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Category: Opinions

  • Hon. Mahama Ayariga, Close the Cathedral Door — And Bolt It Shut

    Hon. Mahama Ayariga, Close the Cathedral Door — And Bolt It Shut

    Hon. Mahama Ayariga

    OP‑ED — By Daniel Nii Okine

    One year and seven months into the NDC administration, and already Hon. Mahama Ayariga is dancing dangerously close to a political fire that needs no rekindling. For a government elected on the raw anger of citizens who demanded accountability, transparency, and an end to national waste, even whispering about the National Cathedral is not just reckless , it is political self‑sabotage of the highest order.

    Let’s stop tiptoeing: Ghanaians punished the NPP at the polls largely because of this Cathedral fiasco , a project soaked in secrecy, arrogance, and financial indiscipline.

    Throughout the campaign, President John Dramani Mahama and every credible voice in the NDC stood firm, loud, and unmovable against what many saw as a shrine to misgovernance. The message to voters was unmistakable: no more waste, no more impunity, and a full forensic reckoning for every cedi poured into that bottomless pit in Accra.

    So why, in the name of political sanity, is Hon. Ayariga suddenly entertaining conversations with the Christian Council? Why signal even a molecule of willingness to revisit a project that became the national symbol of elite excess?

    Over $90 million of taxpayer money has already evaporated into this so‑called Cathedral , leaving behind a giant hole, a trail of unanswered questions, and a nation still seething.

    It was a scheme designed to drain public resources, and this administration must never, under any circumstance, reopen that cursed chapter.

    If the Christian Council believes a Cathedral is a divine priority, they are free , absolutely free , to mobilize their congregations, raise funds, buy land, and build it privately. Ghana is not hostile to religious expression. But the state must be nowhere near this project. Not a pesewa. Not a signature. Not a meeting. Not a hint.

    Ghanaians are demanding a forensic audit, not a resurrection of a scandal. The government cannot call the project a scam on Monday and then flirt with religious bodies about “possibilities” on Tuesday. That is not diplomacy , it is political confusion and suicide .

    Hon. Ayariga must slam this door shut. Not gently. Not politely. Slam it. Bolt it. Seal it. Ghana is battling economic pressure, infrastructural decay, and social demands that require every ounce of governmental focus. Re‑igniting the Cathedral controversy is a distraction the nation neither wants nor will tolerate.

    The people voted for change, integrity, and fiscal discipline. Do not test their patience Hon. Mahama Ayariga .

  • Non-Interest Banking: Sharia law in Ghana?

    Non-Interest Banking: Sharia law in Ghana?

    J. Atsu Amegashie

    September 1, 2026

    Sharia law or Islamic law prohibits charging interest (riba) on loans. In a document titled “Guideline for the Regulation and Supervision of Non-Interest Banking in Ghana”, and dated January 13, 2026, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) developed guidelines to meet “…. the growing interest from individuals, banks, and financial institutions for the introduction of Non-Interest Banking (NIB) products and services.” (https://www.bog.gov.gh/news/guideline-for-the-regulation-and-supervision-of-non-interest-banking-in-ghana/).

    In a predominantly Christian country like Ghana, there is considerable apprehension about the introduction of Islamic banking. At an engagement with the Ecumenical Society on Non-Interest Banking and Finance on September 1, 2026, the Governor of Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Asiamah, assured the public that non-interest banking will complement Ghana’s conventional banking system and will not replace existing banking models. He said that:

    “Some have asked whether the Bank of Ghana is introducing a religion into Ghana’s banking system or supporting one faith over another. These are important questions, and the public is entitled to clarity. The Bank is not a regulator of religion, nor is it introducing a new religious category.” (https://www.citinewsroom.com/2026/09/non-interest-banking-will-complement-conventional-banking-bog-governor/)

    If Islamic banks do not charge interest, how do they make money? There are various financing systems under Islamic banking. An example is “Murabaha” which, as defined in the aforementioned BoG document, is “… a sale contract whereby the institution sells to a customer a specified asset, whereby the selling price is the sum of the cost price and an agreed profit margin.” Murabaha is based on cost-plus financing, in which ownership of an asset is transferred by a bank to a customer after a series of payments that include a profit markup.

