Emmanuel.K. Bensah Jr.
Shared publicly - Yesterday 12:30
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Friday, December 13, 2013
Thursday, December 12, 2013
*GHANA FACEBOOKER ASKS IMPORTANT QUESTIONS OF #GHANAPOLICE AFTER NEWS OF KILLING OF 32-YR-OLD FEMALE BANKER IN HER HOME*
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_ I just finished reading this harrowing story and my opinion is that it's an inside job. It certainly was a disgruntled friend or colleague whom she may have been acquainted with or better still a family member, given that the door to her home was locked.
I asked the same question whether the nation was equipped with a state of the art forensic lab, but from an above post my curiosity has been answered.
However,
1: What is the point in possessing a £3 million state of the art forensic lab when there's no computerized national data base of finger prints to help such a lab to function correctly?
2: Is there a national program being implemented to educate the nation on how to report and treat a crime scene without tampering with evidence?
3: Since no mention was made in the news report concerning a response unit of CSI FORENSIC officials, I presume none is even in effect or probably not highly trained enough to respond to such emergencies.
4: Although I'm against national institutions monitoring the private phone conversation of its nationals, one cannot pretend to underestimate its effectiveness in cases like these to have an insight into such horrendous crimes.
Equipping the nation with a highly functioning forensic lab without the backing of some, all or more of the above mentioned programs would be like an individual possessing an expensive Gulf Stream private jet without a trained pilot and crew to fly it.
This young lady could be a family member, friend or colleague of ours. My condolences rests with this family for their loss. I mourn with them, because such an atrocious act may find its tentacles on my door steps someday and there might not be a solution in place to apprehend the culprits._
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Mid Week Madness:I am Number 19...on Google Plus -- a "Top Google+ User"
Some of my BloggingGhana colleagues, including Ato Ulzen-Appiah are number four today (they were mysteriously number 5 yesterday).
Interestingly, there is an American lady from the US depriving me of my number 19 spot. She probably accidentally listed her country as Ghana. Though quite why any established-writer in the US would do that is beyond me!
So, well, I am number 20. For now.
For now!
Watch this space...
Monday, November 18, 2013
The "Walking Dead" Show wins Every Monday Night
Just finished watching a new episode of #thewalkingdead on #foxafrica. We get to learn a lot more about #thegovernor. Is his real name Brian? I missed most of #season3, but enough to know he is/was #badass.
The concept of focusing on an antagonist to Rick's crew was interesting in the way we get great insight into character development--even of a baddie.
This, in my view, is very reminiscent of back in the day when #thexfiles reigned supreme, and we had an episode in #season4 of that show focusing exclusively on the #CigaretteSmokingMan. Though we learnt to loathe him for the manner in which he scuppered #Mulder and #Scully, we learnt a new side to him, and his past.
In the latest episode of #twd, I think I can say while I don't think #thegovernor is a changed man, he has certainly become emboldened by the warmth displayed by his temporary and adopted family. . .to "rick"--sorry, wreak!--havoc on Sheriff Rick's crew in episode 6?
_________________________________________________________ sent from my Samsung tablet. . .
*twitter.com/ekbensah
*www.ekbensah.net
*facebook.com/ekbensahdotnet
*mob: +233.268.687.653/+233.243.111.789 __________________________________________________________ ekbensah DotNet: Regional integration Intelligence| West Africa-ECOWAS | Communications | Civil society __________________________________________________________
Friday, November 15, 2013
Welcome to Oxford Street Mall, welcome Big Capital!
#Capitalism has a new home: #Ghana, where malls spring up faster than you can say "is that another #Lebanese retail outfit?".
Oxford Shopping Mall is a new one, boasting five floors. #Shoprite is already running. Quick! Run and go spend. !!:-\
I guess the only consolation now is that in the competition between Accra Mall, A&C Plaza, Marina Mall and Oxford Street Mall, there will be some sense of discrete units of the population aggregated in certain parts of Accra.
As to whether this will be a boon to the horrendous Christmas traffic, the jury is out on that one!
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Sent by WhatsApp
Saturday, November 09, 2013
Weekend thoughts at 3.23am on #GooglePlus & #Blogging
It's 3.23am in Accra.
