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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic devastated countries worldwide, and resulted in a global shutdown. Not all infections are symptomatic and hence the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the community is unknown. The paper presents the dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in the Greater Accra Metropolis, describing the evolution of seroprevalence through time and by age group. Three repeated independent population-based surveys at 6-week intervals were conducted in from November 2020 to July 2021. The global and by age-groups weighted seroprevalences were estimated and the risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 antibody seropositivity were assessed using logistic regression. The overall age-standardized SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence for both spike and nucleocapsid increased from 13.8% (95% CI 11.9, 16.1) in November 2020 to 39.6% (95% CI 34.8, 44.6) in July 2021. After controlling for gender, marital status, education level, and occupation, the older age group over 40 years had a higher odds of seropositivity than the younger age group (OR 3.0 [95% CI 1.1–8.5]) in the final survey. Pupils or students had 3.3-fold increased odds of seropositivity (OR 3.2 [95% CI 1.1–8.5]) compared to the unemployed. This study reinforces that, SARS-CoV-2 infections have been significantly higher than reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teenage motherhood is a social occurrence that presents itself in every country. This paper explored lived experiences of teenage mothers in the Adaklu District of Ghana. The study was a phenomenological qualitative study. Data for the study were obtained through narratives, and photovoices; using an in-depth interview guide. The thematic data analysis technique was employed to present the findings. The study purposively sampled 30 teenage mothers. Teenage mothers used pictures such as trees by the riverside, stacked blocks, and electrical sockets to explain their motherhood experiences. Codes from the data revolved around instruction, and communicative learning lived experiences. Teenage motherhood experiences were largely on issues such as the irresponsible attitude of a child's father, rape, remorsefulness, engagement in apprenticeship, supportive partners, and relatives. It can be concluded that teenage mothers have different perspectives on their lived experiences which could either help or hinder how they make meaning of their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the literature on challenges and opportunities for social participation experienced by older adults in Ghana and provides useful lessons for theory and practice. The study explored this topic using a descriptive phenomenology approach. A purposive sample of 23 older adults aged 60 years and above participated in semi-structured interviews to provide data for the study. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis. Data were analyzed following descriptive phenomenology principles, such as paying attention to experiential detail and the personal and relational significance of experience as described, and using existing literature as heuristic to reformulate and gain insight into the general and unique characteristics of experience as described by participants. Two themes emerged from the data. Living at the margins emerged from the descriptions of challenges whose subthemes included health problems, isolation, and poverty. Elevated citizenship emerged from the descriptions of opportunities whose subthemes were acts of reciprocity, recognition, and preferential treatment. The paper discusses how these themes underlie both social exclusion and social participation among participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The governance of pharmaceutical medicines entails complex ethical decisions that should, in theory, be the responsibility of democratically accountable government agencies. However, in many Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), regulatory and health systems constraints mean that many people still lack access to safe, appropriate and affordable medication, posing significant ethical challenges for those working on the "front line". Drawing on 18 months of fieldwork in Ghana, we present three detailed case studies of individuals in this position: an urban retail pharmacist, a rural over-the-counter medicine retailer, and a local inspector. Through these case studies, we consider the significant burden of "ethical labour" borne by those operating "on the ground", who navigate complex moral, legal and business imperatives in real time and with very real consequences for those they serve. The paper ends with a reflection on the tensions between abstract, generalised ethical frameworks based on high-level principles, and a pragmatic, contingent ethics-in-practice that foregrounds immediate individual needs – a tension rooted in the gap between the theory and the reality of pharmaceutical governance that shifts the burden of ethical labour downwards and perpetuates long-term public health risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maize is a principal food crop used extensively by both humans and animals in Africa and across the globe. Unfortunately, maize is highly susceptible to fungal contamination, especially with toxicogenic species. The contamination is exacerbated subsequently by mycotoxins of these fungi, which is indeed a major concern to governments and the international community, as it renders the food unsafe for human and animal consumption. Whole maize was sampled from 10 different sites in the Ho municipality, Ghana, and evaluated for moisture contents, fungal count, and species diversity. The fungal analysis was conducted at three points per location. Fungal species were cultured and identified on the two media used; Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) and Dichlor Rose Bengal Chloramphenicol (DRBC). A total of sixteen (16) fungal species belonging to eleven (11) genera were identified in this study. They included Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A. tamarii, A. ochraceous, and A. parasiticus, Cladosporium herbarium, Curvularia lunata, Penicillium citrinum, Fusarium moniliforme, Eurotium sp., Mucor racemosus, Rhizopus stolonifer, Paecilomyces variotii, Neurospora sitophilia and Rhodotorula sp. The genus Fusarium was found to be the most overriding fungus. The overall decreasing order of ranking of occurrence was Fusarium>Penicillium>Aspergillus. Fungal counts of the maize samples ranged between 2.77±1.01-4.1±0.81 Log10 CFU/g and 3.00±1.13-4.08±1.22 Log10 CFU/g for SDA and DRBC respectively and showed no significant differences (p>0.05). The moisture content of the maize grains ranged between 12.06 ±1.17-16.71 ± 2.65 %. Generally, there was a weak association between moisture content and fungal counts, which showed a poor fit to the linear equations (R2= 0.1989, R2= 0.0047 for SDA and DRBC respectively). Our results underscore that consumers and farmers should be up-to-date on the danger of fungal contamination in maize. The outcomes of this paper would be worthwhile in advising policy makers to particularly stress on in adopting international legislations on food quality parameters and to use tools that will change the frame of mind of the population on risks involving fungal intoxication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of indigenous food crops on the nutrition security outcomes of children in farm households. Using a standard treatment effect model, data on children under 5 years of age from 250 farm households in selected rural districts of northern Ghana were analysed. A multistage sampling procedure was used. Descriptive statistics show high rates of child wasting (16.7%), stunting (29.8%) and underweight (25.2%), but suggest better nutritional status for children in indigenous food crops producer households than those in non-producer households. Children in producer households have higher height-for-age; weight-for-height and weight-for-age z-scores than children in non-producer households. The findings suggest that, children in non-producer households are more at risk of being stunted, wasted and underweight than those in producer households. Exploring the empirical link between the production of indigenous food crops and the nutrition status of children in northern Ghana extends the literature on nutrition and crop production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a repeated cross-section data set from Ghana for 1991/1992, 1998/1999, 2005/2006, 2012/2013 and 2016/17, and a Two-Stage Least Squares estimator, this paper investigates the effect of agricultural income on remittances and consumption expenditure. It is found that households in Ghana use remittances to protect themselves from decline in agricultural income due to rainfall failure. The results suggest that a 100 Ghana Cedis decrease in agricultural income leads to a 30 Ghana Cedis increase in remittances. The results further posit that rainfall-induced agricultural income changes affect total consumption and food expenditures of rural households. A 100 Ghana Cedis decrease in agricultural income due to rainfall failure leads to a 60 Ghana Cedis fall in total consumption expenditure, and 36 Ghana Cedis fall in food expenditure of rural households. Very poor households in rural areas are found to be more vulnerable to such rainfall-driven agricultural income changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The upbeat, rock-like jàmá song genre has been ubiquitous in the popular culture of Ghana, especially over the last four decades. While the origin of the name 'jàmá' (also dzama, gyama or djama) remains a mystery, the music evokes characteristics of neo-traditional Ga music. The genre has become an official medium of musical expression for Ghanaian youths at present. Popular music artists like DJ Mic Smith and Gasmilla, the Ghanaian army and police, religious organisations such as Christian churches, and students in schools and colleges perform jàmá songs during social events, festivals, sports games, political rallies, marriage ceremonies, funerals and protest marches. The same jàmá song may be heard on different occasions, generating a myriad of meanings. This paper analyses selected jàmá songs, situates the song texts within their respective contexts, and illustrates the creative devices performers use to convey the meanings of songs in various settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "pull him/her down" or the "PhD" syndrome is the Ghanaian colloquial term for malicious envy, the arousal of primitive urges to destroy the good fortune of someone simply because one lacks what the envied other has. Behaviors motivated by malicious envy and which result in the "pulling down" of others in a country classified as collectivistic and highly religious appear contradictory, however, and this paper aims to shed light on this seeming contradiction. Conceptualizations of envy, cultural dimensions of collectivism, religiosity, and patriarchy which counterintuitively enable "pulling down" behaviors, the three different categories of PhD syndrome perpetrators, and the influence of sibling dynamics in the PhD syndrome's enactments are explored. Recommendations for mitigating expressions of the PhD syndrome are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to safe drinking water is critical in improving health and well-being. It is estimated that >40% of urban households in Ghana do not have access to safe drinking water. Although the willingness and ability of community members to collectively take local initiatives are essential to curtailing inequities in water access in Ghana, the determinant of collective action is less explored. This paper explores determinants of collective action in water-insecure neighbourhoods and examines how perceived inequities in access to water and trust mediate the relationship between lack of access to water and collective action in urban Ghana. The results show that the urban poor OR = 12.047 (p = 0.000) were more likely to participate in water-related collective action compared to wealthy individuals. Primary decision-makers were 1.696 times more likely to participate in collective (p = 0.02). We also found that perceived inequities OR = 0.381 (p = 0.00) significantly predict participation in collective action to address water insecurity. Water service providers should be subjected to a rigid state-level framework that ensures inclusivity, fairness and justice in their distribution systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China features significantly in the Covid-19 narrative for good and bad reasons. The purpose of this paper is to test, empirically, the assumption that Covid-19 would negatively influence perceptions of China in Ghana, due to its perceived relationship with the pandemic. We characterise Chinese manufactured products as soft power resources and analyse the role they play in addressing the personal needs and interests of Ghanaians and how they affect positive and negative perceptions of China amid the Covid-19 pandemic. We used a mixed research method and collected data from a sample size of 1,020 for analysis. We found that Ghanaians are rational actors who maximise the perceived gains of their actions in pursuit of their objectives. Thus, the self-interest and personal satisfaction Ghanaians gain through China's manufactured products outweigh the negative representation of China in the Covid-19 narrative, shaping a positive attitude in Ghana towards China. We situate the argument within rational choice theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-led total sanitation (CLTS) is increasingly promoted globally as an innovative approach to addressing the sanitation challenge in developing countries, especially in the rural areas where access to sanitation remains poor. However, a significant challenge in CLTS is poor management of faecal sludge when pits are full. In this regard, composting toilets offer a potentially viable and ecologically sound method for effective and efficient faecal sludge management, by providing fertilisers that act as soil conditioners, and ultimately contribute to clean environment, food security, good health, and poverty alleviation. Despite these advantages, there is limited knowledge on why and how composting toilets can be successfully integrated into CLTS initiatives. In this paper, we use the case of Ghana to demonstrate that integrating composting toilets into the CLTS approach is a feasible option for sustainable and environmentally friendly faecal sludge management in rural areas where agriculture is the predominant livelihood activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed the impact of technological progress and digitization on Ghana's economy using panel data for the period 2009–2019. Technological progress and economic growth inter-dependency was analyzed in two steps. First, the relation was tested using Augmented Dickey–Fuller method. Second, we estimated the long-run relation between the variables by using Engel Granger and Error Correction models. The results indicate that adopting technology or digitizing the economy has the potential to drive sustainable growth and development. In particular, it was noted that ICT investments drive high productivity rates and faster economic growth. In sum, technological progress and digitization have the potential to foster significant growth and therefore must be given high credence in the planning and designing of development programmes. This paper