KOFI ANOKYE OWUSU-DARKO (BLOG2)

  INTRODUCTION Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President of Ghana, has proposed an ambitious initiative to implement a national credit scoring system. This system aims to make consumer products, particularly mobile phones, more accessible to the youth by allowing them to purchase these items on credit with monthly payments as low as GHS1 or GHS2. The goal is to evaluate individuals' creditworthiness based on their financial behaviour, thus enabling them to buy items according to their financial capacity and extend this credit system to other sectors such as automotive and home electronics. A key aspect of this initiative is the integration of the Ghana Card with various databases to facilitate comprehensive credit evaluations. According to Dr. Bawumia, this integration will allow individuals to use their Ghana Card to access credit facilities, making it easier to trace and verify credit history across the country. This approach mirrors systems used in more developed markets, whe...

  INTRODUCTION The Ghanaian judicial system, akin to many worldwide, faces significant challenges, notably the backlog of cases, especially at its highest court—the Supreme Court . Recently, both the Chief Justice and the Attorney General have advocated for increasing the number of Court of Appeal and Supreme Court justices to handle the overwhelming caseload more efficiently. For instance, it was reported that the Supreme Court began the 2022/2023 legal year with 939 cases and managed to resolve only 344 by year-end , leaving a substantial number pending. This trend suggests a systemic issue that extends beyond the mere number of available justices at the appellate courts. To address the growing issue of court case backlogs, with some courts having over 600 pending cases as reported, the Judicial Service of Ghana has introduced a court shift system designed to alleviate the burden of numerous pending cases. The shift system, currently in a pilot phase, involves operating in tw...

 INTRODUCTION The proposed sale of SSNIT's (Social Security and National Insurance Trust) 60% equity in four hotels—Labadi Beach Hotel, La Palm Royal Beach Resort, Ridge Royal Hotel, and Elmina Beach Resort—to Rock City Hotel, owned by Bryan Acheampong, a politician and Minister of Food and Agriculture, has sparked considerable controversy in Ghana. This move has met significant opposition from civil society organizations and labour groups, including the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG). The sale raises complex issues related to pension scheme governance, ethics, conflict of interest, and political influence. At the heart of this controversy is the trusteeship of public pension funds and assets. Public pension funds play a crucial role in ensuring the financial security of retirees by providing a steady income during their retirement years. These funds, often managed by government agencies or public entities such a...