An hour ago, I finished watching another Simon Pegg classic, which came out this year, called "world's end" on Ghana's #utvghana station.
Just spent over an hour reviewing some of my blogs, especially the one that focuses on #Ghana.
I quite like the fact that, though Facebook and Google Plus have pretty much stolen the thunder of my usual blogging, the Share buttons on my Android device enable me to share to an email, and onto a blog, via email-to-blog technology, as it were.
My first ever ghana blog--http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com--commenced in Feb 2005. That is almost a decade of #blogging under my belt.
Time to write a book about niche-blogging perhaps?
Goodnight. No: good morning!
Hammah's Dismissal, or A Salutary Political Lesson
Yesterday's unexpected and sudden dismissal of Former Deputy Communications Minister Victoria Hammah over a 32-minute conversation that was secretly recorded offers a salutary lesson to us all: "better to keep silent, and be thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt"!
May she go on to better things with more sagacity than she left this position.
_________________________________________________________ sent from my Samsung tablet. . .
*twitter.com/ekbensah
*www.ekbensah.net
*facebook.com/ekbensahdotnet
*mob: +233.268.687.653/+233.243.111.789 __________________________________________________________ ekbensah DotNet: Regional integration Intelligence| West Africa-ECOWAS | Communications | Civil society __________________________________________________________
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Hello Ghana, HelloFood!
There is no gainsaying Ghanaians love their food and,
off-late, their smartphones. So when you mix the two together, you got yourself
a perfect combination that can be found in the latest craze in town.
Ghanaians have been using social
media and their phones long enough to know of every conceivable thing that can
be aggregated. But quite whether they knew it was possible to aggregate one’s choice of food, one will never
know…unless they had tried “HelloFood”!
Hellofood”
is the latest and newest thing to hit town—or rather, their taste buds. It's an
exciting new way to get their food orders delivered into their home or office.
Hellofood makes it safe and convenient for customers.
It comes with a smart little
application that can be downloaded from Google Play (if you are on Android),
which just makes the whole “eating-out” concept a lot easier to di
gest (if you
can pardon the pun!)
Tonaton is King -- Ghana's Ebay?
I have taken a look at other services being offered. Am not quite convinced by the Job market section, though. I feel there are--and will always be--crooks ready to rip desperate people who want a job, or employment off. There are a lot of "Marketing" services, and apparently quick-paying jobs. Quite how one gets around those kind of tantalising offers to the desperate job-seeker is moot.
Still, I have to say for now: Tonaton is king!
Thanks to it, and the honesty of the individual in question I contacted about getting a new charger, my primary device is back on-line, and on-charge!
Highly recommended! Try it today: http://www.tonaton.com
Wednesday, June 05, 2013
VIDEO clip:"The OAU/AU @ 50: How relevant is it? METRO TV 4 June, 2013--E.k.Bensah Jr & Mr.Alipui"
"There are a crop of leaders on the continent who believe continental integration should not happen!" — at Metro TV.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Just one of those Ghanaian Days, & thoughts of private versus public sector in Ghana
I am not entirely sure what a typically-Ghanaian day is like, and I guess I have not been blogging enough to even cogitate about what one is to the point where I explore with potential readers!
Suffice-to-say, it has been one of those days -- in your average West African country that is aspiring to be middle class -- you realise the country is a lot worse off than you imagined.
Don't let the flashy cars and the big houses which a select few seem to be buying confuse you to the reality on the ground: things are hard.
Even for those who are aspirational "middle class" Ghanaians, the complaint is the same. So I cannot begin to imagine those who's income brackets fall outside the latter's group: it must, frankly, be terrifying to be in this country.
Don't get me wrong: I LOVE Ghana, and I would not trade it with any country ever, but I think the State of Ghana is not helping us.
Never mind provocative-minded breakfast shows, like the CITI 97.3fm one today with Bernard Avle, examining why future leaders after Nkrumah have not lived up to the "African personality" and aspired to the "commanding heights" of Ghanaian industry, the bottom line is that most deep-thinking Ghanaians know what kind of mess Ghana is in.
