So I came to the conclusion that this love I was looking for does not exist. But just one day, I found this love and this is the beautiful girl. Yes! You lifted the lamp of love and shown the way that leads to true love. Beautiful girl, you are my long searched true and real love. You are indeed my true love and with you my life is complete. If I do not see my true love for a second my heart weeps, but if I see her for just a second my sings joyous praises. Beautiful girl, indeed you are beautiful and the source of my inspiration. You are the dream and ideal lady every man wishes to have. You are beautiful my beautiful girl.
5. U beautiful girl indeed you are beautiful. You are not only beautiful outwards or physically beautiful but your inner beauty is what beats my imagination and understanding. Your inner beauty can not be compared to any thing. God really made you! Your beauty sometimes makes me think if you are not a supernatural being. The reason is that I have never in my entire life met someone beautiful like you before and your beauty is second to none in this world; it has to be said. I must confess that if beauty, charm and elegance were to be passports to heaven, you will enter without a visa. Ah! You are really beautiful my beautiful girl.
6. U beautiful girl indeed you are beautiful. My beautiful girl, please don’t listen to your friends. Not every friend is good remembering. Some of your friends are jealous about us. They are jealous because you are beautiful both inside out than them. They are also jealous because of the love we have for each other. They can see we love ourselves so much and that what we feel for each other is true and real love and because of that they are jealous. Beautiful girl, please do not listen to the advice of your friends. They want us separated so we would end up like them. Make an investigation into their saying lest you risk throwing a precious stone away. Have always positive thought about our relationship. Please know that temptation is always around. Let us be strong and enjoy our happiness for the rest of our lives. You beautiful girl, my beauty and priceless gift, you are indeed a perfect companion. You are beautiful, beautiful girl.
7. U beautiful girl indeed you are beautiful. People always talk about first impression or love at first sight nut I as a person never believed in that. I never believed that I could see someone just once and be completely being head over hills in love with the person. But hey! I was wrong because I was utterly flabbergasted when I saw your angelic face the first time. In fact I was completely lost and it then dawned on me that first sight love was indeed real. Beautiful girl, I must admit that you are the first lady to attract my attention at first sight and I must say that there is something about you that no other lady has. In fact, my whole life revolves around you and your influence is so great. You are really my heart beat. I am indeed enjoying you my beautiful girl. Beautiful girl my heart now belongs to you so please take very good care of it. Any time I look at you whiles you speak, it sends some waves through my veins which non woman has been able to do. When I am looking at your face, I can see a sun of love shining in your face and attracts me like a magnet. Darling, you are my joy and happiness maker I can’t help it but to say you are beautiful and very special and I say I love you with all the passion in me. You are beautiful my beautiful girl.

A Framework for Crisis Management and Crisis Management Planning

2008-06-03T06:41:00.000-07:00

Crisis does come as a surprise and as unexpected time but any organization, commercial or public sector can prepare itself for the inevitable and everyone should.
make every effort to gather the pertinent facts quickly access the situation and respond to key audiences, non open and honest manner
enact the necessary measures to swiftly resolve the situation without jeopardizing the industry and safety of your company, your co-workers and your customers
Appoint executives to a standing crisis, communication team who will be call on in times of crises to make decisions and determine policies. Members should include the CEO, COO, CFO, PR Manager, Marketing Manager and customer service manager ant the very list, appoint one member of the team typically the PR manager as the primary contact between the team and the public also appoint a deputy crises administrator to serve as the backup of the primary administration
educate employees specially top and middle managers about your crises procedures
Establish communication strategist to address crises to situations. Select the appropriate spokes person, create press materials. Communicate your crises response to all key and audience employees, government agencies, vendors, consumers and the media.
Continually monitor the media for sign of escalation if signs are appellant adjustment may be required. Remain objectives and be wiling to make the necessary adjustment. Remember that changing your strategy is okay if your original plan isn’t working as well as you thought it would.
at all times take pains not to create the perception that your organisation doesn’t care or lacks integrity
Be as objective as possible when evaluating data, analysing consumer and media reactions and making judgement about the effectiveness of the crises of your crises communication programme. Is the media coverage positive or negative? What key message points are being made in media stories about crises? If they don’t reflect your key message points perhaps your could communicate them more clearly, credibly or dramatically.
after the crises have passed, put together the a post crises summary report it should include the cause of the crises extend and tone of media coverage suggested improvement in the crises response process, ways to implement those changes and possible alterations to company policy and procedures.
after you have overcome the short term treat work to rebuild the good will from each of your key audience over the long term

Models and Theories Associated With Crisis Management
Crisis Management Model:
Successfully diffusing a crisis requires an understanding of how to handle a crisis – before it occurs. Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt created a four-phase crisis management model process that includes: issues management, planning-prevention, the crisis, and post-crisis (Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt, 1995).
Management Crisis Planning:
No corporation looks forward to facing a situation that causes a significant disruption to their business, especially one that stimulates extensive media coverage. Public scrutiny can result in a negative financial, political, legal and government impact. Crisis management planning deals with providing the best response to a crisis. (12Manage, 2007)
Contingency Planning:
Preparing contingency plans in advance, as part of a crisis management plan, is the first step to ensuring an organization is appropriately prepared for a crisis. Crisis management teams can rehearse crisis plan by developing a simulated scenario to use as a drill. The plan should clearly stipulate that the only people to speak publicly about the crisis are the designated persons, such as the company spokesperson or crisis team members. The first hours after a crisis breaks are the most crucial, so working with speed and efficiency is important, and the plan should indicate how quickly each function should be performed. When preparing to offer a statement externally as well as internally, information should be accurate. Providing incorrect or manipulated information has a tendency to backfire and will greatly exacerbate the situation. The contingency plan should contain information and guidance that will help decision makers to consider not only the short-term consequences, but the long-term effects of every decision. (12Manage, 2007)
Business Continuity Planning:
When a crisis will undoubtedly cause a significant disruption to an organization, a business continuity plan can help minimize the disruption. First, one must identify the critical functions and processes that are necessary to keep the organization running. Then each critical function and or/process must have its own contingency plan in the event that one of the functions/processes ceases or fails. Testing these contingency plans by rehearsing the required actions in a simulation will allow for all involved to become more sensitive and aware of the possibility of a crisis. As a result, in the event of an actual crisis, the team members will act more quickly and effectively. (12 Manage, 2007)
Structural-Functional Systems Theory:
Providing information to an organization in a time of crisis is critical to effective crisis management. Structural-functional systems theory addresses the intricacies of information networks and levels of command making up organizational communication. The structural-functional theory identifies information flow in organizations as "networks" made up of members and "links". Information in organizations flow in patterns called networks (Infants, Rancer, & Womack, 1997).
Diffusion of Innovation Theory:
Another theory that can be applied to the sharing of information is Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Developed by Everett Rogers, the theory describes how innovation is disseminated and communicated through certain channels over a period of time. Diffusion of innovation in communication occurs when an individual communicates a new idea to one or several others. At its most elementary form, the process involves: (1) an innovation, (2) an individual or other unit of adoption that has knowledge of or experience with using the innovation, (3) another individual or other unit that does not yet have knowledge of the innovation, and (4) a communication channel connecting the two units. A communication channel is the means by which messages get from one individual to another (Infante et al., 1997).

DEMOGRAPHY/POPULATION COMMUNICATION

2008-05-15T02:52:00.000-07:00

QUESTION: What is Population Communication?