    Here is a concrete example. Suppose Kojo wants to buy a house that is priced at $200,000. Under Murabaha, his bank will buy the house and then sell it to Kojo at, for example, $300,000 (i.e., a mark-up of $100,000). If the sale is amortized over 25 years (i.e., 300 months), then Kojo will make monthly payments of $300,000/300 = $1000 to the bank for 25 years.

    Strictly speaking, this arrangement has an implicit interest rate. To see this, consider a conventional mortgage. Let’s pose the following question: “Given a mortgage of $200,000, a monthly payment of $1000, and an amortization period of 25 years, what is the annual interest rate?” The answer is 3.49% (compounded monthly). Thus, there is an implicit interest rate in the Murabaha financing scheme of Islamic banking. In fact, Islamic financial institutions commonly benchmark their pricing (profit margins) against prevailing market interest rates. Thus, the economic return can be very similar to the pricing of a conventional mortgage even though the contractual form is different.

    Another financing scheme in Islamic banking is “Mudarabah”. In the BoG’s document, this is defined as “… a partnership where one partner provides capital (rabbul maal) to another partner (mudarib) for investing in a commercial enterprise. Profits are shared according to a pre-agreed sharing ratio, while losses are borne by the fund/capital provider, except in cases of proven negligence, misconduct or breach of contract by the manager.” The partner who does not provide capital provides labor, management, and expertise (Mudarib). The mudarib provides the labor, management, and expertise and receives the pre-agreed share of profits. Thus, instead of charging interest on the capital provided to the business, Mudarabah is a financing arrangement under which Islamic banks take, in effect, an equity stake in the businesses with which they enter into partnerships.

    Again, there is an equivalence between Mudarabah and conventional banking. Suppose an Islamic bank enters into a partnership with Kojo and invests $1000. The duration of the contract is a year, and the bank will take 30% of any profit that the business makes. Kojo is the manager. For now, suppose the business will definitely make a profit of $4000. The Islamic bank gets 30% of $4000 = $1200. Thus, its profit is $1200 minus $1000 = $200.

    In this example, what is the implied interest rate of this 30% of profit? Consider an interest rate of r and a loan of $1000. Then a traditional bank’s profit may be written as (1 + r) times 1000 minus 1000 = r times 1000. If r = 20%, then the traditional bank, like the Islamic bank, made a profit of $200. Thus, in this example, an interest rate of 20% gives the bank the same payoff as a 30% share of profit.

    We did not consider risk in our example. The main difference between Mudarabah and traditional banking lies in how risks are shared. Under Mudarabah, the non-bank partner does not make any payment to the bank when the business or partnership makes a loss or breaks even. The bank bears all the downside risk because 100% of the financial loss on the contributed capital is borne by the fund/capital provider, while the mudarib generally bears the opportunity cost of his labor. This is not the case in traditional banking. In traditional banking, the borrower may still have a financial obligation to the bank in the event of a loss, possibly via bankruptcy proceedings. I wrote “may” because traditional banks write off loans. In fact, they are expected to write off some loans.

    In effect, when a business gets money (raises capital) from an Islamic bank, it is as though it issues equity (shares). In contrast, when the business gets money from a traditional bank, it issues debt (an IOU). From the standpoint of a business that wants to raise capital, there is a whole literature on whether it is better to raise money by issuing debt or by issuing equity. Each has its pros and cons. The famous Modigliani-Miller (MM) theorem in economics (corporate finance) says that, under certain conditions, the value of a firm is independent of its capital structure (the composition of its capital in terms of debt and equity, the debt-equity ratio). Taking into account the risk (probability) of business failure and given suitably restrictive assumptions about pricing, risk, bankruptcy, taxes, and information, one can construct an MM-like result in which the expected value of the firm is independent of whether it is financed through Mudarabah or conventional debt. However, the distribution or variance of the payoffs to the parties can differ substantially. The proof is beyond the scope of this short essay.