We have politicians, like Rashid Pelpuo--Minister of State at the Presidency in charge of Public-Private Partnerships-- who can boldly tell us that the Ghanaian industries will not be protected, and that the Ghana government will "ensure that the public sector is restructured to respond to the needs of the private sector of the economy"
This is as if to say that the private sector is the end-all and be-all.
Coming from a man who enjoyed public sector education provided by Nkrumah, it is a delicious irony that he should turn his back and propound the private sector as a panacea to the countries' woes. I mean, honestly, what kind of reasoning is this:
"It's so critical that when business, people find it easy to operate in Ghana, then investments increase and if investments increase, employment will be increased. If employment increases, people are going to be better off and it will improve the overall livelihood of the people."
Did he just fall off a Breton Woods Institution truck?
When you contrast Pelpuo against people like Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Thomas Kwesi Quartey who stated categorically to the Europeans, over the Economic Partnership Agreements, that:
"The manner in which the EU was pushing Ghana to sign the EPAs "brings lingering questions to the minds of Africans""
then you kind of wonder whether we are living in a typically Ghanaian day, when policies and practices don't cohere, or inure, to the benefit of the Ghanaian good.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
"Anything is Possible When you're sowing the seeds of Love"
"Feel the pain
Talk about it
If you're a worried man - then shout about it
Open hearts - feel about it
Open minds - think about it
Everyone - read about it
Everyone - scream about it !
Everyone
Everyone - read about it, read about it
Read in the books in the crannies and the nooks there are books to read" -- Tears for Fears, "sowing the seeds of love"
It's called LOVE!
Happy Valentine's day. Make yours memorable!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Ghana Decided peacefully on 7 Dec, 2012, but Issues Arose, including "Facebook Tipping Point" for Ghana
By now, most of you following Ghana's elections will have known that Ghana has a new president in the incumbent John Mahama. I will be posting some thoughts over thenext few days about what happens to our body-politic. In the meantime, enjoy the article below--sent by Facebook friend and academic John Schaefer--who follows Ghana as often as I do!
Enjoy!
Did You Know the Facebook Tipping Point Happened in Ghana on Sunday?
On Sunday, the Electoral Commission of Ghana changed the place of social media in African politics forever. After a very close race for the presidency of Ghana, they posted Ghana's official election results on Facebook!
Now Kajsa gives three ideas why the Electoral Commission posted to Facebook instead of their own page:
- The Electoral Commission’s own Website came down earlier in the day (too many visitors?) and as that channel was not working they chose the next available thing, their Facebook page.
- The meeting with the parties and the NEC was dragging out and the results were provided to show the meeting delegates that postponing declaration of results was not an option.
- As the media was waiting in a adjacent room since a couple of hours, the results were released on Facebook to calm nerves of the press corps and the country.
Regardless of why they posted to Facebook, this is a BIG deal! Previously, the thought of posting such a critical government document/decision on a non-government website, much less on a social media site, would be so far outside the realm of possibility as to be laughed at as an option.
With 1.7 million Facebook users in Ghana (77% of the online population), and with usage spiking with the introduction of Facebook Zero, the question now becomes, "Why not release public documents and decisions on Facebook?"
Of course, public documents should also be on government websites, and Facebook cannot and should not replace direct government communications, yet as Ory Okolloh points out, Facebook is a much more democratic conveyance of information than what was done before.
So I am calling it. Sunday, December 9th, 2012 was Facebook's tipping point in Africa. Social media, and especially Facebook, is now the primary information and communication technology tool to accelerate the social development of Ghana, and of Africa as a whole.
Friday, December 07, 2012
Ghana Votes, #GhanaDecides!
Someone is just saying behind me that this is the "shortest line" he has seen. Well...
Thursday, December 06, 2012
9 Hours Away from Ghana's Elections on 7 Dec, 2012
Some of us claimed we would not vote because we are "tired" of Ghana's politicians. CITI fm's Bernard Avle tried his level-best this morning to encourage those of us who might decided not to vote to re-consider. After all, it is our civic responsibility.
GhanaDecides, the parent project of BloggingGhana, has been doing its very best to encourage people to go and vote, and do it efficiently and wisely.
I encourage those of you who will be voting to do same: efficiently; calmly; and quietly. Ghana first!
See you tomorrow at 7am...in front or the other side of the camera!;-)
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