ANSWER: Before I define Population Communication, let me first of all define the words separately, thus Population and Communication.
Population as defined by the Cambridge International Dictionary of English is all the people living in a particular Country, Area or Place.
Again, in sociology and biology a population is the collection of people or organisms of a particular species living in a given geographic area or mortality, and migration. Though the field encompasses many dimensions of population change including the family (marriage & divorce), public health, work and the labour force, and family planning.
Communication on the other hand, is a process that allows organisms to exchange information by several methods. Communication requires that all parties understand a common language that is exchanged with each other. There are many auditory means, such as speaking, singing and sometimes tone of voice, and nonverbal, physical means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, or the writing.
Considering the above definitions we can simply say that population communication conveys messages about the collection of people or organisms of a particular species living in a given geographic area over a period of time.
But we cannot discuss population communication without talking about demography. This is because demography is the statistical study of all populations. It encompasses the study of the size, structure and distribution of populations, and how populations change over time due to births, deaths, migration, and ageing. Demographic analysis can relate to whole societies or to smaller groups defined by the criteria such as education, religion, or ethnicity.
Demography has been defined by several people over the years. Below are three definitions of demography taken from wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection.
Demography is the study of human populations in relation to the changes brought about by the interplay of births, deaths, and migration. Term is also used to refer to the actual phenomena observed, as in phrases such as the demography of tropical Africa.(Pressat 1985:54)
Demography is the statistical and mathematical study of the size, composition, and the spatial distribution of human populations, and of changes over time in these aspects through the operation of the five processes of fertility, mortality, marriage, migration, and social mobility. Although it maintains a continuous descriptive and comparative analysis of trends, in each of these processes and in their net result, its long-run goal is to develop a body of theory to explain the events that it charts and compares(Bogue 1969:1-2)
Hauser and Duncan(1959:2) also defined demography as the study of the size, territorial distribution, and the composition of population, changes therein, and the components of such changes, which may be identified as natality, mortality, territorial movement(migration), and social mobility(change of status) .
The study of human populations has its roots. Like sociology generally, in the societal changes that accompanied both the scientific and industrial revolutions. Some early mathematicians developed primitive forms of life tables, which are tables of life expectancies, for life insurance and actuarial purposes. Census, another demographic tool, was instituted for primarily political purposes:
As a basis for taxation
As a basis for political representation.
The development of demographic calculations started in the 18th century. Census taking, on the other hand, has a long history dating back close to 2,000 years among the Chinese and the Romans and even further back in history among groups in the Middle East. Most modern censuses began in the late 18th century. Demography relies on the large data sets that are primarily derived from censuses and the registration statistics (that is, birth, death, marriage registrations) large data sets over long periods of time (example the 2000 census in Ghana).
Population communication/demography plays various roles and functions in the society which goes a long way to enhance development. Some of the functions attributed to population communication/demography are as below:
Population communication supports immigration reforms. It helps check the number of people who enter and go out of the country. This sees to the number of people and the social amenities available before allowing immigrants into the country to avoid too much concentration on economic facilities.
Also Population Communication conveys messages to national leaders on the number of people living in their country, the birth rate, death rate, number of males and females in the country, the migration rate, and the people in the working age group. This helps national leaders to know which policies to formulate at any give time and also what social amenities to provide.
It again serves political purposes such as the basis of taxation based on the number of people in the working age group as well as serve as a basis for political representation.
Population Communication helps International Population Agencies like the Population Communication International (PCI), which is working worldwide, to develop entertainment-education programmes and social marking strategies that support targeted health and poverty alleviation initiatives. For more than twenty years PCI, has worked in over 27countries, producing more than 75 radio and television programmes, training hundreds of individual, and providing technical assistance to more than 100 international organizations.
Demographers are often multi-skilled, particularly if they gained first degrees in subjects such as geography, statistics or health, and have then studied demography at the graduate level. Training in demography will normally provide them with skills in computing and analysis as well as insights into population and health programmes and policies.
Students of demography thus find employment in a wide range of professional settings. In the public sector, demographers are employed in:
Government Statistical Offices, especially in the sections dealing with censuses, surveys, and the registration data.
National, State, and local planning bodies, especially in the educational and health planning, housing, and social policy.
Government research units in areas such as immigration and labour market analysis.
In development cooperation agencies such as AusAID and USAID.
Demographers can also be found in university research units and private consulting firms. Many international agencies, such as the United Nations Population Division and United Nations Fund for Population, and the non-government organizations also utilize the skills of demographers.
In the private sector demographic analysis is recognized as a vital part of market research and the investment planning.
In conclusion, one can say that the components affecting population change are measured by birth, death and migration rates that determine the numbers in the population, its age composition, and how fast it is growing or declining. Demographics are also concerned with the use of existing knowledge and techniques to identify and solve problems.

Censorship

2008-05-15T02:51:00.000-07:00

Definition: forbiddance; ban
Antonyms: approval, compliment, encouragement, endorsement, praise, recommendation, sanction
Military History Companion: censorship
Censorship is strictly the review by an authority of any material before publication or dissemination, with the legal right to prevent, alter, or delay its appearance. The term is often loosely used to reflect voluntary arrangements between armed forces and the media, or in criticism of any system other than complete press freedom. Historically, censorship has been habitually practised by most governments, or other political and religious authorities. Censorship in the military sense has only become an issue in modern times, with the growth of liberal or democratic governments, and new methods of press communication. Its problems arise from a collision between traditional press freedoms and the needs of military security in wartime. The USA has occupied a special place in this story, through being the world's first literate democracy, and also through the constitutional position of the press. Much censorship has been by co-operation, and it has not been unusual for the media to ask for guidance or even direct censorship from the armed forces, rather than reveal wartime secrets.

The profession of war correspondent developed in the mid-19th century with the growth of the telegraph and widespread newspaper readership. The first wars on which reporting probably had a direct impact were the Crimean and the American civil wars. In the next fifty years vague censorship regulations were established in most western countries, but only supplementing more important informal arrangements. The Second Boer War and the Russo-Japanese war convinced the British in particular that a more formal system was needed.

At the start of WW I all belligerents had extensive censorship legislation and practices, although military attempts to exclude the press altogether from reporting the fighting fronts proved unsuccessful. This war also saw the extension of censorship to servicemen's letters home. Comments in letters analysed by censors became a tool for commanders in judging their own side's morale. WW II saw a revival of similar censorship practices, again with significant co-operation from the press. But this only applied chiefly to wars of national survival, and to the era of newspaper dominance. The last significant case of legally enforceable wartime censorship by the USA or Britain was the Korean war.

The rise of radio and television to supplant newspapers in the second half of the 20th century raised a number of new issues. Controversial but highly critical claims that the unrestricted reporting of American involvement in the Vietnam war had contributed to defeat produced concern on all sides. The result was the introduction by the USA and Britain of voluntary systems of press restraint, seen in the Falklands and the Gulf wars. Since then, developments in media communications technology have made censorship increasingly unfeasible.
US Supreme Court: Censorship
The Supreme Court has found censorship to be an especially intolerable restriction on freedom of expression. The term censorship might encompass almost any restriction on the dissemination or content of expression, but most fundamentally it means prior restraint-any government scheme for screening either who may speak or the content of what people wish to say before the utterance. Although the Court has never held prior restraint to be inherently unconstitutional, it has emphasized that “any system of prior restraints of expression comes to this Court bearing a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity” (Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan 1963, p. 70).

The Court first directly addressed the constitutionality of prior restraint in Near v. Minnesota (1931). In question was a Minnesota law that allowed judges to eliminate as a public nuisance any “malicious, scandalous and defamatory” newspaper or periodical (see Libel). A state court had declared a newspaper, the Saturday Press, to be a public nuisance after it had attacked public officials with allegations of corruption, laziness, and illicit contact with gangsters. Much of the material seemed anti‐Semitic. The state court issued an order forever prohibiting the editors “from producing, editing, publishing, circulating, having in their possession, selling or giving away any publication whatsoever which is a malicious, scandalous or defamatory newspaper” either under the title of the Saturday Press or any other title (p. 706). Violation of the order would constitute contempt of court.

By a margin of 5 to 4, the U.S. Supreme Court found the statute to be an unconstitutional form of censorship, because before a banned newspaper could publish again, the editors would have to satisfy a judge as to the new publication's good character. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes for the majority concluded that prior restraint would be constitutional only in extreme circumstances, for example, if a newspaper were about to publish the location of troops in wartime. Speaking for dissenters, Justice Pierce Butler protested that the Minnesota law did not constitute a classic form of censorship because the newspaper had published nine issues before being suppressed. He noted that the law “does not authorize administrative control in advance such as was formerly exercised by the licensers and censors” (p. 735).

In subsequent cases, the Court disapproved of administrative licensing of speech where the licenser can make decisions based on the context of the would‐be speaker's expression. For example, in Lovell v. Griffin (1938) the Court held unconstitutional an ordinance banning distribution of literature without permission of the city manager, where the manager had carte blanche to grant or deny permits. Likewise, the Court in Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson (1951) found unconstitutional a New York scheme under which exhibition licenses could be denied to motion pictures found to be “sacrilegious.” Nor would the Court allow the postmaster general to revoke Esquire magazine's second‐class mailing privileges on grounds that the publication was not contributing sufficiently to the public good and welfare (Hannegan v. Esquire, Inc., 1946). The Court struck down injunctions prohibiting newspapers from publishing articles based on the Pentagon Papers, classified documents that had been leaked to the press (New York Times Co. v. United States, 1971). And it held that judges could not prohibit journalists from publishing material potentially prejudicial to a criminal defendant when such material was obtained in open court (Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, 1976).

On the other hand, the Court is likely to allow licensing systems that minimize administrative discretion, regulate the time, place, and manner of expression without regard to its content, and are guided by clear and specific standards (Cox v. New Hampshire, 1941; Poulos v. New Hampshire, 1953). The Court has allowed government censorship of obscene movies, but only if stringent procedures are followed, including prompt judicial review (Freedman v. Maryland, 1965). The Court has also granted public elementary and secondary schools broad power to censor student publications (Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 1988). It has also concluded that the federal government has broad power to require many government employees to submit to censorship of their speech and writing even after they leave government employment and even when unclassified material is involved (Snepp v. United States, 1980). Further, the Court has held that people who disobey court orders restraining expression may be punished for contempt even if the restriction is likely to be found unconstitutional (Walker v. City of Birmingham, 1967).

