Housing Affordability in Ghana: A focus on Kumasi and Tamale

There are insufficient affordable housing units in Ghana. Most of the available units are poorly developed and are not habitable. The paper explores the affordable housing situation in Ghana by using Kumasi and Tamale as study area. It determines whether housing − housing credit, and rental and owner occupied units are affordable. It also determines the extent to which government interventions have been successful in providing affordable housing for Ghanaians. It examines the contribution of the formal finance institutions to the provision of affordable housing in Ghana. It does so by surveying the literature on affordable housing. It also evaluates the affordable housing delivery system in Ghana. It found that housing units with basic acceptable standards are unaffordable by many households in the study areas. Also, most households in Kumasi and Tamale cannot afford mortgage credit, and adequate rented and owner occupied housing units due to low income levels, high unemployment rate, and high interest rates. It notes that interventions by government have been unsuccessful in providing affordable housing in the country.Keywords-Affordable Housing, Government Interventions, Formal Finance, Households, Ghan

Secondary mortgage market (SMM): Is it right for financing housing in Ghana?

The formal housing finance system in Ghana is inadequate and highly underdeveloped. The formal finance institutions have provided very little mortgages particularly to the low and middle-income households. However, the fast growing capital market of Ghana offers an opportunity for sustainable housing finance in the country. This paper explores the possibility of addressing the housing finance problems in the country through the use of Secondary Mortgage Market (SMM). It does so by surveying the literature on SMM. It also examines the housing finance system in Ghana. It finds out that an SMM in principle will enable Ghana to overcome some of the constraints on the mortgage market and attract housing funds. But in practice it is not the best way of solving the housing finance problems in the country since the fundamentals are not right for a successful implementation of SMM. It notes that the scale of mortgage origination in the primary market is limited; the adjudication process is slow; collateralization is inadequate; and the land title regime is poor. It suggests that it is appropriate for Ghana to concentrate on solving these basic problems before any attempt at implementing a secondary mortgage market in the country

Dissecting the Histone-binding Mechanism of a PHD Finger Subtype

Disordered tails of histones are critical information retrieval hub and thus, aberrations in the flow of information through these hubs are associated with a number of pathological consequences in human. Mechanism for retrieval of information from these hubs is achieved by protein-protein interaction, i.e. proteins dock onto histone tails to initiate chromatin signaling. Eukaryotes have a number of small peptide binding domains that have evolved to specifically interact with histone tails, and these domains called histone readers as they read the information encoded on histone tails. Plant homeodomain (hereafter PHD) finger, a binucleated zinc finger, family is one such histone readers. Next-generation sequencing efforts on diagnosed patient’s genomes or cancer tissues show that mutations in PHD finger, particularly a subgroup of PHD fingers, are associated with number of pathological consequences. Therefore, for future understanding of the possible mechanisms for the pathological consequences, as an initial step, detailed characterization of the binding mechanism of the PHD subtype, the PHD_nW_DD, was undertaken here. Starting with human BAZ2A (bromodomain adjacent to zinc-finger 2A), one member of the PHD_nW_DD subtype that is associated with prostate cancer was utilized to probe the effect of mutations on histone tail binding. We experimentally discovered two categories of mutations that disrupt peptide binding: (1) Type-A: positions that are in contact with the peptide and (2) Type-B: positions that are remote from the peptide-binding site (distal site). For my dissertation, I focused on understanding the biochemical basis of the effects of Type-A mutations using recombinant protein chemistry and biophysical chemistry. The peptide-anchoring residue positions of BAZ2A-PHD, interestingly, are enriched in specific type of residues in a subtype specific manner. The energetics revealed that, two non-polar amino acid residues and an Aspartate residue in the treble clef knuckle make significant contributions to the formation of the hBAZ2A-histone peptide complex as mutations at these three positions completely aborted peptide binding. The energetic contributions of the identified positions were further confirmed by mutagenesis in three members of the subtype (UHRF1-PHD, KDM5B-PHD and KAT6A-PHD) that included pairs sharing even less than 40% sequence identity with each other. Despite low sequence similarity, mutations cause similar consequences in histone H3 binding suggesting a strong similarity in the binding mechanism, and thus justifying the subtype classification