    There is also Musharakah, which is different from Mudarabah. In Musharakah, the partners contribute capital, and losses are generally shared according to capital contributions. Mudarabah is different because the mudarib (Kojo in our example) contributes labor and management rather than capital. Islamic banks using Mudarabah have a particularly strong need to monitor the underlying business because their remuneration depends directly on the profits generated by the financed venture.

    Non-interest banking in Ghana is not Sharia law in Ghana. Relax.

  • Beyond the Midnight Market: A Rebuttal to Nana Prof Okatakyi Amanfi VII

    Beyond the Midnight Market: A Rebuttal to Nana Prof Okatakyi Amanfi VII

    By Samuel Akpokavi

    When the Paramount Chief of the Asebu Traditional Area, Nana Prof Okatakyi Amanfi VII, posed the question, “Who buys koobi at midnight?” he delivered a culturally grounded metaphor that resonated widely. It was sharp, memorable, and rooted in the familiar cadence of rural life; yet interpreting the 24‑hour economy as midnight retail activity reduces a complex industrial policy to a village‑market anecdote, and obscures the true mechanics of modern production cycles.

    A 24‑hour economy does not envision market women sitting under lamps at 2:00 AM waiting for households to buy koobi; it envisions agrarian districts like Asebu evolving from daylight‑dependent producers into continuous processing and logistics hubs.

    1:Reimagining the Agrarian Supply Chain, Night Is for Processing

    The traditional farming rhythm, harvest at dawn, sell at noon, spoil by dusk, is precisely the bottleneck that traps rural communities in low‑value cycles.
    In a modernized agricultural system:

    • Night‑shift processing, Koobi and similar produce require cleaning, salting, drying, packaging, and cold storage; facilities operating three shifts allow afternoon harvests to be processed overnight, preventing post‑harvest losses that claim up to 40 percent of Ghana’s produce.
    • Aggregated bulk logistics, Haulage trucks move most efficiently between 10:00 PM and 5:00 AM, avoiding congestion, fuel waste, and heat damage; the midnight buyer is not a household preparing stew, it is an industrial aggregator moving tons of processed goods toward regional distribution.

    2:Infrastructure as the Equalizer

    Operationalizing a 24‑hour economy in agrarian districts requires targeted infrastructure, not merely urban lighting.

    • Time‑of‑use energy tariffs, Reducing industrial electricity tariffs during off‑peak hours makes cold storage, cassava mills, and fish‑curing units significantly cheaper to run at night.
    • Rural security architecture, Night‑patrol units and solar‑grid lighting create safe commercial corridors for shift workers and transport operators.
    • Digital financial inclusion, Mobile money and digital trade platforms operate continuously, enabling contracts, payments, and inventory management across rural‑urban boundaries.

    3:Transforming Rural Youth Employment

    A single‑shift economy limits job creation; if an agro‑processing plant operates only from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, it employs one crew.
    Restructuring that same plant to run around the clock yields:

    • Tripled job creation, Additional shifts expand operational, supervisory, security, and logistics roles without requiring new buildings or land.
    • Flexible income models, Youth can work evening or night shifts while using daytime hours for schooling or farming.

    The Verdict

    Nana Prof Okatakyi Amanfi VII’s question offers a valuable cultural reminder, policies must respect local realities; yet true economic leadership requires expanding those realities rather than being confined by them.

    Who buys koobi at midnight? Industrial buyers, export logistics hubs, hotel networks, processing plants, and digital supply chains.
    The 24‑hour economy does not ask Asebu to abandon its sleep patterns; it provides an industrial roadmap ensuring that Asebu’s produce, labor, and economic output retain value every hour of the day.