The Near decision itself has been invoked to justify prior restraint, which has led critics to complain that the Court has provided no clear theory or standards for determining when prior restraint is permissible. In the Pentagon Papers Case, justices on both sides of the decision used Near to support their positions-some for the proposition that prior restraint is presumptively unconstitutional, but others for the proposition that exceptional circumstances can justify prior restraint. And when, in 1979, a federal district court issued an injunction prohibiting The Progressive magazine from publishing an article purporting to explain how to build a hydrogen bomb, the judge concluded that the article was analogous to the types of exceptional circumstances listed in Near (United States v. The Progressive). (The injunction was lifted after similar material was published elsewhere and the government dropped the case.)

In recent years, spirited scholarly debate has arisen over the question of whether the evil of prior restraint might be overstated. Some have argued that judicially imposed restraints are less serious than administrative censorship, that freedom of expression may be served better by the use of prior restraint than by severely punishing expression after the fact. Fear of severe subsequent punishment, they assert, may have a far greater “chilling effect” on speech than narrowly focused, judicially supervised prior restraint.

The Supreme Court appears thus far not to have been swayed by such argument. It appears to remain committed to the view that censorship, whether imposed by administrators or by judges, is presumptively unconstitutional and the most deplorable way of restricting freedom of expression.
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: censorship

