• The Fourth John: Reign, Rejection & Rebound

    01

    An influential northern caucus is secretly meeting and grooming him to contest the man who will select him as a vice presidential candidate. A meeting between the first lady and the Brong-Ahafo caucus results in, perhaps, the fastest ministerial reshuffle in the history of the country. At 2a.m., before the breaking of a major scandal, there is a meeting between the president’s friend and the investigative journalist about how to involve the main opposition leader, in the story to minimise its damage to the president in the upcoming election. The wife of the president reports the wife of the vice president to the vice president’s mother. The night before a crucial election, the president and his main contender are locked up in a meeting with Ghana’s most revered traditional ruler.

    These and other revealing accounts on governance, policies and programmes of the fourth presidency of Ghana’s Fourth Republic are the intriguing contents of this book. Here, the journalist whose investigations are believed to have contributed to the downfall of the administration gets brutally intimate with the regime.

    Rare interviews with key figures of the governing party and historical contexts to contemporary events provide readers and students of African politics the inside story of what is considered the model democracy on the continent. The fluidity of the writing style and humour make this book about politics and governance in Ghana’s Fourth Republic both informative, educative and entertaining.

    300.00
  • The Legislative System of Ghana

    This book focuses on the legislative system of Ghana. It contains sixteen chapters, each focusing on a unique aspect of the legislative system of Ghana. It outlines the rules, the practice, and procedure that govern the conduct of business and Members in the Parliament of Ghana and its committees, and the various actors involved in the organisation of the legislative business. It breaks into minute forms, the procedural norms, and attitudes that influence members’ behaviour and the various parliamentary outcomes.

    “This study is well researched and presented in a very lucid form…. Indeed, it is a very useful source for students, parliamentarians, and academics on the parliamentary history, procedure, and practice of Ghana’s Parliament.” – Hon Dr. Benjamin Kunbour, Former Majority Leader, Former Minister of Defence and Senior Lecturer, University of Ghana School of Law

  • Central Banking in Ghana and the Governors: Institutional Growth and Economic Development (Hardcover)

    A charge of chariots of fire, this is not just a book about the financial history of Ghana in spite of its formative challenges but a centenary work of West Africa – regional monetary evolution and global multilateralism. For devout bankers, intelligentsia, historians and aspirants, this is the one. Elegantly written, it establishes Agyeman-Duah as an unavoidable historian of the Bank of Ghana. — Jewel Howard-Taylor, Vice-President of the Republic of Liberia

    The Bank of Ghana is technically a better institution than it was thirty years ago. Even governments are less inclined towards interventions in its work. It is different from other captured public institutions where economic decision-making is with a political lens. — Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana and Co-editor of The Economy of Ghana-Analytical Perspectives on Stability, Growth and Poverty

    The Bank of Ghana is leading central banks in the sub-region with regards to the use of technology in the finance service industry … countries in Africa are now learning from Ghana’s digital payment regulations. — Mohammed Sanusi Lamido, Former Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria and the 14th Emir of Kano

    Ghana has in recent years been one of Africa’s more successful economies – from its colonial journey through Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) to stable modern democracy. Agyeman-Duah has a sound appreciation of the difficulties of transforming a producer of commodities of raw materials into a prosperous mixed economy. Now an oil economy, the test ahead is, will Ghana at last be able to control its own economic destiny; free of obligations to donors and the storms from world commodity markets? — Frances Cairncross, Rector Emeritus, Exeter College, University of Oxford and Former Managing Editor, The Economist

  • My Life: A Historical Narrative – Autobiography of Ivan Addae-Mensah (Hardcover)

    This autobiography should be a best seller. It is a lucid, engaging, fascinating account of a very complex man with an eclectic life that the author has managed to masterfully present as a mainstream Ghanaian. It is so enjoyable to read.
    Dr. Ing Kwame Boakye
    Former President, Ghana Institution of Engineers
    Former Vice Chairman, AT&T Paradyne, Florida, USA

    With this autobiography, “My Life – A Historical Narrative”- Professor Emeritus- Ivan Addae-Mensah, the highly reputable and respected scientist and academic, has established his credentials as a writer par excellence and a master storyteller by every definition. . It is a well –written, riveting book, easy to read and absolutely interesting . I highly recommend this inspirational book.
    Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere
    Author, Former Chairman of the Ghana Media Commission,
    Former Ghana High Commissioner to Sierra Leone and Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire

    During our university days we conferred the accolades “Versatile” and “Walking Encyclopaedia” on Emeritus Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah. Reading his book “My Life, a Historical Narrative” has confirmed that we were right. Ivan’s experiences in life, especially in the Ghana Public Service and in the political arena confirm the notion that serving one’s nation with honesty and integrity could be hazardous, but it pays. I highly recommend the book to all and sundry.
    Ambassador Sir James K. Bebaako-Mensah
    Former Secretary to the Cabinet, Former Secretary to President J.E.A Mills and Former Ghana Ambassador to the Holy See (Vatican)

