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Thursday, August 07, 2008
By IMANI Center for Policy & Education
Ghana has hit hard times. There is no denying that fact. It is sad that the authoritative Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA) has not launched a macroeconomic outlook paper since 2003. An extract from the last CEPA review available to us will strike an eerie chord with many a current observer...
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Monday, August 04, 2008
It was all fanfare when Ghana qualified for debt relief under the Highly Indebted and Poor Country Initiative (HIPC) in 2004. A state banquet was even organised to celebrate our qualification, as fondly reminisced in an article here. It seemed declaring one's poverty status was the only option left for the managers of the economy at the time, and more so when there was a reward. The following year saw 80% of our $5.2bn debt cancelled. However, four years on Ghana seems to have nearly doubled its 2004 debt.
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Thursday, July 31, 2008
Dropping the tariffs that were being discussed at the WTO is an important way to boost trade but, crucially, countries can move quickly on these important reforms on their own accord without waiting for more complicated negotiations in Geneva.....
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Bright B. Simons and Franklin Cudjoe
The thing with the Ghana Telecom brouhaha is that the more you listen the less clear the contentions of both side appear to become. Apart from the few ideologues on both side – those who object to the sale of a "national" asset in principle and those who hold to the view that it is criminal for the state to run any enterprise – very few commentators have concise and consistent positions regarding what is actually wrong or right about the deal...Read entire comment here....
Future Leaders Draw Inspiration From Achievers
The Students and Young Professionals' Academy 2008 has ended in Accra with a call for African leaders to look inwardly for solutions to the continent's problems.
Organised by IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, in collaboration with CATO Institute and African Liberty.org, the seminar brought together university students as well as young workers who listened to a number of high caliber academics, professionals and industrialists; who gave the participants insight into their various fields of achievement.
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Lecture: The Rule of Law: Accountability of Public Institutions
"There are no persons in the state who are above the law, no matter their political pedigree and it is deeply worrying when persons are convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction and all of a sudden the independence of the judiciary becomes a matter of public ridicule and criticism"- Prof. Ken Attafuah, Executive Director of Justice and Human Rights Institute said this during a weeklong seminar organised for University students and young professionals by IMANI in conjunction with CATO Institute and African Liberty.org
Read entire newspaper story here...
IMANI/ AFRICANLIBERTY.ORG Seminar: A Rewarding Summer Experience for 40 Young Africans
Our weeklong seminar for students and young professionals ended last week Friday, the 27th of June. We had spent the preceding 3 months in a grueling selection process that saw 40 sharp, young, minds emerge triumphant from a competitive pool of 250+ candidates. Which of course meant that we were faced with the challenge to craft a program worthy of such special people. We think we did a fair job of measuring up to that task (though we say so ourselves:)) You can judge for yourself, dear friend, by visiting the seminar website: here and pondering over this email sent to us by some of the participants
Seminar Participants Experiences Shared
You might be pondering over these emails sent to us by some of the participants;
Tsonam Cleanse Akpeloo
"Of all the educational programs I have participated in, this event has been the most
informative and thought provoking on the subjects of liberalism, prosperity and free
society."
Thanks.
Tsonam Cleanse Akpeloo
Co-founder and Executive Director- Vision Institute
Co-organizer and Head of Finance- MyVisionProject
more e-mails
The SEVEN Fund $50k VINE Project: Developing Investment Indicators for Emerging Market SMEs
An open source competition that aims to find new indicators that facilitate/increase investments in emerging market SMEs. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to participate and compete for the $50k prizeCheck it out:
John Templeton Prize for IMANI
IMANI is the only think tank to have been awarded the John Templeton Prize twice in Africa for Advancing Freedom.This year, IMANI was the sole recipient in Africa of the Antony & Dorian Fisher Award (Out of 180 think-tanks globally) that recognise thinkanks playing a crucial role to ensure that public policy debates are not dominated by government insiders.