Act of changing or suppressing speech or writing that is considered subversive of the common good. In the past, most governments believed it their duty to regulate the morals of their people; only with the rise in the status of the individual and individual rights did censorship come to seem objectionable. Censorship may be preemptive (preventing the publication or broadcast of undesirable information) or punitive (punishing those who publish or broadcast offending material). In Europe, both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches practiced censorship, as did the absolute monarchies of the 17th and 18th centuries. Authoritarian governments such as those in China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and the former Soviet Union have employed pervasive censorship, which is generally opposed by underground movements engaged in the circulation of samizdat literature. In the U.S. in the 20th century, censorship focused largely on works of fiction deemed guilty of obscenity (e.g., James Joyce's Ulysses and D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover), though periodic acts of political censorship also occurred (e.g., the effort to purge school textbooks of possible left-wing content in the 1950s). In the late 20th century, some called for censorship of so-called hate speech, language deemed threatening (or sometimes merely offensive) to various subsections of the population. Censorship in the U.S. is usually opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union. In Germany after World War II it became a crime to deny the Holocaust or to publish pro-Nazi publications. See also Pentagon Papers.
Russian History Encyclopedia: Censorship
Censorship informally began in Russia when the regime acquired the realm's first printing press about 1560, a century after the invention of movable type. From then until the late 1600s successive tsars confined the use of that press, and the few more imported, to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Peter I (r. 1682 - 1725) expanded his government's monopoly to include secular publishing when, in 1702, he founded Russia's first newspaper The St. Petersburg Bulletin to promote himself and his programs. In 1720, having added the Senate and Academy of Sciences as official publishers, he required the ecclesiastical college to approve in advance every book printed in Russia, a censorship role that he passed the next year to the newlycreated Holy Synod. Synod authority over secular publishing ended in 1750 when Empress Elizabeth (r. 1741 - 1762) gave the Academy of Sciences the right to censor its publications, as she did Moscow University at its founding in 1755.
When Catherine II (r. 1762 - 1796) finally made private ownership and use of printing presses legal in 1783, her decree governing "free publishing" banned published words against "the laws of God and the state" or of a "clearly-seditious" nature. The police would henceforth supervise "free" presses and serve as preliminary censors. Alarmed by the French Revolution, Catherine ended her reign by closing private presses and by opening new censorship offices in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Still, Catherine's reign marked a stage in widening limits on the publishing of periodicals and books in Russia.
Sharing Catherine II's early belief in private publishing, Alexander I (r. 1801 - 1825) reinstated private presses, along with a preliminary censorship system. He set its rules in 1804 in Russia's first, brief censorship statute, a major reform designed to make the exercise of state power more predictable and rational. Napoleon's invasion in 1812, however, caused Alexander I to tighten censorship and to embrace the intense religiosity that spread during the war. Because the tsar resumed peacetime rule as a religious mystic, his choice to head his new Ministry of Spiritual Affairs and Education in 1817 was the president of the Russian Bible Society, A. N. Golitsyn, a zealot who used his role as chief censor to promote his religious views and to disseminate Bibles. Repeated complaints from high officials of the Russian Orthodox Church persuaded the Emperor to dismiss Golitsyn in 1824, the year before Alexander I died.
At the very outset of his reign, Nicholas I (r. 1825 - 1855) had to put down the Decembrist revolt led by gentry liberals. Blaming alien Western beliefs for discontent, the new tsar resolved to permeate society with Russian ideals and to prove, through paternalistic rule and controlled publishing that autocracy itself was inherently right for Russia.
Nicholas I in June 1826 issued his secular censorship law of June 1826 as a means to "direct public opinion into agreeing with present political circumstances and the views of the government." No less than 230 articles (five times the forty-six in the 1804 law) detailed procedures and made the author, not the censor, responsible should a duly censored text prove unacceptable once published (reversing the 1804 law).
Bowing to criticism among his officials, Nicholas named a new drafting committee and signed a substantially more liberal, but still sweeping, law of April 1828 to govern all works of "Literature, Science, and Art" (under it, responsibility again fell on the approving censor). A Foreign Censorship Committee had to publish monthly a list of the foreign works it had banned. Issued at the same time was a new ecclesiastical censorship statute that confirmed the Holy Synod's right - through censors chosen from ecclesiastical academies - to ban any book, work of art, ceremony, musical composition, or performance contrary to precepts of the Orthodox Church.
Nicholas also made censors of his new political police, the Third Section. To counter clandestine printing of illegal works and lax censorship of legal ones, he secretly ordered his special police to look for and report anything "inclined to the spread of atheism or which reflects in the artist or writer violations of the obligations of loyal subjects." One year after the French and Belgian Revolutions of 1830, Nicholas I put down the Polish rebellion. Building on popular support, the tsar in 1833 prescribed a system of ideas - so-called "Official Nationality" - to guide his subjects and his officials, including censors.
With respect to the state's granting licenses for private periodicals, the tsar himself approved or rejected applications, with the result that the mere forty-two private periodicals that circulated in 1825 had, by 1841, modestly increased to sixty. (Small readerships also forced a number of licensed periodicals to close for lack of profits.) As for books, limited statistics that begin with 1837 show that secular censors in that year approved more titles (838) than in 1845 (804) and 1846 (810), such numbers being minuscule compared to book production in Europe.
Although limits on publishing under Nicholas I from 1825 to 1855 were the most invasive in Imperial history, brilliant writers such as Ivan Turgenev, Nikolai Gogol, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Leo Tolstoy won censors' approval under Nicholas I.
Assuming power in the last stages of the humiliating Crimean War, Alexander II (r. 1855 - 1881) blamed that debacle on Russia's backwardness and the archaic enserfment of 40 million peasants. To promote their liberation, in 1857 he lifted the de facto ban on publishing proposals for liberation.
On the heels of decreeing Emancipation in February 1861, Alexander II committed to reform of censorship and thirteen months later in March, 1862, ended preliminary censorship for all scientific, academic, and official publications. Then followed, five months after the 1864 judicial reform, the decree of April 6, 1865 to give "relief and convenience to the national press." Included as transitional for uncensored publications was a system of warnings that could lead to suspensions and closures for any showing a "dangerous orientation." Freed from censorship - but only in St. Petersburg and Moscow - were all periodicals, translated books of 320 pages or more, and original books of 160 pages or more. (Short books were not freed, given their greater potential to do harm.) A big change was the statute's subjecting to judicial prosecution anyone responsible for criminal content in a freed publication.
In December 1866, the State Council declared that full freedom to publish would "take shape under the influence of a series of judicial decisions." During the next decade, as mounting terrorism made the tsar wary of public opinion, the government all but abandoned press-related trials. New measures against the press included profit-cutting limits on street sales and commercial advertisements. Whereas officials used the warning system from 1865 through 1869 to suspend merely ten freed periodicals, they suspended twenty-seven from 1875 through 1879. On the other hand, the number of active journals rose from twelve in 1865 to twenty in 1879; of newspapers, from forty-one in 1865 to sixty-two in 1879.
That trend reversed after the assassination of Alexander II in 1881, because Alexander III (r. 1881 - 1894) repressed publishing. As one means, he created a Supreme Commission on Press Affairs in 1882 to silence not just "dangerous" periodicals but also, through temporary banishment from journalism, their editors and publishers. The Commission imposed closure, its harshest penalty, seven times from 1881 to 1889 - a period when the overall number of journals and newspapers declined just over 22 and 11 percentage points, respectively.
Given the seeming containment of terrorism by 1890, an easing of restrictions let the number of journals and newspapers rise; and the total stood once more at the 1881 level when Nicholas II (r. 1894 - 1917) acceded to the throne. Ten years later, during the 1905 Revolution, civil disobedience in printing plants effectively ended state controls that included censorship. In October, following a government decree that no printing plant could operate if it bypassed press regulations, the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workmen's Deputies ordered members of the Printers' Union to refuse to work for plant owners who complied.
Not only did Nicholas II issue his Manifesto of October 17, 1905 to promise imminent freedom of expression and other reforms, but he also ordered his new prime minister, Sergei I. Witte, to draft legislation to effect such changes. New rules for periodicals resulted on November 24, 1905. In issuing them, the tsar claimed to have shifted wholly to judicial controls and thereby to have granted "one of the fundamental freedoms." Promised new rules on book publishing took effect on April 26, 1906, and they allowed most books simultaneously to reach the public and the governing Committee on Press Affairs. Excepted were works of fewer than seventeen pages (censors had to approve them at least two days before publication), and those from seventeen to eighty pages (censors had to screen them a week in advance). The new rules let officials close an indicted publication pending what could be protracted adjudication.
Book-related trials in the remainder of 1906 mounted to an all-time high of 223, with 175 convictions. Those persons found criminally responsible for circulating or attempting to circulate a work ruled illegal mainly suffered fines, not imprisonment; for the main aim of the government was judicially to identify criminal content and to keep it from the public. Because the publishing industry became so large in the next decade, the tsarist regime found it almost impossible to limit printed opinion. By 1914, Russian citizens enjoyed freedom of expression very nearly equal to Western levels.
War with the Austro-Hungarian and German Empires in 1914 caused the tsar to impose military censorship on private publishing. Then followed the heightening domestic turmoil that culminated in the 1917 revolution, ending Imperial Russia and a relatively free press; for Lenin and his Bolsheviks, who seized power in November, so well knew the power of the printed word that they eliminated privately-controlled publishing companies. Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-American novelist and memoirist, provides a measure of the change in this summation: "Under the Tsars (despite the inept and barbarous character of their rule) a freedom-loving Russian had incomparably more possibility and means of expressing himself than at any time during Vladimir Lenin's and Josef Stalin's regime. He was protected by law. There were fearless and independent judges in Russia." Following Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin bested all rivals to emerge as the leader of the Party by the next year. Under him in 1936, the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics made clear that publishing was to achieve the objectives of the socialist order as determined by the Communist Party. Harsh penalties awaited violators of laws against "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda."
Enforcing limits on the printed word - and all cultural and artistic expression - was maintained by means of a vast censorship apparatus known as Glavlit (the Chief Administration for the Protection of State Secrets) and only official institutions published newspapers (e.g., the Communist Party published Pravda). Each publishing house answered to the State Committee for Publishing, Printing, and the Book Trade. Party authorities approved all editors and publishers of newspapers, magazines, and journals.
After Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev began his eight-year dominance (1956 - 1964) as first secretary, and his effort to "de-Stalinize" the USSR brought his famous but short-lived "thaw" in censorship, especially with respect to literary and scholarly journals and the newspaper Izvestiia. Direct criticisms of the founding principles of the state or of system of government remained illegal, however, until 1986 when Mikhail S. Gorbachev, as general secretary, liberalized publishing practices under the term glasnost.
Columbia Encyclopedia: censorship,
official prohibition or restriction of any type of expression believed to threaten the political, social, or moral order. It may be imposed by governmental authority, local or national, by a religious body, or occasionally by a powerful private group. It may be applied to the mails, speech, the press, the theater, dance, art, literature, photography, the cinema, radio, television, or computer networks. Censorship may be either preventive or punitive, according to whether it is exercised before or after the expression has been made public. In use since antiquity, the practice has been particularly thoroughgoing under autocratic and heavily centralized governments, from the Roman Empire to the totalitarian states of the 20th cent.
In the United States
Censorship has existed in the United States since colonial times; its emphasis has gradually shifted from the political to the sexual.
Political Censorship
Attempts to suppress political freedom of the press in the American colonies were recurrent; one victory against censorship was the trial of John Peter Zenger. The Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of the press, speech, and religion. Nevertheless, there have been examples of official political censorship, notably in the actions taken under the Sedition Act of 1798 (see Alien and Sedition Acts), suppression of abolitionist literature in the antebellum South, and local attempts in the 19th and 20th cent. to repress publications considered radical. During the cold war many Americans worked to keep textbooks and teaching that they considered deleterious to “the American form of government” out of schools and colleges; many others opposed this effort (see academic freedom).
The issue of government secrecy was dealt with in the Freedom of Information Act of 1966, which stated that, with some exceptions, people have the right of access to government records. The issue was challenged in 1971, when a secret government study that came to be known as the Pentagon Papers was published by major newspapers. The government sued to stop publication, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the newspapers (see press, freedom of the).
Cultural Censorship
Long before World War I there were vigilante attacks, such as those by Anthony Comstock, on what was reckoned obscene literature, and the U.S. Post Office expanded (1873) its ban on the shipment of obscene literature and art, but it was after World War I that public controversy over censorship raged most fiercely. Until the Tariff Act was amended in 1930, many literary classics were not allowed entry into the United States on grounds of obscenity. Even after the act's amendment censorship attempts persisted, and James Joyce's Ulysses was not allowed into the country until 1933, after a court fight. Noted works of literature involved in obscenity cases included Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence, Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, and Fanny Hill by John Cleland. Over a 15-year period beginning in 1957, a series of Supreme Court decisions relaxed restrictions on so-called obscene materials, although not all obscenity prosecutions during this time were dismissed; in a famous case in the 1960s publisher Ralph Ginzburg was convicted of advertising in an obscene manner.
As Supreme Court decisions struck down many obscenity statutes, states responded by enacting laws prohibiting the sale of obscene materials to minors, and these were upheld (1968) by the Supreme Court. In decisions handed down in 1973 and 1987, the Court ruled that local governments could restrict works if they were without “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value” and were at the same time seen, by local standards, to appeal to prurient interest. From the 1960s, the issue of sex education in schools was highly controversial; more recently, the question of AIDS education has stirred debate. In the 1980s, some feminists attempted to ban pornography as injurious to women. Other activists, concerned with racism and other forms of bigotry, lobbied for the suppression of what came to be called hate speech.
The producers of motion pictures, dependent for success on widespread public approval, somewhat reluctantly adopted a self-regulatory code of morals in the 1920s (see Hays, Will H.). This was replaced after 1966 by a voluntary rating system under the supervision of the Motion Picture Producers Association; the need to tailor a movie to fit a ratings category has acted as a form of censorship.
Since 1934, local radio (and later, television) stations have operated under licenses granted by the Federal Communications Commission, which is expressly forbidden to exercise censorship. However, the required periodical review of a station's license invites indirect censorship. The Supreme Court ruled in 1996 that indecent material could be banned from commercial cable-television stations but not from public-access cable stations.
The rapid growth of the Internet presents another set of issues. The Communications Decency Act, passed by Congress in 1996 and signed by President Bill Clinton, was overturned by the Supreme Court for the restrictions it placed on adult access to and use of constitutionally protected material and communication on the Internet. The Children's Internet Protection Act (2001), which requires libraries and schools to install antipornography filters on computers with federally financed Internet access, was upheld, however, because it was only a condition attached to the acceptance of federal funding and not a general prohibition on access.
In Other Countries
In other countries, censorship is accepted as inevitable in times of war, and it has been imposed to varying degrees even in peacetime. In the Middle Ages, attempts to silence heresy through intimidation, particularly through the establishment of the Inquisition, were examples of censorship, as are modern instances of book banning. The absolute monarchs of the 17th and 18th cent. imposed strict controls, and because the Reformation had resulted in a reshuffling of the relations between church and state, these controls were used to persecute opponents of the established religion of a particular state, Roman Catholic or Protestant. A form of book-banning was adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in the Index, a list of publications that the faithful were forbidden to read. The last edition of the Index was published in 1948; in 1966 Pope Paul VI decreed that it would be discontinued. Paradoxically, in the lands under Calvinist domination (such as Geneva, Scotland, and England of the Puritan period) where the ideals of liberty and freedom first blossomed, regulation of private conduct and individual opinion was rigorous, and censorship was strong.
Strict censorship of all forms of public expression characterized the Soviet Union throughout most of its 74-year history. Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, which won the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature, was not permitted publication there, and the novels of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, considered by many to be masterpieces, were banned in 1966. Soviet censorship ended in 1986 under Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost (openness).
In Britain during the 19th and 20th cent., the object of censorship has most often been literature regarded as obscene. With the passage of the Obscene Publications Act in 1857, there followed many criminal prosecutions and seizures of books. This law remained in effect until 1959, when a new law provided that the opinion of artistic or literary experts could be submitted as evidence in deciding obscenity cases and that work alleged to be obscene had to be judged as a whole rather than in part. However, when the editors of an underground periodical, Oz, were convicted in 1971 for violating postal laws, an appeal court held that a periodical need not be judged as a whole, an apparent reversal of the 1959 act.
Psychoanalysis: Censorship
The term censorship in everyday language connotes ideas of blame and repression of faults. This is how it appears in Freud in Studies on Hysteria: "we are very often astonished," he writes, "to realize in what a mutilated state all the ideas and scenes emerged which we extracted from the patient by procedure of pressing. Precisely the essential elements of the picture were missing [...] I will give one or two examples of the way in which a censoring of this kind operates . . ." (1895b, p. 281-282). He then shows that what is censored is what appears to the patient to be blameworthy, shameful, and inadmissible. In a letter to Wilhelm Fleiss (December 22, 1897, in 1950a) he compares this psychic work to the censorship that the czarist regime imposed on Russian newspapers at the time: "Words, sentences and whole paragraphs are blacked out, with the result that the remainder is unintelligible" (1950a, p. 240).
Although the term appears quite frequently in writings from this first period, its status remains uncertain. Freud seems to be describing the deliberate suppression by patients, in their communication with the doctor, of what they do not wish to reveal to him, as well as the mechanism and effects of unconscious repression (1896b). A second meaning appears when he evokes the censorship which, in dream-work, results in a manifest text being presented as a riddle (Interpretation of Dreams, 1900a).
The metapsychological texts of 1915 elaborate on the distinctions outlined in chapter seven of the Interpretation of Dreams. Censorship is in fact defined as that which opposes the return of that which is repressed, at the two successive levels in the passage from the unconscious to the preconscious (the "antechamber") and on to the conscious (the "drawing-room") (1915e).
Censorship is thus clearly distinguished from repression: whereas repression rejects a representation and/or an affect into the unconscious, censorship is what prevents it from re-emerging. Freud nevertheless confuses this distinction later when he writes, for example: "We know the self-observing agency as the ego-censor, the conscience; it is this that exercises the dream-censorship during the night, from which the repressions of inadmissible wishful impulses proceed" (1916-17a, p. 429). With the introduction of the structural theory Freud made a new distinction, with the ego becoming the agent of the censorship under the superego-the merciless supervisor (1923b).
Although the notion of censorship continues to be fairly widely used in psychoanalysis to describe resistance to the treatment, it has scarcely received any further elaboration and its global nature may cause it to appear to be somewhat outmoded.
History 1450-1789: Censorship
Censorship began in the sixteenth century as the effort to prohibit religious ideas that were deemed heretical. From the beginning religious censorship was only possible when civil governments agreed that it was needed and provided the police authority for enforcement. In the following two centuries the state gradually took complete control, with little or no participation by clergymen. The effectiveness of censorship waxed and waned according to the perceived threat of alleged heretical, seditious, or immoral books as well as local circumstances. Censorship was strongest during the sixteenth century when Catholic and Protestant states sought to enforce religious uniformity, and weakest during the antireligious and politically liberal Enlightenment era of the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, censorship of books, speech, and theater never completely disappeared because almost all state and church authorities felt that it was a legitimate and necessary means of protecting the populace from destructive ideas.

