• 5 Presidents, 8 Elections, 30 Years Later: How Ghanaians See Their Democracy

    Ghana’s Fourth Republic, a multiparty democracy, has seen five presidents, held eight successful elections and, as of this writing, is in its thirtieth year. This makes it unique in several ways, compared to previous attempts at multiparty democracy, in that it is the longest-lasting republic so far in the country’s post-independence history. It has outlived the first, second, and third republics combined by more than eighteen years.
    What explains this unique period and change in the political trajectory of Ghana? Why has the country’s most recent attempt at multiparty democracy lasted this long?
    Drawing on answers to questions in the Afrobarometer survey, administered nine times at periodic intervals between 1999 and 2022, this book describes in twenty themes and fifty-one observations, how Ghanaians see their democracy. The book covers themes such as trust in institutions, partisanship, support for democracy, governments handling of the policy priorities of Ghanaians, among many others. The book points out the key lessons of the last thirty and the challenges ahead in the country’s efforts to deepen democratic governance.

  • Everything That Happened and The People Who Made It

    The book is a concise and comprehensive profile of the Top 10 entertainment brands in Ghana who dominated the 2010-2020 decade. Its simple language vividly describes and provides clarity of behind-the-scene happenings of Showbiz events within the decades.

    The author made a trip down memory lane by actively seeking expert knowledge and witness accounts of crucial events in the Ghanaian entertainment industry, even beyond the decade under review.

  • Next Level Education Game Changer

    **Available in Ghana from 20 January 2021

    Next Level Education Game Changer seeks to engage our readers on how the theme “Quality Secondary, Technical & Vocational Education; A Catalyst for National Development” for the 91st Speech & Prize Giving Ceremony at Achimota Secondary School in Ghana on November 3rd 2018, inspired research work and findings that could contribute to a change in the educational landscape in Ghana.

    The book provides insights from students at Achimota Secondary School in 2018. Singapore’s educational system, considered the best in the world, was adopted as a benchmark, against which some educational proposals have been made.

  • Decentralisation Reforms in Ghana: The Experiences of the Fifth and Sixth Governments of the Fourth Republic

    What were the decentralisation reforms? What did they consist of? What were their origins? Who authorised them? What were their outcomes? What Impact have they had on the local governance and decentralisation landscape In Ghana?

    The answer to the first question is that they were new initiatives and innovations designed to accelerate the pace of and improve upon decentralisation implementation in Ghana.

    The answer to the second question is that they consisted of a National Decentralisation Policy Framework and a National Decentralisation Action Plan I (2010-2014) and II (2015-2019), an Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation (IMCC), an expansion in the number of districts, a consolidated Local Governance Act, a re-branding of the Office of the Head of Local Government Service, the operationalisation of the Local Government Service and the introduction of a system of Inter-Service/Inter-Sectoral Collaboration and Cooperation. It also covered the enactment of National Development Planning (System) Regulations and a Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, the introduction of a Regional Integrated Budget System (RIBS) and blueprints for an Inter-Governmental Fiscal Framework (IGFF) and an Inter-Governmental Fiscal Transfer (IGFT) system.

    The answer to the third question is that the reforms were traceable to the 2008 manifesto of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the party which won the Presidential and Parliamentary elections of 2008 and 2012 and therefore formed the Fifth and Sixth Governments of the Fourth Republic.

    The answer to the fourth question is that the reforms were authorised by Presidents John Evans Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama who successively were Presidents of the Fifth and Sixth Governments of the Fourth Republic.

    The answer to the fifth question about outcomes is the new structures, procedures and processes for decentralisation implementation, the improved quality of human resources in the local government sector, and the more efficient systems of checks and balances in the sector.

    The answer to the sixth question lies in the District Assemblies (MMDAs), the better service delivery by the Metropolitan, Municipal and of service delivery, the renewed interest in local governance by the citizenry and the claro Si rate reforms such as the elections of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDC Wand making the MMDAs partisan.

    These and answers to other questions posed by the reforms are answered in this book by the two people who should know, namely, the authors Professor Kwamena Ahwoi and Dr Callistus Mahama.

    Professor Kwamena Ahwoi is the longest-serving Minister of Local Government and Rural Development in Ghana (1988-2000). He was the Chairman of the High Level Strategic Task Force that produced the Decentralisation Policy Frameworks and Action Plans, He chaired the Legislative Review Task Force that resulted in the enactment of the Local Governance Act, 2016, Act 936 and was consultant to both the Ministry of Local Government and the IMCC during the period.