contributes to development theories on the role that ICT plays in economic growth and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of transnational administrations and their influence on domestic affairs of countries have led to the questioning of the notion of administrative sovereignty. Yet, the question of whether countries have this sovereignty and how it should be understood is to be fully resolved and the debate continues unabated. In this paper, we contribute to this debate by focusing on whether countries from the developing south, are and can be administratively sovereign and to what extent can they be considered as such. Have developing countries ever been administratively sovereign? To what extent are these states administratively sovereign, if any? In short, how free are the authorities in these countries in organizing their own administrative apparatuses in policy development and service delivery? What can historical institutionalism teach us about the issue of administrative sovereignty? Following the continuum in the understanding of administrative sovereignty and using a desk review and organizing the evidence through historical institutionalism as a concept, the Ghanaian case shows limited administrative sovereignty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the discrepancy between model findings and field data obtained and how it is minimized using the binning smoothing techniques: means, medians, and boundaries. Employing both the quantitative and the qualitative methods to examine the complex pattern involved in COVID-19 transmission dynamics reveals model variation and provides a boundary signature for the potential of the disease's future spread across the country. To better understand the main underlying factor responsible for the epidemiology of COVID-19 infection in Ghana, the continuous inflow of foreigners, both with and without the disease, was incorporated into the classical Susceptible-Exposed-Quarantined-Recovered SEIQR model, which revealed the spread of the COVID-19 by these foreigners. Also, the diffusion model provided therein gives a threshold condition for the spatial spread of the COVID-19 infection in Ghana. Following the introduction of a new method for the construction of the Lyapunov function for global stability of the nonlinear system of ODEs was observed, overcoming the problem of guessing for the Lyapunov function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the discrepancy between model findings and field data obtained and how it is minimized using the binning smoothing techniques: means, medians, and boundaries. Employing both the quantitative and the qualitative methods to examine the complex pattern involved in COVID-19 transmission dynamics reveals model variation and provides a boundary signature for the potential of the disease's future spread across the country. To better understand the main underlying factor responsible for the epidemiology of COVID-19 infection in Ghana, the continuous inflow of foreigners, both with and without the disease, was incorporated into the classical Susceptible-Exposed-Quarantined-Recovered SEIQR model, which revealed the spread of the COVID-19 by these foreigners. Also, the diffusion model provided therein gives a threshold condition for the spatial spread of the COVID-19 infection in Ghana. Following the introduction of a new method for the construction of the Lyapunov function for global stability of the nonlinear system of ODEs was observed, overcoming the problem of guessing for the Lyapunov function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the discrepancy between model findings and field data obtained and how it is minimized using the binning smoothing techniques: means, medians, and boundaries. Employing both the quantitative and the qualitative methods to examine the complex pattern involved in COVID-19 transmission dynamics reveals model variation and provides a boundary signature for the potential of the disease's future spread across the country. To better understand the main underlying factor responsible for the epidemiology of COVID-19 infection in Ghana, the continuous inflow of foreigners, both with and without the disease, was incorporated into the classical Susceptible-Exposed-Quarantined-Recovered SEIQR model, which revealed the spread of the COVID-19 by these foreigners. Also, the diffusion model provided therein gives a threshold condition for the spatial spread of the COVID-19 infection in Ghana. Following the introduction of a new method for the construction of the Lyapunov function for global stability of the nonlinear system of ODEs was observed, overcoming the problem of guessing for the Lyapunov function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the capacity gaps in decentralized rural water management in Ghana across five dimensions: institutional, financial, human resource, technical and social. Using household and informant interviews and focus group discussions, qualitative data from the selected rural communities and water management agencies show that while institutional capacity forms the backbone of effective rural water supply and management, financial capacity is required to implement and sustain the other forms of local capacity. To achieve sustainable rural water services, the study recommends a shift in management approaches that ensures a progressive transfer of water management responsibilities to beneficiary rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a procedure for implementing field-based high-throughput plant phenotyping (HTPP) that can be used in resource-constrained research programs. The procedure relies on opensource tools with the only expensive item being one-off purchase of a drone. It includes acquiring images of the field of interest, stitching the images to get the entire field in one image, calculating and extracting the vegetation indices of the individual plots, and analyzing the extracted indices according to the experimental design. Two populations of groundnut genotypes with different maturities were evaluated for their reaction to early and late leaf spot (ELS, LLS) diseases under field conditions in 2020 and 2021. Each population was made up of 12 genotypes in 2020 and 18 genotypes in 2021. Evaluation of the genotypes was done in four locations in each year. We observed a strong correlation between the vegetation indices and the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) for ELS and LLS. However, the strength and direction of the correlation depended upon the time of disease onset, level of tolerance among the genotypes and the physiological traits the vegetation indices were associated with. In 2020, when the disease was observed to have set in late in medium duration population, at the beginning of the seed stage (R5), normalized green-red difference index (NGRDI) and variable atmospheric resistance index (VARI) derived at the beginning pod stage (R3) had a positive relationship with the AUDPC for ELS, and LLS. On the other hand, NGRDI and VARI derived from images taken at R5, and physiological maturity (R7) had negative relationships with AUDPC for ELS, and LLS. In 2021, when the disease was observed to have set in early (at R3) also in medium duration population, a negative relationship was observed between NGRDI and VARI and AUDPC for ELS and LLS, respectively. We found consistently negative relationships of NGRDI and VARI with AUDPC for ELS and LLS, respectively, within the short duration population in both years. Canopy cover (CaC), green area (GA), and greener area (GGA) only showed negative relationships with AUDPC for ELS and LLS when the disease caused yellowing and defoliation. The rankings of some genotypes changed for NGRDI, VARI, CaC, GA, GGA, and crop senescence index (CSI) when lesions caused by the infections of ELS and LLS became severe, although that did not affect groupings of genotypes when analyzed with principal component analysis. Notwithstanding, genotypes that consistently performed well across various reproductive stages with respect to the vegetation indices constituted the top performers when ELS, LLS, haulm, and pod yields were jointly considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrants face several unmet health needs due to the inability of the healthcare system to address their healthcare challenges. As a result, they adopt coping strategies to overcome their healthcare needs. Consequences can include infrequent but severe adverse reactions, dangerous drug interactions, incorrect dosage etc. Little is known in Ghana about the role played by cultural and linguistic barriers in shaping migrants' access to formal healthcare and the coping mechanisms adopted by these migrants to overcome their healthcare challenges. Surprisingly, most of the studies that have been conducted have focused on financial barriers to care accessibility. This presents a loss opportunity for any health programme aimed at addressing this inequity. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by exploring the challenges of healthcare accessibility and coping strategies adopted by migrants to overcome their healthcare needs in the informal urban settlement of Madina, in the Greater Accra Region. The author employed a narrative type of qualitative research design. A purposive and then snowball sampling technique were used to select 20 participants to participate in the study after saturation was reached. Twelve in‐depth interviews (IDIs) and six key informants' interviews (KIIs), as well as two focus group discussions (FGDs), were conducted. The study is consistent with the ecological model, which posits that health is determined by influences at multiple levels. The author found linguistic, cultural, stigmatisation and financial challenges as the main barriers to healthcare accessibility among the migrants. As a result, self‐medication and the use of lay health personnel for addressing healthcare needs were more pronounced. The study also found other means of survival that posed a health risk to the migrants. Based on this, it was recommended that healthcare systems take into account the healthcare needs of migrants who are people with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although healthy life expectancy is projected to be increasing among older people in Ghana, a high proportion and number of older people will live with functional disability, warranting their need for long‐term care. We explored the expressions used by older people to describe their needs and preference of care and support. Using the descriptive qualitative approach, 14 older people were engaged via semi‐structured interviews, and the data were analysed thematically. The study found that older people desired a decent accommodation, preferential healthcare, adequate nutrition, and an opportunity to interact with their peers at social functions. A provision of sufficient financial assistance, adequate healthcare, the periodic organisation of social and group events for older people, and the availability of home care and support could help older people address these needs. The paper reveals the need for interventional research on how a model incorporating social, health and environmental factors even during a pandemic can address older people's varying needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the perception and adoption of artificial pollination among cocoa farmers in Ghana. It used cross-sectional data collected from 206 cocoa farmers selected through multi-stage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics, Likert Scale and the Tobit regression model were the methods of analysis. With an adoption rate of 49%, the study revealed that cocoa farmers have a positive perception towards adoption of artificial pollination technology. The results also showed that age of farmer, extension visits, yield and household size have significant positive effects on the probability of adoption of artificial pollination among cocoa farmers, whereas farm size has a significant negative effect on adoption. Leveraging on the positive perception generated, we encourage extension agents to sensitize farmers on the importance of artificial pollination through continuous awareness creation and promotion of the benefits of adopting the technology. Furthermore, given cocoa farmers' positive perception on artificial pollination, Ghana's cocoa production and marketing regulatory body (COCOBOD) should take steps in implementing the technology. Implementers of this technology should also target younger farmers since age has a negative influence on adoption of artificial pollination. Finally, this paper contributes to the literature by focusing on the perception and the factors that influence adoption of artificial pollination in cocoa production which currently has not been researched and documented in the cocoa production literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fieldwork can be an enjoyable academic adventure producing lifelong experiences of excitement and a sense of academic accomplishment. However, it can be an equally frustrating undertaking, especially when carried out in 'unfamiliar' environments. This paper adds to the growing number of studies about fieldworkers' experiences by reflecting on the complexities involved in the process and proffering ways to respond to them. We share our perspectives as three adult African males conducting research in a predominantly female space in two informal markets in Accra, Ghana. To do this, we engage with five issues related to fieldwork: preparing to enter the field; negotiating access; handling interviews; dealing with ethical dilemmas; and exiting the field. We found that being male is not a barrier to conducting research in a predominantly female space. The success of our fieldwork was a product of our ability to adapt, be creative, appreciate our inadequacies, learn quickly and also take some practical and common-sense steps. Our hope is that the insights shared in this paper will serve as a compass for prospective fieldworkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catastrophic healthcare expenditure (CHE) can plunge households into poverty. Faced with CHE, the question that becomes relevant is how long it will take the household to exit CHE. This paper examines the effect of the Ghana National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) on exit time from CHE. The paper uses the Cox proportional hazard model for the analysis, with data sourced from round six of the Ghana Living Standard Survey and World Development Indicators. The results show that households that spend 40% (20%) of their non‐food incomes on healthcare, on average, exit CHE after 10 months and 4 days (13 months and 24 days) being in CHE and those with NHIS coverage exit CHE 19 days (30 days) earlier than those without NHIS coverage. Policy implications arising from this paper include the need to expand NHIS enrolment to mitigate impoverishment due to out‐of‐pocket healthcare payments. Households with higher risks of severe CHE and longer exit time from CHE should be identified and provided with comprehensive NHIS coverage than those with lower risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the generous legislative environments that protects children from sexual abuse, the magnitude of child sexual abuse has not changed much in most societies across the globe, especially in Africa. This has been attributed to the limited studies on the subject due to its sensitive and complex nature. Where studies are done, researchers have had to negotiate carefully through the matrix of gaining access and consent, through to ensuring that victims are