The Concept of African Pianism

African Pianism is a style of piano music which employs techniques and styles used in the performance of African instrumental traditional songs and African popular music. The percussive and melodic capabilities of the piano make it an ideal medium for expressing the rhythmic and percussive features of African music. Deploying African traditional idioms in compositions using the concept of African pianism is however only one aspect of creating an art based on the fundamental principles which are essential to its well being. The paper discusses the various techniques and styles composers employ in composing music using the concept of African Pianism

Land Use Planning and Housing Situation in the WA and Offinso South Municipalities, Ghana

Housing insufficiency is a major problem confronting most Ghanaian households. The paper examines the state of housing in the Wa and the Offinso South municipalities of Ghana. It investigates the liveability of housing in these municipalities. The housing adequacy across the municipalities is compared. One hundred and twenty housing units in each municipality were surveyed for data gathering. The units of enquiry were the households’ heads and property owners. Questionnaires were used to obtain data from respondents. It finds that most of the houses surveyed lack basic facilities. It notes that most households in the municipalities lack adequate housing. The paper observes statistically significant difference in the room occupancy rates, flooring materials, households’ access to toilet facilities, mode of disposing liquid waste, and quality of bathing facilities across the municipalities. The paper however, finds no statistically distinguishable difference between the quality of outer wall, roofing materials, drinking water quality and solid waste disposal modes in the municipalities. Again, non-adherence to planning regulations is partly responsible for the state of housing in the municipalities. The paper notes that deprived housing conditions have significant negative impact on protected lands and environmentally vulnerable areas of the municipalities. It recommends the use of both social force and the legal regime to discourage environmentally unfriendly acts in the municipalities. Again, it recommends the enforcement of regulations on the provision of in-house toilet and bathing facilities and de-emphasizing of public toilets delivery.Key words: Housing Situation, Housing Infrastructure, Planning Regulations, Wa, Offinso-South, Ghan

The Macro-Economy and Housing Credit Market in Ghana

The housing finance market of Ghana is underdeveloped. A number ofstudies have suggested that the weak and unstable macro-economicenvironment in the country is responsible for this. These studies however,showed the relationship between the country’s mortgage market and themacro-economy through qualitative techniques. This paper, examines thisrelationship via regression models. It regressed mortgage originations in the country on inflation, interest, and exchange rates to determine their impacts on mortgage market activities. It found out that the only significant factor influencing mortgage origination in the country is the exchange rate. It suggests that this exists because mortgages in Ghana are denominated in foreign currencies notably the United States dollar and that mortgagees focus on Ghanaian residents abroad or Ghanaians with foreign currency denominated income. It notes that resident Ghanaians have been priced out of the mortgage market by high exchange rate levels and the “dollalization” of mortgages in the country. It recommends that policy must focus on addressing the exchange rate problem in other to make the mortgage market attractive to both mortgagees and resident Ghanaians. Key Words: Mortgage originations, Macroeconomic Factors, HousingCredit, Ghan

The monetary policy transmission mechanism and inflation control in Ghana

The central bank of Ghana officially adopted an explicit inflating targeting monetary policy in May 2007 following its operational independence in March 2002. This thesis firstly explores the evolution of monetary policy and inflation in Ghana, before characterising the conduct and effectiveness of monetary policy. The thesis uses time series estimations of Taylor-type reactions functions to characterise monetary policy conduct and uses three other approaches to evaluate monetary policy effectiveness. In the first approach the long-run interest rate response to inflation, output gap, and other inflation precursors from estimated reaction functions is compared with Taylor’s reference values. The second method analyses the responsiveness of the policy interest rate to commercial bank retail rates while the third approach investigates the monetary transmission mechanism to the wider economy using variables’ impulse responses to investigate how other important variables that are either the final objective of policy or the conduit through which the final objective of policy is attained, behave in response to monetary policy. The analysis uses a modified cointegration and error correction model that is robust to the stationary properties of the data as well as vector autoregression techniques. The results show monetary policy was largely effective in influencing the savings rate but not quite effective in controlling inflation. An alternative model (McCallum 1995a) that uses monetary aggregates as a policy instrument appears to explain monetary policy in Ghana better. The thesis suggests possible reasons for the non effectiveness of monetary policy and offer policy recommendations for long-term inflation control

Governing the urban water commons : essays on collaborative policy networks in a polycentric ecology of urban water policy games.