The Protestant Reformation
Little censorship existed before the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation. Civil governments did not permit overt political criticism within the state, but they could do little about denunciations from beyond their borders. Because there was widespread agreement about the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, little censorship of religious and philosophical ideas existed.
The outbreak of the Protestant Reformation stimulated the beginning of religious censorship. Since Protestants promulgated their views through the printing press, and Catholics replied via the same medium, it was inevitable that both sides would try to control the press. But they waited until all hope of reconciliation ended in the middle of the sixteenth century before establishing censorship machinery. Then both sides developed similar policies.
Press censorship needed three components to be effective. First, an individual or a group had to determine which books, authors, and ideas were dangerous-a commission of experts had to prepare a list of objectionable previously published books. Second, prepublication censorship was needed to ensure that new books propagating heretical, seditious, or immoral ideas would not be published. Governments had to establish committees of readers, composed of clergymen and civil officials, to review manuscripts before issuing permissions to print. Prepublication censorship would become the most widespread and effective kind of censorship. Third, the civil authority used its police powers to keep banned books from entering the state and, if possible, to remove them from bookstores and libraries. This part of censorship was never very effective.
The papacy fulfilled the first requirement by promulgating a series of Indexes of Prohibited Books, the most important of which were the Tridentine Index of 1564, so called because the Council of Trent authorized it, and its successor, the Clementine Index of 1596, promulgated by Pope Clement VIII. Additional indexes followed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries at widely scattered intervals. Indexes listed authors and titles that could not be printed, read, or held, plus rules to guide those carrying out prepublication censorship and expurgation (elimination of objectionable passages in books otherwise acceptable). Catholic state and church authorities cooperated relatively effectively in censorship actions despite numerous disagreements and jurisdictional conflicts. For example, France never accepted the papal indexes but still banned Protestant books and ideas.
Protestant censorship followed the same paths except that no supranational Protestant church existed to direct and coordinate censorship. Since Protestant religious leaders invested the state with substantial authority over the church, the state assumed the leading role in censorship. Each Protestant state had to decide which books to ban and how to censor. Protestant states banned the publication, importation, and ownership of Catholic works, and sometimes the works of other Protestants. They also condemned books considered immoral and critical of the government. Although Protestant censorship has been little studied, it is likely that England and the Calvinist canton of Geneva had the most effective Protestant censorship in the sixteenth century.
Both Catholic and Protestant churches and states regulated what was preached in the pulpit and taught in universities. Prepublication censors sometimes dictated that scholars accept unwelcome changes in their works. Authors exercised some degree of self-censorship. A few scholars in both Catholic and Protestant worlds lost university positions, or suffered worse, because of their religious views. Political censorship also intensified in the late sixteenth century as governments attempted to stem a flood of vitriolic anonymous political pamphlets criticizing rulers and supporting rebellion, especially in France.
State Censorship
Although censorship began as a result of the religious division of Europe, civil governments quickly took complete control of censorship of books and theater. France is a good example. Beginning in the 1530s the monarchy issued a series of decrees that sought to ban Protestant literature. By the early seventeenth century a multiplicity of censors existed. Hence, in 1672 the monarchy established a college of censors, a group of scholars appointed to read manuscripts intended for publication and to grant the publisher the right to print the book, called a privilège. By the eighteenth century the number of French censors ranged from 150 to 200. The college exercised prepublication censorship and awarded exclusive publication rights to one publisher, thus protecting him from piracy by others.
English censorship of printed works began when Henry VIII (ruled 1509-1547) sought to protect the national church from other doctrines and his monarchy from attacks. Succeeding monarchs used censorship to enforce different religious establishments. Edward VI (ruled 1547-1553) allowed Protestant works, while Mary Tudor (ruled 1553-1558) banned them. Elizabeth I (ruled 1558-1603) passed numerous laws censoring the press and the theater to ensure that they respected her version of the English Church, did not publish Catholic views, and did not criticize the monarchy. In 1557 the crown created the Stationers' Company to issue licenses to print. The requirement that every book had to be licensed helped control the press. English monarchs continued a policy of state censorship over the next two centuries, although the purpose of censorship increasingly became that of shielding the monarchy from any criticism. Nevertheless, the shifting policies of the crown toward the national church, Puritanism, and Catholicism produced considerable variation from regime to regime in the seventeenth century, resulting in less effective censorship. Publishers of obscene, seditious, and blasphemous matter simply published without permission. So in 1695 England and Wales ended pre-publication censorship of written materials. The practice of locating and destroying books and prosecuting publishers had always been difficult, and that also waned, but censorship of the stage remained.
Every other large and small political unit had similar censorship systems, sometimes including representatives of the local church. But the local nature of censorship, limited to the boundaries of the state or city, was its weakness. Authors and printers wishing to publish political or religious criticism only needed to go to the next state to publish their works. Then the international commercial network of the book trade, including book fairs at Frankfurt and elsewhere, distributed the books throughout Europe. Finally, newspapers in the late seventeenth century created a new publication that was difficult to censor. Because newspapers were local and ephemeral, any censorship had to be quick and local. The censorship machinery of the sixteenth century was organized to censor learned works of religion, philosophy, and politics and could not adapt easily to newspapers, plus broadsides and other ephemeral matter, which were printed overnight on cheap paper, often without the names of author and printer, and were quickly distributed.
The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, especially in the years from 1750 to 1789, significantly weakened but did not eliminate censorship. Many Enlightenment philosophes deplored it, especially religious censorship, partly because they wrote many antireligious works. Rulers such as Frederick the Great of Prussia (ruled 1740-1786), Empress Maria Theresa (ruled 1740-1780) and Joseph II (Holy Roman emperor, 1765-1790; king of Austria, 1780-1790), Empress Catherine II of Russia (ruled 1762-1796), and King Charles III of Spain (ruled 1759-1788), who were influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, permitted more religious and literary freedom of expression. However, when writers began to publish works criticizing absolutist government and demanding expanded political rights for citizens, the rulers again tightened censorship. But they did not, and could not, return censorship to its earlier state.
In France, Enlightenment pressures seriously weakened the privilège system, as censors permitted the publication of ideas that had previously been banned. Numerous publishers in smaller states just beyond the borders of France published many works without privilèges, then sent them into France. The loosening of censorship permitted an avalanche of political pamphlets critical of the monarchy and the church, which helped bring on the French Revolution.