    In this absorbing autobiography, Emeritus Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah takes the reader on a journey through an extraordinary life that provides insights into his own life as well as Ghana’s social and political history from the 1940s till today; Written in an accessible and humorous style, this captivating chronicle is a must-read for anyone seeking to learn about Ghana’s contemporary history.
    Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo,Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana

  • The Fall of The Asante Empire: The Hundred -Year War for Africa’s Gold Coast

    In 1817, the first British envoy to meet the king of the Asante of West Africa was dazzled by his reception. A group of 5,000 Asante soldiers, many wearing immense caps topped with three foot eagle feathers and gold ram’s horns, engulfed him with a “zeal bordering on phrensy,” shooting muskets into the air. The envoy was escorted, as no fewer than 100 bands played, to the Asante king’s palace and greeted by a tremendous throng of 30,000 noblemen and soldiers, bedecked with so much gold that his party had to avert their eyes to avoid the blinding glare. Some Asante elders wore gold ornaments so massive they had to be supported by attendants. But a criminal being lead to his execution – hands tied, ears severed, knives thrust through his cheeks and shoulder blades – was also paraded before them as a warning of what would befall malefactors. This first encounter set the stage for one of the longest and fiercest wars in all the European conquest of Africa. At its height, the Asante empire, on the Gold Coast of Africa in present-day Ghana, comprised three million people and had its own highly sophisticated social, political, and military institutions. Armed with European firearms, the tenacious and disciplined Asante army inflicted heavy casualties on advancing British troops, in some cases defeating them. They won the respect and admiration of British commanders, and displayed a unique willingness to adapt their traditional military tactics to counter superior British technology. Even well after a British fort had been established in Kumase, the Asante capital, the indigenous culture stubbornly resisted Europeanization, as long as the “golden stool,” the sacred repository of royal power, remained in Asante hands. It was only after an entire century of fighting that resistance ultimately ceased.

  • ‘The History of Ashanti Kings and the Whole Country Itself’ and Other Writings

    The History of Ashanti Kings and the Whole Country Itself is a key text for understanding the history of the great West African kingdom of Asante (now in Ghana). It is also an early–and perhaps the earliest–example of history writing in English by an African ruler and his amanuenses. It was begun in 1907 in the Seychelles on the instructions of the Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I, who had been in British captivity with his family since 1896, during which time he had acquired proficiency in English.

    The chief source of information was his mother the Asantehemaa Yaa Kyaa, who possessed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the oral history of her own lineage, which was also the royal dynasty of Asante. The result is an indispensably detailed document that charts the history of the Asante monarchy from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Context is provided by the inclusion of other writings by or about Agyeman Prempeh, together with four introductory essays by the world’s leading scholars of Asante history.

    This fascinating volume evokes the rich historical experience of a renowned kingdom, and is of compelling interest to all concerned with the production of indigenous historical knowledge in Africa.

  • The President Ghana Never Got

    When the President asks a Supreme Court Judge to resign and prepare for a promised elevation, the Judge asks for a letter based on which to leave his job. The judge is still waiting for that letter when the media named another man for the same job the President promised him. The judge and the “usurper” lose the job because of a military-style operation, which the minority caucus in Parliament executes with precision.
    Ghanaians question why the President yanks a man from a political campaign platform to the high court and elevates him to the Supreme Court under controversial circumstances in less than two years.This book reveals that the contentious Supreme Court appointment is meant to appease the disappointed judge who was promised elevation. Also in this page-turner, Ghana’s leading investigative journalst is granted rare access to the innermost circles of the Akufo-Addo presidency, and he reveals how the man who caused many Ghanaians to hope again became the reason many lost the little faith they had in the Nation’s Politics and its future before he emerged.

    300.00
  • Chasing the Elephant Into the Bush: The Politics of Complacency

    Chasing the Elephant Into the Bush: The Politics of Complacency is an insider’s account of how the governing New Patriotic Party lost power in the closest elections in Africa’s history. The writer believes that providing an accurate account will begin the process of correcting the rumours, lies and myths that are out there about the 2008 elections in Ghana.

    Throughout, the book is liberally sprinkled with quotes and historical references that makes it very informative and interesting. He begins with the state of the nation and the governing party as Ghana approached 2008.

    He then takes the reader through the NPP primary and his own experiences as a losing candidate. There is candid discussion of the rivalries in the campaign that undermined its effectiveness. He takes the reader inside meetings and quotes some of the key players at key moments in the campaign.

    There is candid discussion of the roles of the media, the security forces and civil society. The identification of issues and their use in the campaign is discussed thoroughly. While his sympathies are never in doubt, he is very objective and acknowledges the mistakes made by the campaign, the government and the party. He credits the NDC Campaign for doing certain things well. Amongst these are the deployment of President Mills and former President Rawlings as well as Vice-President John Mahama.

    He reveals the roles of key people, including the President, the Presidential candidate and powerful groups, like the “Kyebi Mafia”. He offers candid assessments of all the key players. He suggests reasons for the NPP defeat and the way to recapture power.

    This will be a very significant first cut and reference point for an account of the 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Ghana.

