Speaking in an interview as part of a series focusing on Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) Under 40 on the African continent, Mr. Avle emphasized the importance of ensuring that a person’s personal beliefs and actions were comparable to their public persona.

“As a leader, you need to make sure there’s synchronicity between what you do privately and what you say privately. If you come on air and have a posture of integrity and being uncompromisingly honest, it must show in everything you do,” he said in an interview.

“The most important ingredient of leadership is integrity. Once it’s lost, you’ve lost the basis of leadership because I’ve played out my leadership in the public sphere, it’s been a big challenge to do so that’s what I keep striving for and I keep hoping I improve on.”

According to him, having positive values and principles in a team was more crucial to achieving success than just ability.

“If you have a team of 17 broadcasters who believe they weren’t going to be corrupt and under no circumstances were they going to take a bribe, that’s stronger than having 700 talented people with no principles.  If you look at things that have stood the test of time, they are things that have, at their heart, principles. If you put first things first and you have certain values that you go through before you take action, those principles will take you further than brute force.”

The host of the award-winning Citi Breakfast Show who graduated with First Class Honours from the University of Ghana and has an MBA from the Warwick Business School in the UK, said he cherished his time in the University where, aside from his academic exploits, he was able to build up his leadership credentials.

“It wasn’t just about the books. I was doing radio on campus for four years, I was doing radio politics and I was heading a church on campus, but I needed to get a first class to prove a point. I knew that the modern leader wasn’t one-dimensional. I knew that University is the best training ground for leadership so I stretched myself to do a lot,” Bernard Avle said.

“I had to go [to Warwick] because as you rise in an organisation in your field, the leadership call gets heavier and I thought an MBA was important because I needed to understand how people behaved. Even though it was a general MBA, I think the most important lesson I learnt from the Warwick experience was working with people. People management and getting along with people who are very competitive was the most important lesson; understanding how other people work. In retrospect, my Warwick MBA gave me a certain sense of people that if you need to rise to levels of leadership, you must understand how to get along with people and get people to do things with you.”

‘Good questions lead to positive change’

Bernard Avle, who’s also the Director of News and Programming at Citi FM, has received widespread commendation for his interview style on the Citi Breakfast Show, and he admitted that he puts a lot of effort into his questions as he believes better queries by media could drive positive change particularly in developing countries.

“Being on radio or being in the media is a leadership position; that means you are influential. I think the most important thing in the world is a question. Questions drive conversations. As a human being, you need to have conversations with yourself, with people around you and with your God. The key components of those conversations are questions. The better the quality of your questions, the better the outcomes of your life. For example in Africa, why are we where we are? Why are we exporting gold and cocoa raw? If you ask the questions with the intentions of getting change, you’ll change things,” he said

“To be influential in the media, you need to ask questions. I frame my journalism style around questions. The better journalists learn to engage questions, the better results they’ll get and the better change we’ll see. ‘Reason may answer questions, but it takes imagination to ask them’ – I respect the questioner more than the one answering it…People underestimate the power of the media and waste the space. If I get the opportunity, I talk about how young people can use the power of media to get results. Radio, television, newspaper and social media get results.”

‘Listening is key’

Bernard Avle also spoke about the need for journalists to balance the questions they ask with the information they consume, through listening,  which he believes improves the quality of their interrogations.

“You can’t be a great questioner if you don’t listen. It takes active quality listening to generate information to ask questions. You can’t do media without remembering names. The nicest thing in a person’s ear is their name. you need to be open and friendly. In media, you have a platform, and to do media well you need to connect with people. I’ve been lucky with my 11 years in media; it’s helped me to connect.”

Watch the full interview with Bernard Avle below

–

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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About 1,000 persons have died from the deadly disease so far.

Efforts have however been intensified to contain the disease in the four affected African countries; Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service(GHS) are working assiduously  to prevent a possible outbreak of the disease in Ghana while the Education Ministry has also asked all tertiary institutions to postpone their re-opening date.

Some have however alleged that Ghanaian health officials are concealing the recorded cases of Ebola in the country.

But President Mahama dismissed the claims, describing them as “unacceptable”.

Speaking in Komenda in the Central region, President Mahama asked “well meaning” Ghanaians to speak-up against what he terms the irresponsible use of social media to spread such false information.

“Let me take this opportunity to condemn the irresponsible use of social media, it is becoming a factor that is absolutely unacceptable.

These panic messages that seek to sow fear in our people is totally unacceptable and I call on our traditional leaders and our religious leaders to preach against it,” the President said.

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to Dr. Chambas, the request by 200 Ghanaians for asylum in Brazil though “unfounded, frivolous and regrettable,” was an indication of the “precarious state of the national economy at the moment.”