Internal communications

2008-05-15T02:49:00.000-07:00

This Research Work is on Internal Communications. The Research is going to take a look at what Internal Communications is, some benefits of Internal Communication as well as features of Internal Communications. The research will also look at Managerial Communication Approaches, Case Study, Employee Engagement and some Influences of Internal Communications.
Internal communications
Internal communications, also known as employee relations, includes all communication within an organisation.
Internal communications may be oral or written, face to face or virtual, one-on-one or in a small group.
Effective internal communication - which can be said to be "downward, upward, and horizontal" - is a vital means of addressing organisational concerns. Good internal communication helps to establish formal roles and responsibilities for employees.
Definition
Communication is often defined as an exchange of information. True communication requires a two-way process (a dialogue, not a monologue). "Information" can be presented orally, through writing, face-to-face, virtually, one-on-one, or in small groups. Listening to employees (an integral part of two-way communication) enables management to identify strengths and weaknesses, which helps in the process of decision making, and fosters esprit du corps.

Personal conversations between other colleagues
Internal communication in practice
Internal communications departments have broken away from HR since the 80's and 90's and now report directly to senior management in most organisations. In some organisations where internal communication has not been established as a separate communications function; it may be coordinated by Human Resources, Marketing and PR departments.
Benefits of Internal Communication
Internal communications helps employees to understand the organisation's vision, values, and culture. It may involve staff members in issues that affect working life and keeps staff informed on important decisions taken by management. Furthermore, internal communication, when implemented effectively, can be crucial in a time of crisis, providing employees with not only a strategy to handle a crisis, but the facts surrounding such an event. As arguably some of the most invested individuals in an organisation, trusted and valued employees can prove to be excellent partners when addressing a crisis. By maintaining open lines of communication between management and employees, effective internal communications can enhance stronger relationships throughout all levels of the organisation and forge a sense of community.
Excellent internal communications cannot simply be implemented and left alone; the process must be ever-changing and adaptable for success. While more and more organisations begin to spend more time identifying special interest groups within their own walls, internal communications methods are becoming increasingly diverse to match the varying needs of each organisations' internal staff and stakeholders.
The way messages are presented can have a negative or positive impact upon the reader, regardless of the core content of the message. While this could be condemned as spin, organisations who strive to practice excellent public relations will avoid manipulative and ambiguous messages as they destroy trust in the organisation. The most effective way is to find a balance between being "his Master's voice" and representing employees' interests.

Features of good internal communications
Internal communication should be:
· transparent and timely (when details have been confirmed and approved, messages should be presented to employees before any external public);
· clear;
· concise;
· informative; and
· Independent.
Internal communications practitioners should adhere to certain values such as:
· openness;
· honesty; and
· Two-way communication.
An internal communications department can become a moderator of interaction between official organisational representatives and employees.
The internal communications department should be responsible for developing and maintaining a number of channels that allow effective communication to take place. These channels include:
· intranet website;
· a regular Town Hall (an informal session where employees can listen to and talk with the organizational representative such as a Managing Director);
· conference calls;
· internal newsletters;
· email;
· message boards;
· print materials; and
· virtual meetings (which can be housed and facilitated through online MMORPGs, like Second Life)

Managerial Communication Approaches
Clampitt (2005) lists three approaches managers use to communicate with their employees.
Arrow approach - Communications are carefully constructed and aimed at a target audience. It assumes the more accurate the message, the clearer the understanding of the recipient. Problems arise when it is taken for granted that information is mostly transmitted by words and that recipients are passive receptors.
Circuit approach - Communications is achieved with positive relationships and job satisfaction of employees through understanding and discussion. It assumes that communicating is grounded in mutual understanding. Problems arise because of the myopic view that understanding will lead to agreement and that this understanding should be the sole goal of communications.
Dance approach - Communications are achieved through an intricate combination of the practice, understanding, and intuition. It believes that the communication involves the coordination of meanings, the understanding of common rules, and the recognition of patterns between two or more people.
Employee Engagement
Good internal communications bring about employee engagement. Employee engagement is a concept that is generally viewed as managing discretionary effort, that is, when employees have choices, they will act in a way that furthers their organization's interests. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work. In a book titled Getting Engaged: The New Workplace Loyalty, author Tim Rutledge explains that truly engaged employees are attracted to, and inspired by, their work ("I want to do this"), committed ("I am dedicated to the success of what I am doing"), and fascinated ("I love what I am doing")
Studies have shown that Engaged employees care about the future of the company and are willing to invest the discretionary effort. Engaged employees feel a strong emotional bond to the organization that employs them. (Robinson)
Emotional attachment
Only 29% of employees are actively engaged in their jobs. These employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. People that are actively engaged help move the organization forward. 84% of highly engaged employees believe they can positively impact the quality of their organization's products, compared with only 31% of the disengaged. 72% of highly engaged employees believe they can positively affect customer service, versus 27% of the disengaged. 68% of highly engaged employees believe they can positively impact costs in their job or unit, compared with just 19% of the disengaged. Engaged employees feel a strong emotional bond to the organization that employs them. This is associated with people demonstrating willingness to recommend the organization to others and commit time and effort to help the organization succeed. It suggests that people are motivated by intrinsic factors (e.g. personal growth, working to a common purpose, being part of a larger process) rather than simply focusing on extrinsic factors (e.g., pay/reward)
Involvement
Eileen Appelbaum and her colleagues (2000) studied 15 steel mills, 17 apparel manufacturers, and 10 electronic instrument and imaging equipment producers. Their purpose was to compare traditional production systems with flexible high-performance production systems involving teams, training, and incentive pay systems. In all three industries, the plants utilizing high-involvement practices showed superior performance. In addition, workers in the high-involvement plants showed more positive attitudes, including trust, organizational commitment and intrinsic enjoyment of the work. The concept has gained popularity as various studies have demonstrated links with productivity. It is often linked to the notion of employee voice and empowerment.
Commitment
In 1999, The Gallup Organization published research that showed that engaged employees are more productive, more profitable, more customer-focused, safer, and less likely to leave their employer. The review stated that "engagement with employees within a firm has shown to motivate the employee to work beyond personal factors and work more for the success of the firm.
Employees with the highest level of commitment perform 20% better and are 87% less likely to leave the organization, which indicates that engagement is linked to organizational performance. For example, at the beverage company of MoisonCoors, it was found that engaged employees were five times less likely than non-engaged employees to have a safety incident and seven times less likely to have a lost-time safety incident. In fact, the average cost of a safety incident for an engaged employee was $63, compared with an average of $392 for a non-engaged employee. Consequently, through strengthening employee engagement, the company saved $1,721,760 in safety costs in 2002. In addition, savings were found in sales performance teams through engagement. In 2005, for example, low-engagement teams were seen falling behind engaged teams, with a difference in performance-related costs of low- versus high-engagement teams totalling $2,104,823.3 (Lockwood).

CASE STUDY
Life insurance industry
Two studies of employees in the life insurance industry examined the impact of employee perceptions that they had the power to make decisions, sufficient knowledge and information to do the job effectively, and rewards for high performance. Both studies included large samples of employees (3,570 employees in 49 organizations and 4,828 employees in 92 organizations). In both studies, high-involvement management practices were positively associated with employee morale, employee retention, and firm financial performance. Watson Wyatt found that high-commitment organizations (one with loyal and dedicated employees) out-performed those with low commitment by 47% in the 2000 study and by 200% in the 2002 study.
Productivity
In a study of professional service firms, the Hay Group found that offices with engaged employees were up to 43% more productive.
The most striking finding is the almost 52% gaps in operating incomes between companies with highly engaged employees and companies whose employees have low-engagement scores. High-engagement companies improved 19.2% while low-engagement companies declined 32.7% in operating income during the study period. For example, New Century Financial Corporation, a U.S. specialty mortgage banking company, found that account executives in the wholesale division who were actively disengaged produced 28% less revenue than their colleagues who were engaged. Furthermore, those not engaged generated 23% less revenue than their engaged counterparts. Engaged employees also outperformed the not engaged and actively disengaged employees in other divisions.