    Dr. Callistus Mahama was a member of the High Level Strategic Task Force, a member of the Legislative Review Task Force, the Executive Coordinator of the IMCC and the Head of the Local Government Service during the period.

    The two authors therefore write from a position of knowledge and experience and this is reflected in the contents of the book.

  • Local Government and Decentralisation in Ghana

    Developments since the publication of the First Edition of this book in 2010 have compelled the revision and publication of this Second Edition.

    In 2011, the Fifth Government of the Fourth Republic launched a new ‘National Decentralisation Policy Framework’ (NDPF 1) and an accompanying National Decentralisation Action Plan’ (NDAP 1). The Local Government Service was operationalised in the same year, resulting in the migration of over 30,000 civil servants from the Civil Service to the Local Government Service.

    Prior to these, the Local Government Departments of District Assemblies) (Commencement) Instrument, 2009, L.1. 1961, had been enacted, allowing for the conversion of the de concentrated Departments at the district level into devolved Departments of the District Assemblies. The Local Government (Urban, Zonal and Town Councils and Unit Committees) (Establishment) Instrument, L.1. 1967, was enacted in 2010. The long-awaited Composite Budget was introduced in 2012.

    With the expiry of the NDPF 1/NDAP I in 2014, a new NDPF 11/NDAP 11 was launched in 2015 for the period 2015-2019.

    A new Local Government (Sub-Metropolitan District Councils of Metropolitan Assemblies (SMDCs)) (Establishment, Composition and Functions) Instrument, 2015. 11. 2223, was enacted to provide for uniform composition and functions for the SMDCs in all the six Metropolitan Assemblies.

    A National Development Planning (System) Regulations, 2016, enacted to support the National Development Planning and Act, 1994, 148. A Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016, Act 925, was passed to establish a Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority and to devolve the Department of Country Planning to the MMDAs.

    The disparate laws on local government were consolidated into one Local Governance Act, 2016, Act 936. A new Sports Act 2016, Act 934 and a new decentralised National Youth Authority Act 939 were also enacted.

    It is these reforms that the Second Edition of the book has sought to capture, in addition to some elaborations on some of the theoretical underpinnings of local government and decentralisation in Ghana. The sections of Acton Civil Society Organisations and Non-State Actors and Women in Local Governance have been improved. Some aspects of the proposals of the Constitutional Review Commission on local government and decentralisation have been used. Some textual changes have also been made.

  • Kings, Priests, and Kinsmen

    This collection of E. A. Ammah’s ethnographic writing includes essays, some poetry, and other documents. Created over four decades, these pieces cover a wide range of topics including Ga culture in comparative perspective, Ga social organization, Ga political structure and history, Ga life transition ceremonies, and Ga religion. The collection provides a unique cultural insider’s twentieth century perspective on Ga society and history.

  • Unfinished Journey: The Life and Times of VCRAC Crabbe

    Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, says this about the book:

    “The Life of Justice Crabbe has surely not been all rosy. He has suffered painfully from people who envied and misunderstood him. But through it all, he came out better, fearless and incurably optimistic. We learn from some of his painful experiences recounted in this book that misfortune is only a missed-fortune. We should always believe as individuals and as a nation that the best is yet to come! Clearly, part of his secret for aging so gracefully is being content with the lot that life grants him and not to carry any negative emotions in his body.”

  • Birthing Butler’s Bethlehem Beast

    Birthing Butler’s Bethlehem Beast features poems inspired by experiences, ideas, and pictures from life, love, faith, and time. Not unlike the narrative style of Streams of Consciousness, the author chooses to label her style as more consistent with Streams of Spiritedness. With an eclectic mix of the literal, the whimsical and the downright mystical, these poems will cause the reader to wonder during the process of reading, yet, the soul will find within itself, a place of recognition, moments of familiarity, and the eventual arrival at a point where all the different ideas, no matter how alien, fall into place beautifully and cohesively to form a complete and collective quilt of a melody of words. If anything, these poems are bound to mesmerize, challenge, and inspire more thought upon which the art of poetry can be enhanced and nuanced in beauty and complexity.

  • Perseverance Conquers All: The Autobiography of Kantinka Kwame Donkor Fordwor

    As a very poor boy, Kantinka sustained himself in school by selling firewood. He walked four miles every day from village, Breman, to Kumasi to attend school. He recounts how by dint of hard work, he sailed through elementary and secondary school to the Graduate School of Wharton even though fate had prevented him from doing sixth form studies. He recollects how at St. Augustine’s College, Cape Coast, he was cured of a strange disease by a traditional priest. His beloved wife had to discontinue her studies to help him complete his. Kantinka thus passed through a darkness of life which continued in his working life.

