The Political Economy of Cost-Free Education in Ghanaian Public Schools: A Critical Analysis of National Resources (Finance, Materials and Manpower)

This paper explores the subject matter of cost-free education that has been hotly and contentiously debated by political parties and incumbent governments before and during general elections in Ghana. These debates are usually centered on the feasibility or otherwise of a cost-free first and second cycle’s education to the multitude of Ghanaian children. The portent of these arguments or debates of the possibility of a cost-free education stems from the realization that the majority of Ghanaian parents are unable to educate their children of school-going age as a result of abject poverty. This paper argues that the flux of ideas on cost-free education in Ghanaian public schools is unsustainable, and that it is a populist and a political gimmick. Keywords: Abject poverty, Basic School, Education, Political Economy, Public School, skewed

Crime Combat in Developing Economies: The Dilemmas of the Ghana Police Service

This paper examines crime prevention in Developing Economies in Africa with special focus on Ghana and the Ghana Police Service. By and large, the Ghana Police Service has been in the news for wrong reasons partly as a result of several researched outcomes and public perceptions that tagged it as an institution riddled with corruption, extortion and embroiled in politics of patronage and clientelism with governments. This image of the Ghana Police Service has had negative repercussions on public understanding of its professionalism and the institutionalization of policing in communities in Ghana. In spite of these perceptions and bastardizations, public confidence in the police in combating armed robbery and preventing crime in general in Ghana has not completely waned. Indeed, records of the successes of the police in combating crime in Ghana abound and public memory of them continues to reverberate in some circles. This paper argues that the Ghana Police Service has been unnecessarily ‘framed’ in a negative limelight to the extent that its performance in crime prevention and protection of lives and properties has been glossed over. Keywords: Armed robbery, Corruption, Crime, Developing economies, Patronage, Police capacity, Police Service, Stealin

The Gods, Spirits And Magical Powers At War: Reflections On The Psychological Dimension Of The Nawuri-Gonja Conflict, Northern Ghana

In 1991 and 1992, the Nawuri and the Gonja clashed over allodial rights in lands in the Nawuri area of the present-day Kpandai District in the Northern Region of Ghana. The conflict was cataclysmic, and throughout its conduct, there were psychological dimensions. In all the events before the conflict and throughout the phases of the conflict, metaphysical and superstitious resources were utilized and became the fulcrum in the conduct of the conflict. As the conflict occurred in the part of Ghana where superstition and belief in spiritual powers was an integral part of people’s psychology, the Nawuri and the Gonja naturally provided space for the gods, spirits, and magical powers in the conduct of the conflict. With an ingrained philosophy that empiricism is controlled by metaphysical forces, the Nawuri and the Gonja mixed superstition in every aspect of the conflict. This paper examined the extent to which superstitious beliefs played a catalytical psychological role in the Nawuri-Gonja conflict. It analyzed the space provided for spiritual forces – the gods, spirits, and magical powers – and the extent to which these psychological factors determined the course of the conflict. The paper argued that it is impossible to reconstruct a cogent narrative of the conflict – both in terms of its conduct and the scale – without recourse to the psychological factors

Ghana

Ghana is often considered a peaceful country due to its ability to manage electoral disputes. However, the role of peacebuilding institutions such as the National Peace Council (NPC) is often overlooked in all the analysis. Using documentary sources, this paper analyzed the petitions of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) before the Supreme Court of Ghana; the content of the speeches delivered at the Kumasi Peace Accord; the National Peace Council Act 2011 (Act 818), and selected literature on infrastructure for peace to appraise the role of the NPC in promoting peaceful election in the year 2012 in Ghana. The paper examined the NPC role in election 2012 on different phases: pre-election phase, Election Day phase and post-election phase. In the analysis of these events, the over-riding objectives remain appraising the NPC as a proactive peacebuilding institution. An examination of the potential challenges of the NPC is in regard to pointing out, indirectly, the nature of support it needs to be able to work effectively. The paper recommends that since election remains the source of conflict in Africa and also conflicts being the bane of development in the continent, the feasibility of establishing a continental-level peace infrastructure will not be a misplaced idea

