The Executive Director of the Centre for Public Opinion and Awareness (CenPOA), Michael Donyina Mensah, believes the government’s affordable housing projects are not affordable .He claimed that these projects are purely commercial ventures undertaken by the government and its partners rather than an affordable housing initiative as promoted. For him, affordable should imply that the people you intend to sell the houses to are those who can afford them. “People who have the resources to build their own houses don’t need affordable housing,” he says. Those who are wealthy do not require it. I believe that affordable housing has been designed for the average worker. But the average Ghanaian worker cannot afford it. Examine the studio apartments for sale and their prices. An average worker who wants to buy a $13,000 flat would need to save Ghc1000 per month for ten years before he or she could afford the house.” On Rainbow Radio 87.55FM’s Frontline, with host Kwabena Agyapong, he was asked how many average workers in Ghana can afford these houses. Click here to read more on GhanaWeb.

The Executive Director of the Centre for Public Opinion and Awareness (CenPOA), Michael Donyina Mensah, believes the government’s affordable housing projects are not affordable. He claimed that these projects are purely commercial ventures undertaken by the government and its partners rather than an affordable housing initiative as promoted. For him, affordable should imply that the people you intend to sell the houses to are those who can afford them. “People who have the resources to build their own houses don’t need affordable housing,” he says. Those who are wealthy do not require it. I believe that affordable housing has been designed for the average worker. But the average Ghanaian worker cannot afford it. Examine the studio apartments for sale and their prices. An average worker who wants to buy a $13,000 flat would need to save Ghc1000 per month for ten years before he or she could afford the house.” On Rainbow Radio 87.55FM’s Frontline, with host Kwabena Agyapong, he was asked how many average workers in Ghana can afford these houses. Click here to read more on GhanaWeb.

The Centre for Public Opinion and Awareness (CenPOA) has advised President Akufo-Addo not to allow his personal interests and ties with the French to influence any regrettable decision in the Niger crisis. The Executive Director of CenPOA, Michael Donyina Mensah, says there are speculations that the French are behind what is going on in Niger because of their business interests. He said these speculations could have some elements of truth since they would want to prevent the destruction of their businesses. To do this, the French will want to use some people or countries to promote their interests. He said President Akufo-Addo is a possible candidate that the French may want to use because of his strong ties and relationship with them. Speaking in an interview on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm, he said, ”I want to advise President Akufo-Addo to tread cautiously in how he intervenes in the matter. There are speculations that the French are behind what is happening because they want to protect their business interests. If they are indeed behind what is happening, they will need people to help them, and President Akufo-Addo is a possible target. He is a possible target because of his strong ties and relationship with the French”. Click here to read more on GhanaWeb.

Civil organisation, Center for Public Opinion and Awareness (CenPOA) has noted with great concern the recent announcement by the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia that the government of Ghana will be procuring laptops for SHS students to replace textbooks. We believe that this initiative, although backed by good intentions, is not well thought through, unnecessary and a complete waste of public resources. We laud the government’s previous initiative of distributing laptops to all teachers in the country, since we are in a technological age and teachers may need them for research and preparation of lessons. However, we completely disagree with the government on its reasons for the provision of laptops to students and fail to fathom how this can improve learning in senior high schools. In many advanced countries with well-developed educational systems, students still read textbooks as a means of acquiring knowledge. Click here to read more on The Chronicle

The Centre for Public Opinion and Awareness (CenPOA), a Civil Society Organization (CSO), has urged the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization to urgently take steps to address the challenges of the SIM card reregistration exercise. The organization viewed that if the issue was not addressed properly, it could have the potential to derail the exemplary success and the already visible positive impacts of the SIM reregistration exercise.