  • FROM FILTH TO FORTUNE: HOW GHANA’S COMMUNITY SERVICE BILL CAN FINALLY CLEAN ACCRA. 

    FROM FILTH TO FORTUNE: HOW GHANA’S COMMUNITY SERVICE BILL CAN FINALLY CLEAN ACCRA. 

    By; Harry Hammond

    gozaro007@gmail.com

    0244658466 / 0207698171

    For years, I have watched with growing concern as the sanitation crisis in our capital, Accra, deepens. The gutters choked with plastic, the heaps of refuse at Agbogbloshie, Kaneshie, Kwame Nkrumah Circle and our beaches, they tell a story of a beautiful city slowly being buried under its own waste.

    We have tried many things. The monthly National Sanitation Day. The evacuation levies. The engagement of private waste collectors. The ‘Operation Clean Your Frontage’ campaign. The results have been mixed at best, disappointing at worst. Yet we keep doing the same things, deploying the same strategies, and somehow expecting a different result. As the old saying goes, that is the definition of insanity.

    We cannot continue on this path. I believe we have just been handed a golden opportunity, perhaps the closest we have ever come to a sustainable solution, and we are not paying attention. I refer to the Community Service Bill recently signed by the President. For many, this bill is seen narrowly as a penal reform,an alternative to custodial sentences for minor offenders. That is true, but it is much more than that. If we choose to see it differently, it is a national human resource waiting to be harnessed for development. It is free, organized labour that can be deployed for public good, emerging from the misfortune of others who have fallen foul of the law.

    We have quietly told ourselves that we have lost the fight against filth. We whisper it to ourselves when we hold our noses to walk past a drain. We have normalized it. Once in a while, when cholera breaks out or the rains flood the city because the drains are blocked, we pretend to be concerned. We organize press conferences, we issue threats, we clean for a week, and then we return to business as usual. It has become, frankly, hogwash.

    But what if we did it differently this time?

    A small voice, perhaps a voice of conscience and common sense, keeps telling me: If this community service scheme is well managed, well structured, and provided with the right logistics and tools, we will be on the verge of eradicating the sanitation problem in Accra permanently. This problem can be consigned to the history books.

    Imagine this model: Under the supervision of the Department of Social Welfare, the Judicial Service, and the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), persons sentenced to community service are formed into well-kitted, trained, and supervised Sanitation Brigades. They are not left to wander. They are provided with gloves, boots, wheelbarrows, shovels, tricycles, and compactors. They are assigned to specific electoral areas, working from 6am to 2pm, to desilt gutters, clear refuse heaps, clean markets, scrub pavements, and maintain public spaces. They are identifiable, accountable, and their service is tracked.

    This is not forced labour; it is lawful, corrective service sanctioned by the courts and recognized worldwide as best practice. It restores dignity to the offender by allowing them to pay back society, and it restores cleanliness to society.

    Yes, initially, this will be capital intensive. You cannot send people to clean without tools. You need personal protective equipment, you need trucks, you need coordination centres, you need supervisors, you need health screening. The state alone cannot bear this cost, especially given our current fiscal constraints.

    This is where stakeholder commitment must come in. This must be seen as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project of national importance.

    The banks, who benefit from a clean and healthy economy; the oil companies and mining companies, whose operations impact the environment; the telcos, who have branded every corner of this city; the multimedia houses, who shape public perception; and the multinational corporations who call Accra home, all must come together to fund and support this. They can adopt a district. A bank can provide 50 sets of PPE and two trucks for Ablekuma Central. A telco can fund the logistics for AyawasoWest. A mining company can sponsor the recycling and composting component. The media can provide the publicity and the social re-engineering needed to make citizens appreciate the work being done. It is a game changer because it solves three problems at once.

    First, it solves the sanitation problem with a constant, reliable workforce.