Influences
· Employee perceptions of job importance. According to a 2006 study by Gerard Seijts and Dan Crim, "...an employee’s attitude toward the job's importance and the company had the greatest impact on loyalty and customer service then all other employee factors combined.
· Employee clarity of job expectations. "If expectations are not clear and basic materials and equipment not provided, negative emotions such as boredom or resentment may result, and the employee may then become focused on surviving more than thinking about how he can help the organization succeed.
· Career advancement/improvement opportunities. "Plant supervisors and managers indicated that many plant improvements were being made outside the suggestion system, where employees initiated changes in order to reap the bonuses generated by the subsequent cost savings.
· Regular feedback and dialogue with superiors. "Feedback is the key to giving employees a sense of where they’re going, but many organizations are remarkably bad at giving it. What I really wanted to hear was 'Thanks. You did a good job.' But all my boss did was hand me a check.
· Quality of working relationships with peers, superiors, and subordinates. "...if employees' relationship with their managers is fractured, then no amount of perks will persuade the employees to perform at top levels. Employee engagement is a direct reflection of how employees feel about their relationship with the boss.
· Perceptions of the ethos and values of the organization. "'Inspiration and values' is the most important of the six drivers in our Engaged Performance model. Inspirational leadership is the ultimate perk. In its absence, is unlikely to engage employees.
· Effective Internal Employee Communications - which convey a clear description of "what's going on". "'If you accept that employees want to be involved in what they are doing then this trend is clear (from small businesses to large global organizations). The effect of poor internal communications is seen as its most destructive in global organizations which suffer from employee annexation - where the head office in one country is buoyant (since they are closest to the action, know what is going on, and are heavily engaged) but its annexes (who are furthest away from the action and know little about what is happening) are dis-engaged. In the worst case, employee annexation can be very destructive when the head office attributes the annex's low engagement to its poor performance... when its poor performance is really due to its poor communications.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

2008-05-15T02:48:00.000-07:00

We were created by an all powerful, all mighty, all possible God who is perfect in all his ways. He created us in his own image as we all know. After molding man, God saw that the body he had made in his likeness could not move. So God breathed into man his spirit. This means each and every person on earth has the Spirit of the highest God in him. So why fret over an obstacle you face? Why be discouraged to try and acquire the job you desire? Why listen to what people say about not being able to achieve anything in life.

Brethren, God made you. In the book of Genesis we learn that the world was created with everything in it before God created man. Why? Take this scenario, a husbands finds out his wife is about to give birth. What does the husband do? He makes sure the wife relaxes, gives her everything she needs and will need, and even go to the extent of surprising her may be he would by a car for her. God did the same. He created the earth with everything in it just for YOU! (Genesis 1: 26).

After man was created, the devil, popularly known as Lucifer or Satan tempted man and man fell. After the fall of man, it became very hard for man to please God but the Bible tells us that God loves this world that included you and me so much that he sent his only begotten son to come and die for our sins. If you had a son and loved him so much would you give him up for a sacrifice? God’s love is the only thing that binds us to him. Though we have sinned against Him, he sent his son to die for us. So why still grieve over something that has already been taken away. Why bother so much about the sin you committed just the other night? Why give in to troubles when the Bible makes us understand in Romans 8:1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who have been crucified with Christ who walk not after the flesh but the Spirit. Again 1Corinthians 6:20 says, for we have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your Spirit, which are God’s. Also, 1Peter 1:18-19 says, forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver or gold, from your vain conversation from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ. Beloved brethren wipe your tears and wear a smile forever before it is too late. For there are people in hell who never knew their sins were bought till they got to hell to realize it. Ah! Had I known on earth I would have lived right. This is what you may end up saying. The time is near. This is a time for all Christians including the ones who backslid to get to your feet and stand for God.

Lastly, 1Peter 2:9 says for we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a peculiar people who have been brought out of darkness into the marvelous light to show forth praises to Him who brought us out of darkness. Wherever you go, whatever you do or say let people know that yes! You are truly a son or daughter of God. Don’t fret! If people listen to worldly music and ask of your opinion of a certain song, be bold and say my friend what you are listening to isn’t right. It does not please God! Don’t listen to it! And friend as the word makes me understand that we should set our affections to things above for that is whence the pleasures come from. NO! Friend NO! Remember we walk not after the flesh (world) but after the Spirit through which we gain SALVATION and a righteous living.

Friend, if you are a child of God that means you are HOT for God and not cold. Revelation 3:16 says, so then because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I the Lord will spit you out of my mouth! Friend please change your ways. If don’t believe me just taste and you shall see that the LORD is good! (Psalm 34:8)

2008-05-14T05:49:00.000-07:00

Widows in Ghana are still going through inhuman and degrading treatments making their future bleak especially for young widows.

A Ghanaian woman who looses her husband to death is expected to go through certain rites and rituals to prove her innocence or otherwise of the husbands death. These rites are what we call the widowhood rites.

These rites and rituals are often inhuman in nature and very degrading and trample upon the fundamental human rights that every human being is entitled to enjoy. Article 12 of the 1992 Ghanaian Constitution talks about the basic fundamental human rights, and therefore no body should deprive a fellow human being from enjoying his or her rights.

Although, there are many legislations and human rights conventions both local and international such as the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment(CAT) and the Convention of the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW) which were adopted by a United Nations resolutions 39/46 10 December 1984 and 34/180,18 December 1979 and which were entered into force on 26 June 1987 and 3 September 1981 respectively, are all but a few of the conventions yet the situation facing widows in Ghana is grave and needs immediate attention.

When a Ghanaian woman looses her husband or is widowed, especially in the northern part of Ghana, she looses the rights and security she gained and enjoyed in her marriage. For example, life becomes very difficult and unbearable for women in Upper East Region, immediately after they are widowed, they are subjected to inhuman and degrading rituals such as being stripped of their clothes and forced to wear leaves over their private parts. These women are forced to remain in this state until the funeral is over, during which the widows are also forced to do other things to determine their state, thus whether they have been faithful or not. These other rituals include sitting on a mat all night wearing only leaves, and surrounded by black ants. If they are bitten by the ants, they are deemed to have been unfaithful. Furthermore, the widows are made to stand while two other women throw water at them. One of the women will throw boiling water and the other cold, and if the widow is scalded, then it is also an indication that the widow had been unfaithful. It is unbelievable to hear of such practices because one wonders how an individual can sit in the midst of ants and expects the ant not to bite her. It is equally astonishing to expect ones body not to burn when hot water is thrown at her.

Even though these practices contravene section 278A of the criminal code of 1960 which state: ‘Whoever compels a bereaved spouse or a relative of such spouse to undergo any custom or practice that is immoral or grossly indecent in nature shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.’ Yet perpetrators of such acts always go unpunished.

Perpetrators of these acts argue that it is their custom, tradition and culture and must therefore obey them to avert the wrath of the gods and its accompanying catastrophic consequences on their families and descendants yet unborn. But what these people are failing to acknowledge is that culture is dynamic and keeps changing, therefore, the way we used to do things some decades ago is not the same today. Hence the need to vary and embrace modernity in our cultural practices.

Additionally, Article 26 of the 1992 Ghanaian Constitution also prohibits the performance of customary practices that dehumanise or are injurious to the mental and physical well-being of humans. Of great concern, especially in the context of communicable diseases, are the harmful, degrading and life-threatening traditional practices as part of burial rites.

It is also an undeniable fact that, widows are forced to drink the water that their husbands’ corpses have been washed in, in some communities in Ghana. Yet Ghana is one of the few countries in Africa that has enacted specific legislations in this area, in the 1989 Amendment to the Ghana Criminal Code, yet there is no record of any prosecutions and the amendment is not well known or understood. What really beats my imagination is that the men are never subjected to these same or similar degrading rituals when they become widowers. Is it because men are supernatural human beings? The puzzle behind this mystery is yet to be unraveled.

Quite recently, there was a report in the Women’s World Page of the Daily Graphic dated April 5, 2008, which has caused much concern to human rights organizations. The report was on the three elderly widows being locked up for nine years in the Kintampo North District of the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. These widows were all married to the late Nana Kwaku Dimpo II, chief of New Longolo in Kintampo North.

According to their custom, the widows had to be kept indoors or locked up until the final funeral rites of their late husband were performed, which could only occur once a new chief was enstooled. However, there is a dispute among the family members of the late chief, and a new one has not been installed. That means… Hmmm your guess is as good as mine.