not further victimized in the process of research. This paper discusses some practical and ethical challenges inherent in researching the phenomenon of child sexual abuse in Ghana. The paper outlines and discusses the undergirding principles and strategies for conducting child-sensitive research to serve as a framework for researches who want to conduct studies on child sexual abuse and other sensitive topics in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper examines the effect of gender wage differences within households on women's empowerment in Ghana. • IV LASSO technique is employed for this exercise. • Reduction in household gender wage gap significantly enhances women's empowerment. • A decline in household gender wage gap improves household welfare. • The improvement in household welfare is higher for women headed households. Using household data from the latest wave of the Ghana Living Standards Survey, this paper utilizes machine learning techniques – IV LASSO – that allows for the treatment of unconfoundedness in the selection of observables and unobservables to examine the structural effect of gender wage differences within households on women's empowerment and welfare in Ghana. The structural parameters of the IV LASSO estimations show that a reduction in household gender wage gap significantly enhances women's empowerment. Also, a decline in household gender wage gap results meaningfully in improving household and women's welfare. Particularly, the increasing effect on women's welfare resulting from decreases in household gender wage differences is much higher than for the household welfare. The findings showcase the need to vigorously adopt policies that both increase the quantity and quality of jobs for women and address gender barriers that inhibit women from accessing these jobs opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic libraries are home to substantial quantity of books, furniture, and electronic equipment. At a point in time of their lifecycle, these library resources outlive their usefulness and need to be disposed of. In this age of increased sustainability awareness, it has become necessary for individuals and organisations to take into consideration the environmental, economic, and social implications of their product disposal practices. Interestingly, the issue of management of obsolete library resources has received little research attention, though libraries are confronted with these issues. The purpose of this paper therefore is to investigate the management of end-of-life resources in Ghanaian academic libraries. Semi-structured interview was the method for data collection. The findings highlight variety of methods employed by the libraries to dispose of their obsolete materials, the drivers of these methods of disposal, and related environmental implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing a corpus-assisted discourse studies approach, this paper investigates apologies in a parliamentary context, using as data Hansards of the Parliament of Ghana (2005–2018). It identifies various apologetic expressions in the data, examines the display of (in)sincerity and apology acceptance as well as socio-pragmatic factors influencing the acceptance of the apologies. The apology terms identified include apology , (be) sorry , regret , forgive , pardon , excuse , did not mean to , (it is/was not my/I have no) intention to and the newly identified term withdraw. The paper shows that parliamentarians display sincerity by combining the following elements of sincerity in different ways: acknowledgement of the offence, show of remorse or regret, acceptance of responsibility for the offence, offer of repair, and expression of forbearance, without any ifs, buts or any manner of undoings, obfuscations, among others. It is found that sincerity can be compromised by giving a caution/warning/justification, giving a condition, throwing a challenge, showing superficiality and giving an explanation. The study also reveals that several contextual variables account for the acceptance, or otherwise, of an apology. It concludes that in the parliamentary context, sincerity is not a necessary condition for the acceptance of apologies. • Apologetic expressions in Ghanaian parliamentary apologies. • "Withdraw" as a parliamentary apology term. • Display of sincerity and insincerity. • Sincerity not necessary for accepting Ghanaian parliamentary apologies. • Acceptability of apologies may depend on several socio-pragmatic variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the multi‐tasked role of women in caregiving and career during the COVID‐19 partial lockdown in Ghana. One hundred fifty three mothers with careers within the Accra Metropolis participated in the study through purposive and snow balling sampling methods of non‐probability sampling technique. To observe the COVID‐19 protocols of social distancing, the research instrument was designed using Google forms and distributed to respondents via social media platforms (emails and WhatsApp). The results revealed that caregiving mothers generally reported to work late from home than if there were in the office and were less effective and productive working from home but were assured of job security because they mostly worked in the public sector. Hours used for domestic activities rose steadily during the lockdown period and social support from non‐relatives in caregiving increased. The paper’s finding suggests that mothers working from home are faced with difficult and conflicting roles which puts more pressure on women during the pandemic period. Women who are unable to access social support continue to be stressed and burdened in an attempt to combine family, care giving, and career roles which ultimately affect their overall wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the contentions surrounding the legal reasoning in the judicial review of Ghana's 2012 presidential election petition and its electoral and legal implications. Due to the political nature of the electoral petition, the judiciary is dragged into the 'live wire' of electoral politics, which brings their credibility and legitimacy into question. This study argues that the adversarial nature of judicial review makes it more likely for defeated political actors to impugn political bias in the administration of electoral justice, instead of adhering to the higher constitutional principles of popular sovereignty and natural justice. Based on content analyses of the different principles and interpretive methods underpinning the adjudication of the election petition, it distils some implications for the direction of judicial reforms and the emerging electoral jurisprudence. The paper demonstrates that the excessive executive powers in the appointment of procedures of judges' revealed major cracks in the practice of judicial review. In sum, this study makes an important theoretical and empirical contribution to the current debates on the role of constitutional courts in the consolidation of democratic governance in African states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes a call for an urban political ecology (UPE) which engages more extensively with Earth's geological formations. As a material at the centre of global urbanisation process, sand is offered as a geological entry point. The paper presents an analysis of the urbanisation of sand, or the ways in which sand is brought into the urban realm, grounding this reading in Accra—a growing city on Ghana's Atlantic coast. Drawing from 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork, the paper charts the socio‐natural politics through which sand is first unearthed from the edges of the city—an extractive processes otherwise known as "sand winning" in Ghana. By examining the forms of power which govern uneven revenue flows to