Pandemic stress Covid-19 has triggered more thought about physically healthy living. I find, as have many others, that despite going out less than I did before the pandemic, I am exercising more, and feeling healthier for it. But at least in Ghana, I have seen relatively little discussion of mental […]
The Road to Virtualisation (in Business & Financial Times, 10 July 2020)
As you will surely know, Covid-19 is quite infectious (though much less so than measles for example), serious or deadly for a small proportion of those infected, and numbers infected can grow exponentially. In Ghana at the moment, the daily number of people detected to have covid-19 is doubling every […]
The Other Pandemic (in B&FT 13 June 2020)
There’s a pandemic spreading fast round the globe, that’s incredibly infectious. And for a change, I am not thinking of covid-19. No, I refer to conspiracy theories. You must be sheltered indeed if you have not heard claims that covid-19 is either a result of 5G mobile masts weakening immune […]
Growing Ghana’s agriculture
My last column commented on the huge changes that societies all over the world have found themselves able to make, to fend off the covid-19 virus pandemic. Until very recently, these changes would have seemed quite inconceivable (for example, who would have thought it possible to shut down every church […]
What Covid-19 means for today, tomorrow and beyond (published Business & Financial Times, 3 April 2020)
You have all heard huge amounts about Covid-19 already, but I can’t duck making some comments on Covid-19 in Ghana, after which I will turn to some broader issues raised by the pandemic. Ghana’s Covid-19 state of play How has Ghana done so far, and what are the issues and […]
CAN HOSPITALITY SAVE THE WORLD? (Published in Business & Financial Times, Friday 13 March)
The launch of the Sanneh Institute A fortnight ago, I attended a morning of lectures on “Territoriality and Hospitality”, marking the launch of the Sanneh Institute. The new institute, based at the University of Ghana Legon, addresses Research, Religion, and Society. It is named in honour of the late Professor […]
We need to make the network work (published Business & Financial Times 21 Feb 2020)
As a transport planner, and an Accra resident with a personal interest in the city having an effective and sustainable transport network, I am of course very interested in the proposed Accra skytrain project. Photo montages of a futuristic elevated light rail system are stirring, bringing to mind the high-tech […]
The State of the Built Environment – published in The Architects Newsletter, Dec 2019 (https://issuu.com/thearchitectsnewsletter/docs/tan_02decissue pages 12-14)
Let’s make this new year a truly happy one, through seeking and implementing fresh approaches to addressing key challenges for our built environment, that benefit Ghana. One huge challenge is the housing shortage, estimated by the housing minister at 2 million and by the Ghana Real Estate Development association at […]
The day of the farmer: past or future? (in Business & Financial Times 13/12/2019)
Land has been fundamental to human culture and economics throughout history. However, in the late 1700s the Industrial Revolution, starting in the United Kingdom, brought profound changes. Previously, the majority of people lived directly off the land as farmers. The growing mechanisation of agriculture cut numbers of agricultural workers needed, […]
Political Focus (published in Business & Financial TImes, 29 Nov 2019)
As I write, President Akufo Addo is said to be considering whether or not to continue with the planned 17 December referendum. When the referendum was first proposed in the last NPP manifesto, it promised District Chief Executives (DCEs) would become directly elected rather than, as currently, being appointed by […]