    Second, it solves the prison overcrowding problem. Our prisons were not built to hold people who failed to pay a traffic fine or who committed a minor nuisance offence.

    Third, it solves the problem of citizen attitude. When people see offenders cleaning gutters as punishment, it becomes a powerful deterrent against indiscriminate littering. It carries a moral lesson that no amount of preaching has achieved.

    Accra wants to be a modern capital. It cannot be modern with filth. We host the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat. We welcome investors and tourists daily. What impression does filth give?

    The Community Service Bill should not be allowed to become just another law on paper. The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, the Ministry of Interior, the Attorney-General’s Department, and the Office of the Head of Local Government Service must sit together now and develop a comprehensive implementation framework with sanitation at its core.

    This is the time to make use of free labour for public good. This is the time to turn our misfortune into a fortune for the city.

    We have lost too many battles against filth quietly. Let us win this war openly, together.

  • The Death Of Discourse And The Rise Of Dismissive Rhetoric: An op‑ed by Daniel Nii Okine

    The Death Of Discourse And The Rise Of Dismissive Rhetoric: An op‑ed by Daniel Nii Okine

    In the contemporary public square, a troubling erosion of civic engagement is underway. Increasingly, individuals confronted with an opposing viewpoint abandon the discipline of argumentation and instead resort to dismissive rhetoric. The target becomes the writer, not the reasoning. The tone becomes the battleground, not the evidence. What should be a contest of ideas collapses into a performance of avoidance.

    Common dismissals now dominate public exchanges:

    • Dismissive ad hominem such as “You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.”
    • Format attacks such as “Your write‑up is a thesis nobody asked for.”
    • Blanket invalidations such as “You sound completely confused.”
    • Tone policing such as “Calm down.”

    These are not rebuttals. They are rhetorical smokescreens designed to avoid engagement with substance.

    Anatomy Of The Evasion

    The architecture of dismissive rhetoric is predictable. When a responder lacks evidence, clarity, or the willingness to engage, they retreat into familiar fallacies.

    1. Dismissive ad hominem
      This tactic shifts attention from the validity of the argument to the perceived credibility of the speaker. It is a maneuver used when the argument itself is too inconvenient to confront.
    2. Meta‑policing
      Attacks on tone, length, or structure serve as a convenient detour away from substance. Labeling a detailed argument as “too long” is not critique; it is an admission of intellectual fatigue.
    3. Blanket invalidation
      Sweeping declarations that an author “does not know what they are talking about” offer no evidence. They function as rhetorical shortcuts meant to silence rather than engage.

    Why People Attack The Messenger

    Substantive engagement demands effort. Dismissive rhetoric demands none. This imbalance explains its popularity.

    Motivations include:

    • Ego preservation: Confronting a strong argument threatens personal certainty.
    • Low cognitive load: Insults require seconds; research requires discipline.
    • Social signaling: In many online spaces, dismissiveness is a badge of group identity.

    The Cost To Public Dialogue

    The consequences of this rhetorical decline are profound.

    • Intellectual flattening: Complex issues are reduced to simplistic narratives.
    • Self‑censorship: Thoughtful contributors withdraw, leaving discourse dominated by the least reflective voices.
    • Polarization: Personal attacks entrench positions rather than illuminate truth.

    Moving Toward Healthy Argumentation

    Disagreement is essential to democratic and intellectual life. What threatens discourse is not disagreement but the refusal to engage with substance.

    Improper Expression Proper Expression
    Blanket dismissal “I disagree because the data shows…”
    Format attack “Let us examine your second claim…”
    Ad hominem “There seems to be a contradiction between point A and point B…”

    The remedy is simple but demanding: return the conversation to evidence. When confronted with dismissive rhetoric, the most effective response is to insist on substance.

    “You have attacked my intelligence, but not my evidence. Which specific point do you disagree with, and why?”

    This question exposes evasion and re‑centers the discussion where it belongs: on ideas, not insults.