Ghanaians are being treated to fascinating intrigue and allegations of chicanery and underhand dealings as the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) scrambles to regain its grip ahead of an anticipated election primary. A few weeks ago former President Jerry Rawlings used the broken English language proverb of 'Who born dog' to support his claim that incumbent John Atta Mills was allowing his appointees to get away with poor performance, and that this would not have happened when he was in power. But Rawlings, considered the strongman of Ghanaian politics, is finding batting from the other side a tad unfamiliar, with an aide alleging that his boss's phone has been tapped by the country's intelligence service.

For the first time since former President Jerry Rawlings burst onto the Ghanaian political scene in 1979, his much talked about charisma and hold over the ordinary people in the country is to be put to the test on 8 July when his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings stands against President John Atta Mills for the right to lead the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in next year’s election. Already signs that the Rawlings myth has been broken has emerged, reports the Daily Nation.

Ghana has given the assurance that the country was committed to a 'free uncensored and safe cyberspace'. Making the announcement, deputy Information minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa condemned attempts by some countries to clamp down on internet usage through censorship. In a speech to mark the World’s Press Freedom Day, Mr Okudzeto-Ablakwa said: 'We have seen governments engage in online blocking where access to some websites is curtailed. We have observed that some governments are now mounting surveillance on cybersapce so as to track down those who publish what those governments don’t like.'

A gay couple, Akwasi Boakye and Kwame Amankwa, got married on Easter Sunday in Kumasi, Ghana. The wedding, attended by hundreds of members of LGBTI community, started at 10am on Sunday and lasted all night. The couple have been banished from the town. The couple has allegedly disappeared on a honeymoon to Accra.

Ghana’s investment in organic farming could transform the country’s agriculture sector and improve the country’s economy dramatically, reports Journalists for Human Rights. One small organic project is called the Abusua Sustainable Organic Farm (ASOF) is attempting to tap into the organic industry and convince the country of the benefits in organic farming.

While the World Bank is developing a new social protection and labour strategy, its general approach to health and continuing push for privatisation of public services have come under fire again. Ghana’s national health insurance scheme, presented by the Bank as a success model for developing countries is 'unfair, inefficient and un-transparent', according to a report published in March by Ghanaian NGOs ISODEC, Alliances for Reproductive Health, and Essential Services Platform, with support from Oxfam International. It revealed that Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) - which has received technical assistance from the Bank - could be benefitting only 18 per cent of the country’s total population, despite the fact that every Ghanaian citizen pays for it through value-added tax (VAT).

Health officials in Ghana are worried the rainy season, due to start in April, will fuel the spread of cholera, which has killed at least 69 people and stricken more than 5,000 in the past few months. While Ghana has not pinpointed the source of the cholera bacterium, top health officials say poor sanitation systems and hygiene habits- including open defecation - are largely to blame for the epidemic.

Fierce contestations over the African state has weakened rather than strengthened states on the continent when it comes to performing their functions, said Omano Edigheji from the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa. He was speaking at an event held in Ghana to discuss the impact of the global financial crisis on Africa. The neoliberal agenda, he argued, had very little democracy. If anything, it was very supportive of autocracy. In effect, the dominant neoliberal regime supported authoritarianism. The African state has to be both developmental and democratic.

In Ghana, a local bamboo bike industry is emerging to deliver a sustainable and affordable form of transportation that satisfies local needs and suitable for export. Compared to the production of traditional metal bicycles, bamboo bikes require less electricity and no hazardous chemicals.

A three-day international seminar on the theme 'The Global Crisis and Africa: Commodity Dependence and Structural Transformation' took place in Accra, Ghana’s capital last week. Forty scholars from Africa and other parts of the world participated in the meeting. Setting out the context and key issues for the meeting, Tetteh Hormeku, head of programmes at TWN-Africa, said the influence and impacts of the crisis in Africa were shaped largely by the nature of the continent’s systemic integration into the global economy as primary commodity export dependent economies.

Some women's rights groups have expressed their disappointment at the recent national constitutional review conference organised by the Constitution Review Commission in Accra recently. The women were stunned that all the 25 areas which formed the subject matter for the conference did not feature any gender concerns. They claimed they were at the conference in their numbers to support the cause of women but to their amazement none of the concerns raised by them were mentioned.

Alhaji Bature Iddrisu, managing editor of privately-owned Bilingual Free Press on 19 February 2011 filed a complaint at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service against Kennedy Agyapong, an opposition Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North Constituency of the Central Region, for threatening him with death. Agyapong was reported by a pro-government daily newspaper, The Enquirer, to have said that he would 'kill' Alhaji Bature for consistently linking him and his family to illicit drug trafficking from one radio station to another.

In Ghana’s capital city, Accra, a commotion stirs along the train tracks near the central railway station. Dozens gather to hear the news - that soon, their homes and workplaces will be razed for a new rail system. 'Last year we came to warn you to leave the railway lands. Last week we came again. And today, too, we have come,' Accra’s mayor, Alfred Vanderpuije, tells the crowd in Twi, a local language as he tours the site. 'I can’t tell you if I will come tomorrow or tomorrow next. But we will come and we will demolish all of the structures.'

Police personnel in Accra on 2 February 2011 scuttled a plan picketing by members of the Right to Information (RTI) Coalition at Ghana’s Parliament House to register their displeasure about undue delay of the law makers to pass the bill into law, which was laid in 2009. The RTI Bill went through the first reading on 5 February 2010, it is now before the Joint Communication and Legal Committee of parliament and the committee is expected to conduct a nationwide consultative meeting, but the coalition says the bill is not on the agenda of this session of the house which ends in June, 2011.

The Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) is a non-profit policy institute and grant-making organization that promotes the transparent, accountable and effective management of oil, gas, and mineral resources for the public good. RWI provides expertise, capacity building and funding to help countries maximize the long-term economic benefit of their natural riches.

The Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) is a non-profit policy institute and grant-making organization that promotes the transparent, accountable and effective management of oil, gas, and mineral resources for the public good. RWI provides expertise, capacity building and funding to help countries maximize the long-term economic benefit of their natural riches.

Worldreader.org is testing the idea that e-readers are libraries you can fit in your pocket. The non-profit is piloting a new campaign that would deliver e-readers, like Amazon’s Kindle, to children in Ghanaian schools. The e-readers will function as all-purpose textbooks by providing instantaneous access to the thousands of books now digitally available.

The Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) is a non-profit policy institute and grant-making organization that promotes the transparent, accountable and effective management of oil, gas, and mineral resources for the public good. RWI provides expertise, capacity building and funding to help countries maximize the long-term economic benefit of their natural riches.

Ghana has recently reached middle-income status but still struggles with a water deficit and widespread lack of sanitation. Despite challenges, Ghana is one of only four countries in sub-Saharan Africa on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal for water by 2015. Government estimates it will need to invest about $1.6 billion a year over 10 years for adequate infrastructure.

The Accra-based sub-regional rights body, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has decried the 'high-handedness' of Ghana’s security agencies against media workers while calling on authorities 'to ensure that journalists pursue their legitimate duties without fear or intimidation', PANA reports. MFWA made the call in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Prof. Kwame Karikari, following the arrest and detention of a radio journalist, Issah Murtala Kpambe.