These poor widows, aged 70, 80 and 90 respectively are kept under poor conditions, and are not allowed to leave their house for any reason. Their right to freedom of movement is trampled upon with impunity as they must be in their small, single room by 6pm and in which they share a mat, yet are not allowed to communicate.

However mother luck has decided to smile on these three unfortunate widows as they have once again gained their freedom after nine years of imprisonment without committing any offence.

Widowhood rites make widows vulnerable to serious sexual abuse, as was revealed in Ghana’s Country Report in the document: Empowering Widows in Development: 10 Country Report. A 23 year-old widow from the Volta Region of Ghana recalls: ‘I was raped by two or three men who were sent by my brother-in-law to get me to leave the house. My husband’s brother had already taken my son, but my little daughter was only 4 years old and she witnessed this terrible thing that happened to me. No one wanted to help me. Later, when I lay bleeding on the floor, my brother-in-law came and shouted through the door that it would be worse for me if I reported what had happened.’

Another widow also narrated how her daughters aged 12 and 13, were raped in turns by two brothers. ‘How will they be married now?’ she asked. Child marriage still occurs in rural Ghana, and when young wives are widowed, they face bleak future, as widows are seen as bad luck, and so they may have difficulty finding a new husband.

The luck of support for widows generally also leads to an increase in child marriages, since some destitute widows find themselves finding husbands for their young girls to enable them acquire bride price of cattle.

Despite these disturbing situations and the seemingly hopeless future for widows in Ghana, there is however some hope as Widows Rights International (WRI), a non-governmental organization working to improve the situation for widows in the northern part of Ghana, has recently reported two successful outcomes to its workshops.

The first is an agreement reached by the chief of Kongo and his elders not to strip widows naked during funerals and end the practice of making widows drink any concoctions. This was the result of a workshop held at Kongo, a village close to Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region of Ghana. They also agreed that after the death of the husband, the widow and her children should use the husband’s property and when a widow’s daughter gets married, a portion of the bride wealth or the cows should be given to her mother.

The second positive result concerns a widow name BA, who was her husband’s second wife and a mother of three. Three years ago her husband died after a short illness. During his lifetime, BA’s husband built six rooms for himself and his two wives. Life became very difficult for BA after the demise of her husband and subsequently moved to town to look for a job to take care of her children.

BA’s life was given a face lift as the Widows and Orphans Ministry trained her in baking bread. One day she decided to visit her in-laws and clean her rooms. While she was sweeping, her husband’s brother came in and asked why she had come to the house. He beat her mercilessly that she had to go to the hospital. She later reported the incident to the ministry and her husband’s brother was arrested and imprisoned. Two months later he was given the option of paying a GH¢ 50 fine or spending a further six months in jail. This has served as a deterrent to lot of in-laws who are in the same practice.

Also worth mentioning is the ban on widowhood rites that human rights activists condemn as dehumanizing by the Paramount Chief of Bongo Traditional Area in the Upper East Region, Naba Baba Salifu Aleemeyaarum. These practices include forcing widows to strip naked in public during the funeral rites. Widows are encouraged to report such practices to the appropriate quarters for necessary actions. The government is also encouraged to make the laws bite since such practices are criminal and should be handled with the contempt that it deserves.

Although the 1992 Ghanaian Constitution bans discrimination on the grounds of sex, widows are still discriminated against in Ghana. There is the need for better protection for women immediately after bereavement, to ensure that they are not subjected to degrading practices that violate their human rights, and also enable them to benefit from their late husband’s property to cater for their children.

Widowhood rites are definitely gendered, and it is as if only women should grieve when their partners die. Why do we as a people consistently fail to implement the laws we pass to protect the vulnerable in our society? Hmmm… Some body out there should help me answer this all important question.

THE CHALLENGES OF FEMALE AND JUVINILE PRISONERS IN GHANA. ACCRA, APRIL 25.

2008-05-14T05:40:00.000-07:00

The deplorable state of the country’s prisons and detention centers are said to be affecting the quality of life of inmates, especially women and juveniles. Consequently, women are said to be using cement paper as “protective” pads during their menstrual periods.

This disclosure was made by Mr. Mohammed Kpakpo Addo, the research officer of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in Accra. Mr. Addo was reacting to a February 2008 “Ghanaian Times” publication about the inhuman conditions under which prisoners live in Ghana
.
He argued that, major challenges facing female and juvenile prisoners mostly centre on poor sanitation, poor ventilation, feeding and inadequate water supply. These conditions have had inmates to live undignified lives which sometimes affect their health and general well-being.

Explaining why CHRAJ cannot intervene on behalf of the inmates, Mr. Addo indicated that the commission is only a statutory body established by law to investigate cases and make appropriate recommendations to Parliament for the necessary action to be taken.

In line with its mandate, CHRAJ has been conducting annual mandatory inspection of selected detention centers country wide, and makes annual reports to Parliament. It is now the duty of the legislators to act on the commission’s recommendations.

Commenting on examples of recommendations made by the commission so far, Mr. Addo emphasized the need to introduce community service as a punishment for lesser crimes. He also recommended that there was the need to streamline the judicial system so that remand cases would not be dragged for years.

In reaction to the story, a source at the National Headquarters of the Ghana Prison Service confirmed that the plight of female and juvenile inmates in the country’s prisons worsening by the day. This, the source said, is due to the inadequate financial and logistic support given to the service to cater for the needs of prisoners.

The source indicated that, till date, prisoners are fed on a daily wage of forty pesewas per head, an amount which is seem to be woefully inadequate considering the current economic condition of the country. Hence the inability of the prison authorities to provide such basic necessities as protective pads for female inmates.

Commenting on the plight of juvenile, the source indicated that, the juvenile correction centers are under the care of the Department of Social Welfare.

However, the centers located at Accra, Agona Swedru and Pong Tamale lack the proper equipment and personnel to properly train and correct juveniles serving sentences in these
Centers, as required by the Juvenile Justice Act .The effect is that, most of these juveniles leave the centers hardened and mostly find their way back into crime.

Commenting on the situation of pregnant inmates at the Nsawam Prison, the source indicates that, a pregnancy test is always conducted on every female convict before she starts her sentence. Before pregnant female convicts do not get a different kind of treatment from the other female inmates, though was necessary but the service lacks the resources to implement this requirement.

The source then refuted allegations that some male prison guards impregnate female convicts saying it was a “wild allegation” which had no bases. The source also debunked claims that juveniles are sometimes mixed with adult prisoners but acknowledged that the act could be taking place in police cells since most stations do not have separate cells for juveniles and adult inmates.

In a related development, the coordinator of the Commonwealth Human Right Initiative (CHRI).Nana Oye Lithour has indicated that, the government, through the Ghana Prisons Service, has to put measures in place to ensure a proper reproductive healthcare for the country’s female prisoners.

She made the recommendation in an exclusive interview with the group in her office in Accra. She indicated that, by nature, women have a complex body stature as compared with their male counter parts. Therefore, women do not have to be given the same treatment as men in prison.

She explained further that, women are susceptible to various sicknesses such as breast cancer, menstrual disorders as well as vaginal infections, when exposed to inhuman living conditions.

The gender rights advocate therefore recommended the facilities within the female prison at Nsawam should be improved with emphasis on the primary healthcare of inmates. Regular medical check-ups should be conducted for inmates in order to identify infectious diseases before they become epidemics within the facility.

Adding to this, she explained that babies unit at the Nsawam Prison lacked most of the basic facilities, equipments and professional personnel capable of taking care of the babies. She said the Prisoners were only supplied with Paracetamol in case they were ill.

She also said further that, the female prison has come to be associated with stigmatization. This she explain to mean that where as male prisoners regularly receives visitors this was, however lacking in the female prisons. She said relatives of the female prisoners hardly make efforts to visit them, compelling prison guards to name the children born in the prisons in absence of their legitimate fathers.

That not withstanding she said efforts by the Prison Services and the Ministry of Interior to separate the babies from their mothers, was a gross violation of the right of the Children unless it was being done in the best interest of the child. Supporting her position and on this, she said in consonance with World Health Organizations recommendation, a baby should be fed exclusively on the mothers breast for six months from birth and should continue to receive breast milk as part of their diet for two years and beyond. Meanwhile, Ghana’s Breast Feeding Promotion Regulation, 2000(L1 1667) also emphasized the benefits and superiority of breast-feeding. Denying babies access to their mothers, she said is a criminal offence.

She stressed further that, non-compliance with the criminal procedure code was the genesis of all the issues that had been pointed to. She noted that, women who tested positive prior to conviction ought to have been given suspended sentence or a non-custodial sentence. But these provisions had for a long time never been adhered to.

She therefore urged government and civil societal organizations to come to the aid of in mates to help improve upon their lots. Apart from this, she said her outfit was doing everything possible to ensure that human rights related issues bothering on the shoulders of female inmates and juveniles were upheld.