    His decision to provide a house for the Executive Chairman of the Capital Investments Board, in order to save the Board huge sums of money in rent payments, was so maliciously interpreted that he was editorially castigated and lambasted. His ingenious polices that eventually helped to raise the capital of the African Development Bank from US $200 million to US $100 billion was rewarded with his dismissal as the President of the Bank.

    He incurred the ire of his enemies for the appreciation he received from three Kings of Asante Kingdom.

    Perseverance Conquers All portrays these midnight sides of Kantinka’s life to let his sun shine brightly. His wife gave him six children any father could wish for, whom he educated as a very responsible father. Providence made him help Ghana in its financial difficulties when he became the virtual Minister of Finance during the reign of Colonel Acheampong. His input to the progress of the Catholic Church has even been more monumental as explained beautifully in the book. Kantinka is indeed the sun at midnight.

    Reliance on God, patriotism, philanthropy, hard work, good family life, good parenthood, honesty, and magnanimity is what this life story portrays. This is a book that all must have and read: the student as well as the teacher; the Christian, husband and patriot.

  • Ogyakrom: The Missing Pages of June 4th (Fireman Series) – Paperback

    Kwesi Yankah is currently the Minister of State for Tertiary Education in Ghana. Until April 2017, he was Vice Chancellor of Central University, Ghana, and was previously Professor of Linguistics and Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Ghana. Yankah, an inimitable satirist, is a proud product of Winneba Secondary School, University of Ghana and Indiana University, USA, where he did his doctorate. Well known in literary and academic circles, Professor Yankah has been a Public Intellectual since the late 1970s when, at 27, he started an anonymous column in The Catholic Standard newspaper, under the pseudonym Abonsam Fireman. The credit for the column, in a suppressive political environment, was often mistakenly given to the two great luminaries PAV Ansah and Adu Boahen.

    Later in 1986, when Yankah returned from doctoral work at Indiana University, he introduced another weekly column, Woes of the Kwatriot, this time in The Mirror which he sustained for a period of ten years. In 1996, the Ghana Journalists Association honoured him for ‘the longest running column in the history of Ghanaian journalism.’ His writings, both literary and academic, have won for Yankah various awards including the WEB Du Bois Award (GAW), the Zora Hurston Award (GAW), the Ghana Book Development Award (GBDC) and the Gold Book Award given by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

    The present volume represents landmarks within 22 months of Yankah’s weekly column in The Catholic Standard, from January 1979 to March 1980. It is inspired by topical issues in two military regimes (General F Akuffo’s SMC 2, Rawlings’ June 4th Revolution) and one civilian government (Hilla Limann’s PNP). This compilation altogether allows a veiled peep into the most turbulent period in Ghana’s political history, Rawlings’ June 4th Revolution, including preceding events and the aftermath of the Revolution. In the words of Dr Anthony Bonnah Koomson, Editor of The Catholic Standard at the time of Yankah’s celebrated column: “The book captures a momentous era in Ghana’s immediate political history, reminiscences of which the author has sough to recreate and preserve with phenomenal linguistic skill. It presents, through satire, an accurate heartbeat of a people under intense political paralysis.”

    This book makes compelling, even if hilarious, reading on Ghana’s enigmatic June 4th Revolution.

  • Lagos: City of the Imagination – Hardcover

    “I don’t think you can be in Lagos without becoming aware of its potency; when Lagos gets itself organised it will be extremely powerful; and already – without organisation – it is very powerful.” Rem Koolhaas, 2002

    Lagos is fast becoming a global city – a place people visit for curiosity and the vibe as much as for business or family. The mesmerising energy and intensity of the city have to be experienced to be understood. But what is the story of Lagos? When did the city begin? Who were the first inhabitants? When did it become the city of iniquity and wisdom that continues to confound all who encounters it? Who have been the key chroniclers of this real yet imaginary city?

    Veteran journalist and writer Kaye Whiteman has given us a gem that answers these questions and more. Lagos: City of the Imagination explains the origins of Lagos as both outpost of the Benin Empire and also the city run by the White Cap Chiefs. Whiteman shows that Lagos was always multicultural and cosmopolitan, with the Portuguese and later educated returnees from Sierra Leone and artisans from Brazil adding to the eclectic mix.