A judge on the Templeton Prize awarded to IMANI commented, "I give them [IMANI] the highest points for being most specific and rigorous in applying free-market solutions to an array of complex social problems. Their submission shows the importance of using rigorously derived, quantifiable research outputs to gain credibility in shaping the policy debate. Crisp, clear, compelling data is the most useful tool to provide to any media outlet, and it's easy for the media to use, without interpretation."
Atlas Fisher Venture Grant Awarded to IMANI
March 25, 2008 - The Atlas Economic Research Foundation announced fisherthat IMANI Center for Policy and Education (Accra, Ghana) is the only African think tank among its first class of recipients of Dorian & Antony Fisher Venture Grants. More than 180 think tanks competed for the grants in this program, but only nine were selected to receive up to $100,000 from Atlas over the next three years. Franklin Cudjoe, the founding director of IMANI Center for Policy and Education, remarked: "Receiving this grant from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation is another great vindication of the important work IMANI began 3 years ago. We are determined to see that public policy debate in Ghana and West Africa involve students who should be informed by principled, non-partisan viewpoints." Read more
Thickheadedness on African debt
ACCRA, Ghana
poor governance, corruption and a general lack of economic freedom; the G8
would only perpetuate these policies with its well-intentioned, yet
ill-practiced policies on debt forgiveness."
Visit The Japan Times to read full article
Also Published in;
The Ghanaian Times
en.afrik.com
africanpath.com
The Japan Times
liberianobserver.com
africaunchained.blogspot.com
www.ghanaian-chronicle.com
allafrica.com
allafrica.com - Ghana
Commentary - Liberian Observer
www.modernghana.com
Anti-Foreign Aid converts in Spain
JUNE 2008AfricanLiberty.org editor and director of IMANI, Franklin Cudjoe, is in Madrid as a guest of the Regional Governmnet of Madrid.
He was invited to speak on a range of development issues, especially aid and delivery of public services.
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July 30, 2008
Imani Execuive Director, Franklin Cudjoe discusses government's decision to sell Ghana Telecom and also cut expenditure of its Ministeries, Departments and Agencies by half to support the economy. His co-discusants are Mr Kofi Kapito of Consumer Advocacy Ghana and Mr Ouborr Kutando, a Policy Analyst. The Discussion was held on Ghana's Choice FM Listen to discussion here.. IMANI director discusses Ghanaian Security matters in Ghana. Ghana's Police Chief in charge of Public Relations, DSP, Kwesi OFori, and Dr. Joshua Alabi are co-discussants IMANI director discusses Ghanaian Security matters in Ghana on Ghana's acclaimed Talk Radio, Choice FM. The discussion was held in early July 2008. In April 2008, Franklin also spoke to Atlas Economic Research's' New Intellectual Entrepreneurs about successful strategies for new think tanks.
The event was held in Atlanta, Georgia. IMANI director discusses Ghanaian government's intervention to reduce the economic burden as a result of high fuel and food prices. The discussion was held on TV Africa, June 2008. Please listen to an audio version here Tuesday, April 22, 2008 In April 2008 IMANI's Executive Director, Franklin Cudjoe discussed 'How Trade and Globalization Expand Freedom, Create Jobs, and Improve Lives" with Daniel Griswold, Director, Center for Trade Policy Studies, Cato Institute. The moderator was Ambassador Terry Miller, Director, Center for International Trade and Economics of The Heritage Foundation. The event was held in Atlanta, Georgia. You can hear Franklin's talk here IMANI director discusses Ghanaian government's plan to deepen prisoner rights in Ghana. This week we interview Imani Ghana’s founder and directory Franklin Cudjoe, along with Elyse Speicher, a student at Grove City College, who interned with Imani last year. This interview discusses last year’s inaugural summer seminar in Ghana, Elyse’s internship and work with the institute and Imani’s recent Atlas Shrugged program. Read two of Franklin’s latest articles, Thickheadedness on African Debt and A Libertarian’s Impression of the Stiglitz Performance. |
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As Corrupt as They Come: Is Africa Sinking or Swimming in Corruption?
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