Features and Opinions

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo met with journalists at the Jubilee House yesterday.

In the 2016 election, one factor that distinguished candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo from his political opponents was his perceived incorruptibility and non-nonsense approach to graft.

The first time I saw a documentary on how drones were used to transport blood in Rwanda, I said to myself: “Wow! These people have really advanced. When will our backward nation ever get to this level?” Fortunately, it was one of the many thoughts that I never found the time to write about.

After a largely successful second year of implementing reforms to correct imbalances in the economy inherited in 2016, Ghana’s current administration aims to grow the economy faster in 2019.

In a smouldering heat on a Saturday afternoon at Elmina in the Central Region, a group of young men sat on the edge of a rusty metal bridge, reflecting on life.

John F. Kerry, 74, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who later protested the war, served as a prosecutor, lieutenant governor and five-term U.S. senator from Massachusetts.

The issue of political interference and the Independence of the Ghana Police Service has been a long-standing issue.

Men who abuse their wives are usually passive and dependent individuals. They find it difficult to express emotions and to deal with anger in nonviolent ways. Often, they did not have a close relationship with their mothers.

Thursday’s Mid-Year Budget Review should be a humbling lesson on how to finance campaign promises that are (more or less) revenue black holes while staying true to the favoured mantra, “from taxation to production.”

A young Ghanaian entrepreneur Epton Owusu quit his banking job to position Ghanaian-made Kente to compete on the global scale.

The death of Ghana’s sensational dancehall artist has generated a lot of debate on the airwaves and I believe the time is ripe for us to put aside sentiments and look at the cause of her death in a dispassionate fashion.

Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, it has arguably risen to become the most successful Club in England and in contention for unceremoniously capping the laurels for the Club with the most ovation World Wide.

There are many ways to measure development in a region, a country or even a continent. Freedom, prosperity, health and stability are all pillars of progress, and opportunity is the foundation.

In the 21st century one would have expected more improvement in the appreciation of health our needs.

According to a recent Oxfam report, just eight men have the same wealth as half the world’s population. In many places, inequality is growing and widening the gap between the richest and the poorest.

Just a year ago, around this same time, Christmas was buzzing around Ghana. Such was the pomp and pageantry in the country, that the only ones that were left out of the Merry of Christmas were NDC faithfuls, like myself, who were grieving, and struggling to come to terms with our painful loss in an election we were ever-so confident of winning, given our impressive record of governance under John Dramani Mahama.

Dear President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,

Dear Ebony, Our wise elders once said the rat which makes its abode by the popular village path is either extremely courageous or a speedster. In the same way, it takes more than courage for a married man to openly write a love letter to another woman.

Deep in the heart of Ashanti Region is a serene space cultivating students since 1957. Equipped with one of the best science laboratories in the country [in that era] and a flourishing greenery,  Kumasi Academy, KUMACA, is a lasting legacy. One of the beautiful architectures of the School is it's beautiful, round Science Laboratory building -- it is the Mecca of academic excellence. 

"Eight hundred," says the auctioneer. "900 ... 1,000 ... 1,100 ..." Sold. For 1,200 Libyan dinars -- the equivalent of $800.

Lately, we have all been witnesses to horrifying spectacles of victims of explosions involving petroleum products in some fuel stations and domestic places in different parts of the country.

He used other people’s resources and you can do it too. Here is how it all began..

Agriculture is the backbone of Ghana’s economy with about 80 per cent of total agricultural production attributed to smallholder farmers including women.

Floods as well as droughts and heatwaves are increasing and will continue to do so in Africa and South Asia. Farmers and governments need to adapt to this changing climate regime. But adaptation requires decisions to be made under high uncertainty, often with incomplete knowledge. This makes planning and investing in it difficult.

The government of Ghana is focused on creating jobs for the youth of this country.  This is evident in programmes such as “One District, One factory” and “Planting for food and jobs”.

Probably the most controversial subject of public discussion in the nation this year – 2017 is the recently implemented Free SHS program.

The President Nana Akufo – Addo led government’s decision to expand its flagship Free SHS policy to cover BECE graduates since 2014 has received praise from various quarters of the Ghanaian public.

Ecobank Ghana Limited has added its voice to calls for support for victims of the Sierra Leone Mudslide disaster.