    The book examines the key moments in the history of Lagos: from the concerted attack by the British in the 1860s, Independence in 1960, the 1966 coup through to FESTAC and the assassination of Murtala Muhammed. Also included are vivid character portraits of some of the most powerful Lagosians in history, from Oba Kosoko and Madam Tinubu, to well-regarded colonial figures such as Sir Bernard Bourdillon and those – like Lord Lugard – not so fondly remembered.

    As the name suggests, Lagos: City of the Imagination deals extensively in those for whom Lagos is the backdrop of their work, from highlife musicians and Fela Kuti to Wole Soyinka and, more recently, the American-Nigerian writer Teju Cole.

    Lagos: City of the Imagination is an absorbing and delightful “must-read” for anyone with an interest in one of the most dramatic cities of the 21st century.

  • Going to Town

    Professor Paul Archibald Vianney Ansah (1938-1993), Ex-Director of the School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana; reputed scholar, communicator, journalist, critic; a devout Christian, an uncompromising advocate of democracy, freedom and justice; generous, humorous, pedantic, but also defiant and choleric. Close associates called him “Uncle Paul”; his students made an acronym of him: PAVA. The world knows him as P.A.V. Ansah. His death on 14th June, 1993, created a big void in journalism, and dented the writer’s crusade against oppression and dictatorship in Africa.
    From 1968 when he assumed the editorial seat of The Legon Observer until his death, the name Paul Ansah became perhaps the most revered epitome of incisive journalism in Ghana. By 14th June, 1993 when he died, P.A.V. Ansah, over a quarter of a century had succeeded in perfecting a paradigm in Ghana’s journalistic tradition. Write-and-be damned was its hallmark, and Going-to-Town its colloquial shibboleth. Avid readers of Paul Ansah’s column in The Ghanaian Chronicle weekly, for which he wrote in his last years, eventually got used to the ominous prelude of his weekly sojourns to town.
    In this book, the editors put together a selection of the newspaper contributions of Paul Ansah from 1991 till his death in June 1993. The articles were mostly published in his column in the Ghanaian Chronicle, but also include his contributions in the Free Press, Independent, and the Standard.
    His writings, reflecting a broad range of themes, have been grouped under four overlapping headings: Media, Politics, Society, and International.

    Going to Town

    90.00
  • We Won’t Budge

    Part autobiographical, part social commentary, this is a powerful and insightful look at the situation of border intellectuals at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

    In this searing memoir, Manthia Diawara revisits his early years as an emigrant in love with Swedish girls and Western rock and roll music, taking us from the nightclubs of his hometown Bamako to the cafes of Boulevard Montparnasse and the black neighbourhoods of 1970s Washington DC, USA.

    This book is about the developed world – that is the former colonisers of the African continent now busy slamming shut its doors to African and Arab immigrants.

    It is also about human rights violations and racism against people of colour. Diawara writes that he wanted to give a human face to African immigration in today’s global world. He describes the reasons why many Africans leave the continent – such as poverty, persecution and lack of opportunities – and writes sometimes angrily and sometimes very movingly, about their predicament in Europe and the US, where they are caught between their traditions and the West’s vacuous modernity.

    “With humour and the intimacy of a conversatonal tone, Diawara writes of the ‘global’ African as a nomad at the mercy of whirlwinds of economic and political dislocation at home and racism and intolerance abroad. He is not at home in his country; he is not at home abroad. But the nomad refuses to bow down to those whirlwinds, to let evil turn him around, and against all the odds becomes an active contributor to the multiculture of the globe. This is the story of a diasporic soul that finds home in its own resilience and in so may ways it is all our story.” – Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Author of A Grain of Wheat et al)

    “We Won’t Budge is destined to become a classic – it is one of the most insightful, layered and moving accounts of the modern African Diaspora.” – Patricia Williams (Author of The Alchemy of Race & Rights et al)

  • Ladies Calling The Shots

    The new Nigerian Cinema, Nollywood, owes its global admiration in part to its open-arm attention to gender balance. As talented and beautiful faces won audiences over, many female professionals drew attention to the strength and spectacle that endeared this pivotal industry to audiences around the world.

    Niran Adedokun’s Ladies Calling the Shots has perhaps drawn the most critical attention to the role of female directors in Nollywood. From Lola Fani-Kayode’s pioneering work to Amaka Igwe’s bold narratives, to the work of Mildred Okwo and Tope Oshin. This book is an ode to the Ladies who call the shots in Nigerian film.

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