Governing social-ecological systems, such as the urban water commons, is a multi-scale and multi-sector (polycentric) human-environment process. This dissertation interrogates this process by situating itself within the Ecology of Games Framework by Norton Long (and updated by Mark Lubell) and the literature on polycentric governance by the Bloomington School of Political Economy. The dissertation’s three essays 1) offer both theoretical and methodological means to enact polycentric public economies within the ecology of games framework, and 2) explicate the conditions under which interoganizational collaboration is fostered within a polycentric ecology of policy games in governing the Middle Rio Grande urban watershed. First, it deploys a synthesized theoretical construct which puts into conversation three theoretical paradigms to excavate the conceptual pillars to study the polycentricity of urban water governance in the United States. A novel conceptual tool is hereby constructed to help engage the thoughts that polycentricity is not the antithesis of monocentricity but the co-constitution of actors at multiple governing scales and within multiple sectors. Second, the conceptual pillars are reworked into theoretical and methodological models to study the polycentricity of governing the Middle Rio Grande (MRG) urban watershed in New Mexico, USA. Four indices are developed to measure the level of political, market, nonprofit, and overall polycentricity in governing this urban water commons. Employing multiple methods like the social network analysis, social-ecological network analysis (SENA), and regression analysis, the dissertation’s findings suggest that polycentric water governance could primarily be about the politics of power and resource distribution, the reconfigurations of actors’ positionalities as they align themselves and their interests strategically. This, among other findings in the dissertation, points to the need to centralize the politics of power and resource distribution in the study of polycentricity in social-ecological governance. Third and finally, the overall polycentric index is used to model the role of polycentricity in interorganizational collaboration within the Middle Rio Grande (MRG) urban water commons. The exponential random graph models (ERGMs) is used in this analysis. Among other findings, the results show that polycentric governance increases the probability of interorganizational collaboration within the MRG. The implications of the dissertation’s three cohesive essays to theory, methods and policy are discussed in the conclusion chapter of the dissertation. In all, this dissertation concludes that there is still no panacea in governing the (urban water) commons

Enrolment of Urban Poor in National Health Insurance Scheme in the Ga East Municipality, Ghana

Social health insurance is seen as a mechanism that helps mobilize resources for health, pool risk, and provide more access to health care services for the poor. This study sought to determine the rate and factors influencing enrolment in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) among the urban poor in the Ga East municipality, Ghana. A cross sectional study was conducted in the Grushi community of Ga East Municipality of the Greater Accra Region using data from a household survey of 250 household participants. Data were collected from household level using structured questionnaires. Logistic regression models were used to assess the socio-demographic and facility related predictors of enrolment in the NHIS. All statistical tests were two-tailed and considered significant at p-value <0.05. 76.5% of the participants were enrolled in the NHIS whereas 23.5% were not. Most, 76.3% of card bearers face problems of drug unavailability when they visit the facility. Having secondary and primary education was associated with 4.28 (adjusted odds ratio, [AOR], 95% confidence interval, [CI]; 4.28, 1.51-12.43) and 5.15 (AOR, 95% CI; 5.15, 1.85-14.16) times higher odds of enrolling in the NHIS scheme. Living very far from the NHIS service center was also associated with reduced odds of enrolling in the scheme (AOR, 95% CI; 0.19, 0.04-0.93). There is a generally high enrolment into the NHIS scheme among the urban poor people in Accra, Ghana. Enrolment in the NHIS was influenced by the educational level, use of healthcare services and distance from an NHIS accredited facility. Extending geographical access and improving service quality could be an important strategy for expanding NHIS membership among this population. Keywords: National Health Insurance Scheme, Enrolment, Urban, Poor, Ghan