communities, the displacement of farming groups, the widespread loss of farmland and a contested regime of governance, the analysis exposes the socio‐natural politics through which the city's geological baseline is first unearthed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the wardrobe of the first prime minister and president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, to show how he created a set of "suits" or "looks" to mirror his overlapping traditional, modern, pan-African, Ghanaian, and Socialist political identities. It expands research on dandy culture to indicate how an African sensibility, mixed with inspiration from Asia, provided a wider repertoire of looks for postcolonial dressers beyond strictly Western or traditional African options. The paper begins with an overview of early discourse in the Gold Coast Colony (now Ghana) on the pros and cons of wearing cloth wrappers to show Ghanaian elites' longstanding ambivalence toward wearing unsewn garments. While Kwame Nkrumah became famous for intricate kente cloths draped like togas, he also invested in custom-made British suits. In addition, Kwame Nkrumah wore fluttering batakari tops of hand-woven cloth to rouse the country at independence. By the early 1960s, he transitioned to wearing dark long-sleeved suit jackets in a style that came to be known in Ghana as "Zhou Enlai." This research on Nkrumah's fashion legacy shows how a business "suit" can be more than just a Western-style garment. It also complicates discourses surrounding cultural appropriation and intellectual property rights in textiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although low tax morale hits developing countries hardest, little is known about its determinants in those countries. This paper examines the impact of trust in public institutions and the neighbourhood on individual tax morale in four African countries. First, the paper provides theoretical foundations of such a relationship. Further, the paper uses the World Value Survey to estimate the effects of trust in public institutions and the neighbourhood on individual tax morale. The identification strategy employs the instrumental variables method and relies on historical data on the slave trade and the literature on the cultural heritage of trust. The paper finds that trust in public institutions and the neighbourhood are associated with tax morale in Algeria, Ghana, Morocco, and Nigeria. The findings are robust to an alternative identification strategy, additional controls, and a falsification test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education operates in a quickly changing, progressively more globalized, cosmopolitan, and interconnected world (Bauman, 2000 , Globalization: The Human Consequences. New York/Chichester: Columbia University Press; Appiah, 2006 , Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. New York: W.W. Norton & Co; Zuckerman, 2013 , Rewire: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection. New York: W. W. Norton & Company). At the same time, substantive inequalities between people and places mean that this connectivity and knowledge is unevenly spread (Hallberg Adu, 2014 , What is the opposite of a knowledge society? A critical reflection from Ghana. In Amoah, L. (ed.), Impacts of the Knowledge Society on Economic and Social Growth in Africa. IGI Global). For our students, the future leaders of this unequal world, critical reasoning becomes a key skill, and perhaps especially so for students in the Global South. This paper argues that digital humanities (DH) can provide both a theoretical framework for decolonizing the academy and technological solutions to hurdles in this process. The paper argues that assignments, their theoretical underpinnings, and implementation are key to decolonizing higher education. It describes three accessible technology-driven assignments with DH pedagogy created for diverse classrooms at Ashesi University in Ghana and discusses their outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proverbs have cognitive and socio-cultural value. As tools for socialisation, proverbs are channels of shared moral and cultural values in communities of practice. The paper investigates the functions of, and the cultural values embodied in selected proverbial sayings in Tafi, a Ghana-Togo Mountain language, and their counterparts in Ewe, a Gbe language. The analysis is based on a small corpus of proverbs gathered during immersion fieldwork among the Tafi, and relies on ethnographic and linguistic methods. The Ewe versions are extracted from proverb collections and from the equivalents provided by Tafi bilinguals. From a semantic and a pragmatic perspective, proverbs have both textual and indexical, context-dependent, meanings. I explore the textual semantics of some of the Tafi and Ewe proverbial sayings drawing on the semantic template for proverbs used in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). It is suggested that the semantic structure of proverbs comprises framing components of traditionality and of their status as folk wisdom, as well as components describing the message, namely, the recurrent situation that calls forth the proverb, the advice and the analogy in the proverb. The paper reveals that patterns of proverb performance are similar across the languages suggesting shared practices due to language and cultural contact in proverbial language use. • The paper investigates cultural values embodied in proverbs in two Ghanaian languages in asymmetrical contact. • It contributes to an understanding of the structure of the textual semantics of proverbs. • It demonstrates that proverbs are tools for cognitive representation of perceptual features and for socialisation. • It shows the spread of proverbs and proverb messages as another form of routine expressions in a speech area. • It describes the co-construction of proverbs in use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important quality of representative democracy is the strength of the linkage between citizens and the state. To provide a strong incentive for this relationship, Ghanaian legislators are elected on First-Past-The-Post system which in principle should foster close links between legislators and their constituents. In contrast to this expectation, there is an observed disconnect between the country's legislators and their constituents. This paper investigates why Ghana's electoral system is producing a starkly different outcome and which explanations could account for the gap between the country's representatives and the represented. Previous studies have not assessed patron–client networks mediating legislators' pathway to power in Ghana and how it complicates the expected effects of electoral institutions. The paper argues that the relationship between legislators and their constituents in Ghana is mediated by the strong presence of clientelistic networks in intra-party primaries that tamper with the constraining effects of formal electoral rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though one of the aims of critical discourse analysis (CDA) is to demonstrate how social inequality, power abuse and discriminatory practices can be resisted, most studies have centered on the deconstruction of oppression and ideologically driven discrimination rather than the reconstruction of resistance. To fill this lacuna, the present paper examines the blogposts of Ghanaian feminists using feminist critical discourse analysis as an analytic framework. It analyzes resistance strategies utilized in the blogposts to criticize systematic gendering of privilege and inequality, and to foreground the voice and agency of Ghanaian/African women. Three resistance strategies were identified: (1) critiquing patriarchy, traditional gender norms and gender oppression, (2) resisting gender stereotypes and rewriting demeaning gender narratives, (3) calling out sexist attitudes and applauding women who resist such behavior. I argue that these strategies contribute to a feminist political critique of gendered social practices and relations aimed at effecting social emancipation and transformation. The paper ends by highlighting how the emancipatory discourse promoted by the blogs can be enhanced as part of a continuous striving for social justice for Ghanaian/African women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify locally relevant factors that predict low haemoglobin (Hb < 11.0g/dl) level of pre-school children (6–23 months) in an impoverished area of Ghana. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a cross-sectional analysis of 278 mother–child pairs selected from households using random sampling techniques. Child feeding knowledge, antenatal care (ANC) practices and socio-demographic characteristics were assessed. Hb levels were laboratory determined. This paper modelled the predictors of low Hb in multiple linear regressions. Findings: More than half (53.0%) of the children were female and aged more than one year (60.4%). Mean Hb was 8.5 ± 1.5 g/dl, and the prevalence of anaemia was 95.0%. High child feeding knowledge was independently associated with increased Hb of children after adjusting for the effects of other factors (β = 0.61, p < 0.005), and mothers who made at least four ANC visits during pregnancy had children with high Hb (β = 0.42, p = 0.04). This paper found some evidence of an inverse association between high household wealth and child Hb levels (β= −0.75, p = 0.06). Originality/value: This study reports a high prevalence of low haemoglobin levels and anaemia in pre-school children in an impoverished area in Ghana. Maternal education on appropriate child feeding and encouragement of antenatal care attendance during pregnancy are key factors to increasing child haemoglobin levels in this setting. Though the current study bridges the knowledge gap between health service education and practice, a large population-based study is required to confirm the finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the discrepancy between model findings and field data obtained and how it is minimized using the binning smoothing techniques: means, medians, and boundaries. Employing both the quantitative and the qualitative methods to examine the complex pattern involved in COVID-19 transmission dynamics reveals model variation and provides a boundary signature for the potential of the disease's future spread across the country. To better understand the main underlying factor responsible for the epidemiology of COVID-19 infection in Ghana, the continuous inflow of foreigners, both with and without the disease, was incorporated into the classical Susceptible-Exposed-Quarantined-Recovered SEIQR model, which revealed the spread of the COVID-19 by these foreigners. Also, the diffusion model provided therein gives a threshold condition for the spatial spread of the COVID-19 infection in Ghana. Following the introduction of a new method for the construction of the Lyapunov function for global stability of the nonlinear system of ODEs was observed, overcoming the problem of guessing for the Lyapunov function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gendered discourses in Ghana's politics are not new. Unlike previous years, however, the gendered discourse in the 2020 election was different because the leading opposition party (NDC) selected a female running mate. Considering that the seat has been rotating between the NDC and NPP since 1992, Ghanaians foresaw a "real" possibility of having a female vice president. With data from online news articles and social media, this paper examines the nature of the gendered discourse that characterised Ghana's 2020 election. We focus on stylistic devices and other linguistic strategies used with a view to understanding how gender either took a centre stage or "seeped" through the political discourse. Underpinned by Ambivalent Sexism Theory and Post-structuralist Discourse Analysis, findings indicate that although the running mate was sometimes represented in ways that challenge traditional gender stereotypes, she was largely represented in stereotypical ways, thereby corroborating findings from other parts of the world. These were done through devices like allusion, sarcasm, simile, metaphor and rhetorical questions. Findings also show that although it was the NDC that actively played the "gender card" to galvanise support, the NPP also played it to dissuade voters from voting for the NDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the unprecedented feminization of agriculture globally, literature has emerged over the past decade suggesting that gender equality in agriculture could be advanced if gaps in access to farm resources between women and men are reduced. This paper examines gendered farm resource entitlements in northern Ghana. Based mainly on six months of immersive qualitative research, this case study draws from and contributes to feminist political ecology scholarship (FPE) on smallholder farming and agricultural development. The analysis describes some of the intensifying gender and intersecting inequalities (e.g., gender and ethnicity) of land access related to development interventions aimed at commercializing farming. Gender disparities in access to agricultural extension, chemical fertilizers, agrochemicals, high yielding seed varieties, tractor services, credit packages and marketing contracts supported by the state, donors and NGOs are also found. FPE is useful for revealing how these gendered resource disparities are related to agricultural commercialization and increasingly erratic rainfall and aridity, making smallholders more vulnerable to land dispossession. Women's dependence on men to farm while operating under these changing economic and environmental conditions, coupled with their weaker entitlement rights to resources, threatens to push many, particularly ethnic minority women, out of farming altogether. The ways that intersecting identities shape access to land also complicates understandings of the role of community outsiders who are both the dispossessors of land and those who are intensely vulnerable to dispossession. While rural development studies generally consider women's farm resources compared to men's, this does little to explain the intensifying intersectional vulnerabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Midwives and nurses play a critical role in safeguarding the lives of women in resource‐constrained African countries. Working within the context of scarce resources may undermine their moral agency and hinder their ability to care. The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of resource scarcity on midwifery and nursing care and practice. A critical ethnography was conducted in the obstetric department of three tertiary‐level facilities in Ghana. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 30 midwives and nurses and semistructured interviews, field notes and documentary materials were used to generate in‐depth understanding. Ethical approval was granted from Canada and Ghana and written, and ongoing informed consent was obtained from the participants. Five conceptual themes depicting the impact of scarce resources on midwifery and nursing care were discovered: compromised care, constrained care, dehumanized care, missed care and disengaged care. Improving the maternal health of women and averting avoidable maternal morbidity and mortality require governments and institutions to invest in health infrastructure that will support the delivery of ethical and safe midwifery care for women in their most vulnerable period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of how much of the potential tax revenue is actually obtained remains very critical in Ghana's efforts to improve domestic revenue mobilization. This paper computes and examines tax gap and compliance burden among micro and small businesses which constitute more than 90% of Ghana's informal economy. Using data on 485 businesses in Ghana, the study finds that while some businesses underpay their taxes, surprisingly others actually pay more than expected. The average tax gap is computed to be about GHC 109.2 (US$19.2). Small businesses are associated with a higher tax gap of 24.9% compared to their micro counterparts. Moreover, we find that as compliance burden increases, the tax gap also increases, albeit significant variation in the effect of compliance burden on tax gap across regions and different tax handles. JEL Classification: H25, H26, H27, H32 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early days of the United Nations, the main form of aid in the field of housing took the shape of technical assistance. Although the pool of specialists was almost coincident with those from colonial networks, the ambitions and limitations of international, non-governmental and neutral cooperation implied a reconceptualisation of the world division inherited from the colonial period and its replacement by a new paradigm of 'development'. This manifested itself right from the start in the redefinition of the modus operandi of the expert and in the production of a particular form of knowledge that challenged the previous expertise, influencing narratives on the built environment around the world. This paper examines the 1954 United Nations Housing Mission to the Gold Coast and its outcomes, along with the formative example of the previous 1950 mission to prepare the UN Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance. The case study provides an insight into the relationship between the idealization of international cooperation and that of the expert in the field of housing. At the same time, the emphasis on research and education, and the subsequent foundation of a new school, offers a starting point for a critical analysis of its counterpart, the 'inpert'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on awareness of institutional repository (IR), and visibility of research output through IR to enhance the visibility of university research output in higher education institutions in Ghana. One hundred and fifteen librarians were selected using a quantitative methodology. Data were collected using a questionnaire, and the results were generated using descriptive statistics. The study found out that universities in Ghana mostly relied on the "mediatedarchiving" model during uploads of research output than self-archiving approach. Strategies to promote IR for its intended benefits include mandating academics and students to deposit intellectual content, linking publication metrics to academic promotions and aggressively enhancing awareness of the IR. Our paper concludes that information specialists need to be creative in sensitising researchers and the academic community regarding the visibility of their research output by using IR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do young Muslim students who live in a relatively peaceful and pluralistic society like Ghana embrace extremist ideologies? This paper examines the radicalisation of young Muslims in Ghanaian universities. It analyses the different structural and managerial models adopted by three of the oldest public universities to govern students' religious activities on campus. We draw on data from several sources to argue that the weaknesses of the management of religious spaces in university campuses and the marginalisation of Muslim students' association in university chaplaincies contributes to the radicalisation of young Muslims in Ghana. The unregulated sacred spaces encourage students to search for religious resources on the internet; a significant source that helps to radicalise young Muslims in institutions of higher learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discussion on (mis)representations of black women's bodies often focuses on their hyper-corporeality and hyper-sexualisation, with little attention paid to the women thus represented and their views. Reality shows are roundly criticised for objectifying women, being unAfrican and offering little to Africans. This paper contests this perspective by drawing on interviews with 19 contestants in a dance reality show in Ghana. We demonstrate that African participants in this show have a much more affirming view of the show. For them, the show offers benefits including celebrity status, training and employment opportunities. These benefits were not lost on family and friends who supported the candidates in various ways. Given the economic conditions in Ghana, this reality show offers obese women an opportunity to turn their condition into an asset and to do so largely with the backing of friends and family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilience is an important concept in planning/policy. The diversity of theoretical conceptualisations, lack of a clear definition, and ambiguity in application to cities have made urban resilience a difficult concept to pin-down. This paper explores the dimensions of urban resilience to conceptualise and operationalise resilience, connecting theory and practice using two Australian cases. The findings call for a reconsideration of the existing dimensions (infrastructural, ecological, social and community, economic, and institutional) and highlight urban political resilience, a new dimension essential for a transformative adaptation approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ghana's petroleum industry is located several nautical miles offshore in the Western Region of the country. Yet, the mechanisms and processes of production and transportation of crude petroleum are accompanied by the dispossessing of the adjoining coastal communities of their means of (re)production both on the ocean and on land. Although the insights of agrarian political economy have been deployed fruitfully to analyse land grabs in Africa, similar efforts are rare when it comes to ocean grabs. With reference to the new development thinking on the ocean economy—or 'blue economy'—as the new frontier of resource‐based industrialization in Africa, we re‐frame the agrarian question and apply it to the offshore petroleum industry, expanding agrarian political‐economic theory of industrialization beyond its traditional confines of land and agriculture. Our paper makes two main theoretical contributions. First, it contributes to efforts in agrarian political economy to incorporate the ocean and fisheries. Second, we contribute a fresh theoretical framework for analysing offshore petroleum industries and their potential to contribute to industrialization in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the phonology of an Akan-speaking child aged 5;3 with Protracted Phonological Development. His phonological system had many strengths, with most consonants accurate at least some of the time and with many long words, but with weaknesses that lead to a very low Whole Word Match. In addition to some difficulty with consonant and vowel sequences (leading to assimilation), there are issues relative to complex consonants that contain vowel features (consonants with secondary articulations, the labiopalatal glide, and /r/) and with syllabic consonants (nasals and /r/) that lead to deletion, epenthesis, and some extensive changes in output. One complex place of articulation (alveolopalatal) is well-established and frequently overgeneralized in the output. We present a non-linear analysis of his speech production and a plan for intervention targeting his difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]