Dr. Knii Lante Blankson strolled into the garden of Paloma hotel with a friend, his wife and two lovely children; a boy and a girl. Casually dressed in a check short sleeve shirt and blue black jeans, he told me he has been on leave for the past few weeks, trying to rest and also use the time to work on an upcoming health project and musical concert at Jamestown, Accra.

His black beret, a symbol of his addiction to revolutionary philosophy roiled in social justice, firmly sat on his head. Smiling and occasionally running his hand in his beard, part of the ingredient of his identity, Knii Lante, who was born into a family of physicians, has been busy promoting his new afro-pop single “YOU,” which features Daavi Diva Feli Nuna, the silver hair soul singer, whose unconventional approach to music was something he could not ignore.

“I had in mind to make it more Francophone in its approach but when we had finished it, we had a discussion about which Ghanaian artist will best fit in the duet,” he said, adding: “I had seen Feli Nuna’s videos, her image was really striking; very entertaining artist. She has distinguishable white hair, her voice is good, is top notch, it’s up there.”

He said once they were done with the consultation, which was brief, a call was made and Feli Nuna agreed to be on the song. The single has elements of zouk, R&B, soul and complimented by an afropop rhythm.

An idealist whose lyrics traverse the bars of reggae, pop, R&B, afro-pop and hi-life, Knii Lante is a trained medical doctor and specializes in internal medicine as Diabetologist and Cardiologist. A former chief resident at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, he now works with the Trust hospital where he has been since 2007.

“What I do mainly is working with drugs (medication) because when somebody comes with a heart attack, there is nothing you can cut,” he said. “For internal medicine we deal with diseases that don’t need cutting or even some of the diseases that need cutting, we refer to the surgeon,” he added.

The job of a medical practitioner revolves around the clock and one can be called at anytime, whiles even on the road from the same facility, and Knii Lante knows that very well. Especially as an artist who divides his time between the ward and the studio, there have been instances where he had to temporarily suspend a recording session in order to return to the ward.

“It has happened so many times. I am recording and I have a call and I have to stop,” he said, adding: “And usually am so angry; am like wow, what is all this,” he said.

But his anger often turns into “gratification” especially after the sick patient recovers from the illness.

Another incident was when he had to rush to the hospital for an emergency situation while waiting to be called to perform at a concert.

“I was back stage just getting ready to go and perform and was called for an emergency. My friend had to inform the stage manager and organizers that this had happened, so we quickly had to rush to the hospital,” he told me with a smile. 

“I thought I was just going to go for thirty minutes and one hour and come back,” he continued.

Four hours after leaving the conference centre, venue for the event, he returned to perform before the show was over. And the fans gave him a rousing welcome after it had been explained to them the reason why he had to leave to the hospital.

Versatile, fluid and gifted in playing the guitar and piano, Knii Lante continues to defy the limits placed on him by a demanding profession to provide classy songs spanning beyond a decade. His first album, “Love & Revolution” mostly produced by Zapp Mallet. The sixteen track album spans across different genres from Afro pop, zouk, reggae, soul and Ballad.

Six months after the release of the album, one of the songs, “Big Tree” caught on with the public. It carried a simple message; corruption is a canker that needed to be fought. He sang from the heart.  Ironically, it was also the election season and the song became an anthem for some of the parties, especially the opposition, who rallied their members for a last push to the seat of government. But there was more to the song than the political colorization given to it.

 “I picked the lyrics from the book of Revelation which was talking about mystery Babylon and how she will fall,” he revealed. “It had nothing to do with NDC or NPP but eventually people applied it the way they wanted to apply.”

His second album, “True Feeling” was produced in Jamaica and reflected the good mood he was in at the time. An entirely reggae album, it has spices of love and revolutionary songs.

Knii Lante has several singles including “Bo Noo, Legos To Vienna” and many cover versions, including “Thinking Aloud” by Ed Sheeran.

Award winning artist, Knii Lante’s trophy cabinet includes Best Male, Collaboration of the Year with the late Michael Dwamena for “Ngozi,” Best Music Video and lots more.

Reading, like writing lyrics, comes to him with ease, and he spends time scavenging through books of revolutionaries like Kwame Nkrumah and like minds for tips to compose songs. It is clear the black beret on his heart is never worn in vain.