I came in some twenty minutes ago to see President Kufuor and a mini-phalanx of diplomats leaving this frightfully-chilling hall. I got wind that there was no press conference to end the whole affair, which also means that the twice-postponed press meeting with the Ivorian diplomat fell through in a radically-twisted way.
These ACP guys must [...]

I think it might be stretching it a bit to think that expectations might be raised. Currently sitting at the press centre, waiting for the press conference of the Ivorian minister on the EPAs. Should draw quite a crowd. Two of my colleagues are here, waiting to filter the technical aspects of the EPAs through [...]

It is 10h23, and the ACP Secretary-General Sir John Kaputin is about to make his speech. He says it is a priviledge and an honour to deliver preliminary remarks at this august summit.
He wants to express gratitude to the peoples of Ghana and the prez, being grateful for the warm reception being accorded since his [...]

From Ghana to Nigeria, the privatization bandwagon in the Telecoms industry is on course in the ECOWAS region.

Whether the sale and purchase agreement of 70% of the state-owned Ghana Telecom is ratified by Parliament or not, the agitation around it will remain in the minds of Ghanaians for years to come. It will remain a test-case of how not to sell a strategic public asset without consultation of the people.

The NCA is an agency of the government with oversight to, in effect, regulate the telecommunications sector and implement terms of Ghana’s National Telecommunications Policy. According to the policy (2004) that can be downloaded from the Internet, while the Ministry of Communications is “responsible for the definition and elaboration of Government policy regarding telecommunications”, the [...]

The 70% acquisition by Vodafone of state-owned Ghana Telecom may be a done-and-dusted deal, subject only now to parliamentary approval in the august house. There are, however, serious issues arising that merit some consideration.
First of all, one would have to be from Mars not to know that this is an election year. After the announcement [...]

Africa is emerging as a new landscape that no-one could have predicted a decade ago: Telephony has assumed power politics dimensions.

Imagine being stuck in traffic on a rainy Monday night in Accra. You are priviledged enough to own a laptop, which you whip out to start writing a report. Given that the inside of the taxi is dark, you request that the inside light be switched on so that you can see what you are [...]

I had the privilege of being a participant at the just-ended UNCTAD XII conference. In my view, it brought into very sharp relief not just how sophisticated international conferences have become, but how far the information society has come of age.