One State, Two School Systems: the Instability of Ghana’s School System since the Fourth Republic

This paper examines the fickle nature of Ghana’s school system since colonialism. The school system has undergone several metamorphoses both in structure and content from the colonial epoch to post-independence. The management and reform of education in Ghana seem to have become synonymous with a change in political power. This paper argues that the management of Ghana’s educational system after fifty-five (55) years of independence is still undergoing turbulent experimentation to fine-tune to an efficient and effective school system. This instability in the structure and content of Ghana’s educational system looks more of a political jingle as well as military musical chairs rather than based on national consensus aimed at mitigating the many challenges facing the school system. Keywords: Education management, education reform/review, politics, quality educatio

The Ethnic Factor in International Politics: Constructing the Role of the Nawuri in the Pan-Ewe Nationalist Movement

This paper examines the German colonial project in Alfai in Northern Ghana as well as the roles the Nawuri played in the political activism of the 1940s and 1950s that sought to define the administrative status of the two Trust Territories of former German Togoland. Described as the “Togoland Question” or the “Ewe Problem”, the political activism has been labeled an Ewe affair, and examined largely within the framework of the pan-Ewe nationalists seeking to project an Ewe identity and establish an Ewe-dominated state. This study shifts focus to the roles that the Nawuri, a non-Ewe ethnic group, played in the pan-Ewe nationalist movement, and argues that the pan-Ewe nationalist movement was not entirely an Ewe affair; Nawuri association with and participation in its activities were conspicuous. Keywords: Alfai, British, Ghana, Gold Coast, German, Gonja, Kanankulaiwura, Kete-Krachi, nationalist, Nawuri, Nawuriwura, Northern Territories, Trust Territories, Togo, Togoland Questio

African Perceptions of Donor Agencies: Emerging developments in Sino-African relations

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that African perceptions of donor agencies such as China may differ from country to country, and are informed by elements such as the country of origin, the knowledge base and orientation towards China. China has been a longstanding partner of Africa since time immemorial through series of trade and cultural exchanges. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to inquiry, we collect primary data via social survey using google forms with questionnaires administered to participants of ten (10) and six (6) tertiary institutions in Ghana and Togo respectively. This is to give voice to participants from Francophone and Anglophone speaking countries on the subject matter. We give more meaning to the survey data using documentary evidence. Evidence from our frequency distribution of the weighted responses on the various dimension of engagement and that of our phenomenology and narrative tools indicate that there are no singular overarching African perception of China as a donor agent; as the African continent is a 55-state region with diverse conflicting political, economic and socio-cultural proclivities. Africans have embraced China as an emerging force but unlike traditional multilateral bodies, China prefer to deal with Africa on an individual level without going public on matters relating to debt reliefs

African Perceptions of Donor Agencies: Emerging developments in Sino-African relations

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that African perceptions of donor agencies such as China may differ from country to country, and are informed by elements such as the country of origin, the knowledge base and orientation towards China. China has been a longstanding partner of Africa since time immemorial through series of trade and cultural exchanges. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to inquiry, we collect primary data via social survey using google forms with questionnaires administered to participants of ten (10) and six (6) tertiary institutions in Ghana and Togo respectively. This is to give voice to participants from Francophone and Anglophone speaking countries on the subject matter. We give more meaning to the survey data using documentary evidence. Evidence from our frequency distribution of the weighted responses on the various dimension of engagement and that of our phenomenology and narrative tools indicate that there are no singular overarching African perception of China as a donor agent; as the African continent is a 55-state region with diverse conflicting political, economic and socio-cultural proclivities. Africans have embraced China as an emerging force but unlike traditional multilateral bodies, China prefer to deal with Africa on an individual level without going public on matters relating to debt reliefs