  • Beyond the Political Spider: Critical Issues in African Humanities (African Humanities Series)

    Beyond the Political Spider: Critical Issues in African Humanities by Kwesi Yankah is the first title in the newly established African Humanities Association (AHA) publication series.

    By integrating his own biography into a critique of the global politics of knowledge production, Yankah, through a collection of essays, interrogates critical issues confronting the Humanities that spawn intellectual hegemonies and muffle African voices. Using the example of Ghana, he brings under scrutiny, amongst others, endemic issues of academic freedom, gender inequities, the unequal global academic order, and linguistic imperialism in language policies in governance.

    In the face of these challenges, the author deftly navigates the complex terrain of indigenous knowledge and language in the context of democratic politics, demonstrating that agency can be liberatory when emphasising indigenous knowledge, especially expressed through the idiom of local languages and symbols, including Ananse, the protean spider, folk hero in Ghana and most parts of the pan-African world.

    “Fascinating snapshots from an engaged scholarly life in Africa, valuable as an archival resource for the understanding of this period of higher education in Africa.” – John Higgins, Arderne Chair in Literature, Department of English Literary Studies, University of Cape Town

    “This book is unique and gives a powerful rendition of the state of the Humanities in Africa (with Ghana as a case in point). It grapples with some of the pertinent issues dogging the Humanities in Africa. It comments on the Humanities scholarship in Africa, and subtly throws a challenge for future scholarship. It draws on African traditions, communal heritage, and governance in discussing the role and place of the Humanities in Africa. It also brings into the analysis the ever-changing imperatives and modernity in re-configuring African Humanities.” – Mark Benge Okot, Head of Department, Literature, Makerere University, Uganda

    “Beyond the Political Spider’ effectively draws, in a unique fashion, from literature, history, linguistics and other cognate disciplines in the African Humanities.” – Sati Umaru Fwatshak, Department of History, University of Jos, Nigeria

  • The Law of Mortgages in Ghana

    The Law of Mortgages in Ghana discusses the Law relating to the use of immovable property as security for the repayment of a loan or the performance of some other obligations. It explores the historical contours of mortgages tracing its evolution from ancient Roman times through its development in English Law and how it was received in Ghana as a legacy of colonization as well as statutory interventions in Ghana. It discusses the various ways in which a mortgage may be created under Ghanaian Law as well as the essential characteristics of a mortgage and the incidents captured in the maxim “once a mortgage, always a mortgage”.

    In this regard, it also discusses the nuances and legal ramifications of mortgaging marital property or property belonging to a spouse, particularly married women, as well as the considerations of independent legal advice leading to the conclusion of a mortgage transaction.

    This book also addresses the remedies available to a mortgage in the event of default. The remedies discussed include suing the mortgagor on his personal covenant to perform; sale of the mortgaged property (judicially and statutorily); exercise of the right of possession; and the appointment of a Receiver. These discussions are done in the context of the various relevant statutes such as the Mortgages Act, 1972 (NRCD 96), the Home Mortgage Finance Act, 2008(Act 770) and the Borrowers and Lenders Act, 2008 (Act778). It also discusses the vexed question of priority of mortgages which determines the sequence in which competing claims over a mortgaged property or sale proceeds of a mortgaged property are settled, particularly in the event that the proceeds of sale are not enough to pay all mortgages. Furthermore, it discusses technical concepts relating to priority of mortgages such as tacking, consolidation, marshaling, exoneration and contribution.

    The book also treats the subject of transfer of mortgages by both the transferor and transferee; redemption of mortgages; and pledges. The last chapter of the book is the practitioner’s chapter which focuses on the intricacies of a mortgage action.

  • Baffour Osei Akoto: A Royal Patriot and the Making of Ghana (Hardcover)

    Foreword by President John Agyekum Kufuor

    This book is primarily composed of speeches presented at the 16th edition of the annual Re-Akoto Memorial Lectures held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi. The Re Akoto Memorial Lectures, instituted by His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, life patron of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the Ghana School of Law, seeks, amongst other things, to promote research, study and educate the citizenry on the development of Ghana’s constitutional democracy and human rights. Over the years, it has been presented by a good number of eminent Ghanaians and through which they have illuminated various spheres of life, especially issues regarding law and fundamental human rights, which are the key components that form the genesis of the famous Re-Akoto Case.

    The presenters included Kwame Pianim, one of Ghana’s eminent economists; Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, then-acting Director of the Ghana School of Law; Chief Justice Kwasi Anim Yeboah and Attorney-General Godfred Dame. Prof Mike Aaron Oquaye, a veritable political scientist and accomplished politician, knitted the strains together to discuss how Baffour’s strides and successes reaffirmed the liberal democratic political philosophy of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). He indicated that human beings have a dignity that must be protected and that dictatorial tendencies must not be accepted. Finally, provided a historical trajectory of Ghana’s stint with an authoritarian regime focusing on the country’s post-independence one-party political system.

    “Baffour excelled in this career as an Asante diplomat, a valuable repository of Asante and Ghanaian social, cultural and political history, and a defender of the power of traditional leadership in the face of the onslaught of modern post-colonial politics in Ghana.” – His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene

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