The Economic Justice Network (EJN), a national coalition of civil society organisations working for socio-economic justice and equitable national development, was recently re-launched to deal with new policy threats affecting Ghanaian livelihoods. Speaking at the launch, Mr Tetteh Hormeku of Third World Network, said governments over the years had sought to deal with economic challenges confronting the country through reliance on foreign investors instead of building local capacities. He said this common policy of successive governments to provide incentives to foreign investors had led to the abuse of the rights of Ghanaians and denial of their livelihoods.

The next few weeks promise to be interesting for Ghana as the country tries to come to terms with the sudden death of President John Atta Mills on 24 July. Known for its strong democracy, the west African country will be keenly watched over how it handles its transitions. Within hours of Mr Mills death, his deputy John Dramani Mahama was sworn in in line with Article 60 (6) of the country's constitution, drawing praise from observers.

Government investment, rather than privatisation or international aid, offers the best solution for water services in Ghana.

Child labour is on the rise in Ghana, particularly in urban areas. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) 2012 State of the World’s Children Report, 34 per cent of Ghanaian children aged between five and 14 years are engaged in child labour – up from 23 per cent in 2003. Emilia Allan, a Child Protection Officer at UNICEF Ghana, noted that Kumasi alone makes up eight per cent of that figure.

Following the increasing resort to indecent expressions among political activists in elections-related and general political discussions, particularly on radio, and their possible implications for peaceful elections, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) embarked on the project 'Promoting Issues-based and Decent Language Campaigning for a Peaceful, Free and Fair Elections in Ghana in 2012.' Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has now made available the first quarter report of the project, which is available from their website.

A Ghanaian NGO called Abantu for Development has teamed up with the country’s Department of Women to draft a political affirmative action law to open the doors for women. 'If we do not put in place special temporary measures, women will never make it into public office,' said Hilary Gbedemah, a lawyer and the rector of the Law Institute in Accra who has worked on the draft legislation.

A coalition of local and international non-governmental organisations in health in Ghana, is asking the government to reject World Bank's proposal to adopt cost-sharing to sustain its National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which has been operational since 2003. In its January report titled: 'Health Financing in Ghana at a Crossroads', the World Bank said Ghana's NHIS basic benefit package was financially unsustainable and, therefore, the government must consider cost-sharing. The coalition, which has been at the forefront of the promoting free universal access to health care in the country, said on Wednesday that it did not agree with the World Bank's suggestion, especially when it acknowledges that government expenditure on health is low.

Politics in Ghana has been shaped by the events surrounding the overthrow of President Kwame Nkrumah in 1966. Successive regimes have repressed the agitation for popular democracy.

A foreign mining company has polluted the environment so much that the local people have no access to safe and adequate water. And that is not the only mining company killing people in Ghana. The government looks on.

One in three children in Ghana are engaged in child labor, which is increasing in Africa. Ghana’s government, international organizations and local associations used the recent World Day Against Child Labor to pledge their commitment to getting children out of the workplace and into the classroom, reports Global Press Institute.

In the latest of the Economic Justice Network's campaign to sensitize Ghanaians to why the Economic Partnership Agreements are bad for Ghana, here are two recordings of interviews that took place on EPAs. One discusses EPAs and Ghana's fuel subsidy and the other a 'face-off' with EU Ambassador to Ghana Claude Maerten.

Ghana’s former President Jerry John Rawlings has given the first hint that his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, might enter the presidential race in December. It is not clear whether the former First Lady would do so as an independent candidate or form a new party. Not too long ago, Nana Agyeman was rejected by delegates of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) when she took on party leader President John Evans Mills.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised Ghana to remove subsidies on energy and fuel, a move that is likely to be met with resistance as it will make the commodities more expensive. Ghana's neighbour, Nigeria at one point removed fuel subsidies but the move was met with fierce and sometimes violent resistance. The IMF advised that a public service audit and the scrapping of subsidies will generate monthly savings of about GH¢160 million, which are needed to protect more productive expenditure and allow for an expansion of well-targeted social programmes to help the most vulnerable groups to cope with the tighter cost of living.

Activists, supporters and officials of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), made the majority of indecent expressions recorded by a Media Foundation for West Africa study during weeks seven and eight monitoring of language use on radio. Twenty one (21) out of the total of 28 indecent expressions recorded were made by NDC officials and supporters.

Ghana will lose $378 million if the country goes ahead to sign the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union, a trade activist has said, citing a United Nations Economic Commission for Africa study. According to Mr. Sylvester Bagooro of the Third World Network, the study which has been updated by the South Centre in Geneva, Ghana would lose that amount in tariff revenue and companies exporting to the EU would pay $58 million as duty to the EU if Ghana does not sign the EPA.

In a press release, the Economic Justice Network in Ghana says recent utterances by the Ministers of Trade and Industry, confirm intelligence that the Minister is pushing the Ghana government to sign the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement, IEPA, that was initialled in 2007. 'At a recent public meeting of Ghana-EU Partnership the Minister stated categorically that the benefits of signing the EPAs far outweigh the negatives. This comes on the heels of an interview granted a local newspaper not too long ago where she declared that Ghana will have no alternative than proceed with signature of the IEPA in the light of the lack of progress at the ECOWAS level.'

This is to invite you to Kilombo 2012, which is an event on Africa, Africans and Social Justice. This is going to be an annual event and the first which is Kilombo 2012 will lay the foundation for launching the Kilombo Centre for Civil Society and African Self-Determination.

Ghana’s Immigration Service is getting tough with illegal immigrants drawn to the country by the robust economic growth and its stability and has now set a deadline to start flushing them out. Most of the illegal immigrants are said to have entered the retail business and gone into illegal gold mining whilst others have targeted oil services, irking many locals who accuse them of stealing their jobs.

Media Foundation for West Africa,in its bid to promote issues-based and decent language campaigning in Ghana’s 2012 elections, launched a project to monitor and report indecent expression by politicians and political activists in the campaign process. The level of indecent expression increased from nine in the fourth week to 24 in the fifth week covering the period April 29 to May 5, 2012.

Ghanaians have started a national debate as to whether the involvement of the private sector in the establishment of universities has lowered academic standards and thus affected the quality of their graduates for the job market. Growing demand for university education amidst a squeeze on the public budget has resulted in private entrepreneurs establishing universities all over the country. But instead of contributing to national development, the trend is creating a teeming mass of unemployed youth, opening a debate on whether these institutions are playing a useful role.