He called on the President Mahama to learn from the “tested blueprint of success” of his predecessor, the late President John Evans Atta Mills.

Dr. Chambas, speaking at a memorial lecture to commemorate the 2^nd anniversary of the passing of President John Mills, also advised the Regional body the Ecomonic community of West African States (ECOWAS), of which President Mahama is Chairman, to address concerns raised by civil society groups on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

He said, “we need to address those supply-side constraints, poor infrastructure, lack of energy, high cost of transportation, of shipment, the usually cumbersome procedures on the EU side that needs to be simplified … these are serious issues that need to be addressed so that we can truly take advantage of the huge European market that is offered under the EPA.”

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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“Government will adopt innovative means of mobilizing sustainable public and private financing to support the implementation of the policy from both national and international sources,” he said.

The president said this at the launch of the National Climate Change Policy and National Environment Policy held in Accra.

According to him, this will be one of the measures to fight climate change and environmental degradation.

These two policies will provide strategic directions of climate change and other challenges of the environment in Ghana.

The National Climate Change Policy is Ghana’s integrated response to climate change, and this will provide a clearly defined pathway for dealing with challenges.

The policy provides the broad long term vision for combating climate change in the context of sustainable development as well as targeted sector strategies that government, will support.

President Mahama also indicated that all aspects of human existence were affected by the climate change and environmental degradation hence the need for government to continue to the fight against this phenomenon.

According to him this will ensure that poverty, deprivation and hunger were eliminated in years to come.

The President therefore called on all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, to “play their roles responsibly towards the positive reaction to climate change to change the losses into gains”.

On his part, Mr Akwasi Opong-Fosu, Minister for the Environment, Science, Technology and Innovations, said “the Climate Change Policy was the output of series of consultations with other global partners.”

Mr Claude Maerten, Head of the European Union Delegation in Ghana on behalf of all other development partners promised to support to Ghana to implement the climate change policy.

He called for strong leadership and quality implementations that would help in eliminating the environmental challenges of the country.

By: Magdalene Larnyoh/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The group said many were leaving because of the president’s recent reshuffle exercise and new appointments.

The group says the  removal of  Nayon Bilijo as the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development is causing tension in the Northern Region.

He was replaced with Madam Sherry Ayitey.

Speaking to Citi News, the President of the Concerned Youth of Kokomba, Solomon Tamanja described the recent reshuffle as disastrous.

Mr. Tamanja said the President’s decision has caused conflict among party members in the North.

He described the removal of the Minister as unfair.

Mr. Tamanja further stated that the President had failed to fulfill his promises.

“The President is gradually driving us from the NDC. Definitely people will have to leave. Whoever is at the helm of affairs cannot hold people to come by force. It is what you do for people that will show whether they will remain or leave.”

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to Mr. Cudjoe,” the fact that we have to change the fundamentals of making projections, going for loans, knowing the profitability and viability of the project is an attestation of the fact that we have never been ready to do serious business with the economy.”

The CDB agreed to provide Ghana with a loan of $3 billion for a package of infrastructural projects.

The loan was signed by CDB and Ghana on December 16, 2011.

The Minister of Finance, Mr. Seth Terkper in his  presentation on the 2014 mid year review budget last Wednesday, however, announced the decision to halve the $3 billion loan to $1.5 billion

The announcement has generated public outrage as some believe the decision could  halt some of the infrastructural projects government intended to embark on with the full loan.

Speaking on Citi FM’s News Analysis Programme, The Big Issue, Mr. Cudjoe condemned government’s decision to sign onto the loan in the first place, describing it as “chicken change.”

Mr. Cudjoe believes Ghana’s “retrogressive” and “discordant” forex rules partly compelled government to halve the loan.

“Unfortunately we are in a serious bind. It was clear that if we had discordant and retrogressive forex rules, government’s projections from day one was going to be affected”

“Government had forgotten that all the projections that were being made were timeous and were related to the time value of money and so if you were already having an economy that was not so productive, you don’t kill it further by having these forex rules,” Mr. Cudjoe opined.

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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According to the President, it is the responsibility of all representatives of the country to carry themselves in a manner that will not dent the image of the country.

“Take an interest in what is being done in the Mission to ensure that nothing is done to embarrass yourselves and to embarrass the country and the government,” he said.

President Mahama made these comments when he commissioned 12 persons including ace media practitioner, Alhaji Haruna Attah, to various countries to represent the country as ambassadors and high commissioners.

He admonished them to strive to enhance Ghana’s relations with the various countries they have been assigned to.

President Mahama recalled that there have been two unfortunate incidents with Ghana’s ambassadors to China and Japan and therefore cautioned them to “take an interest in everything that goes on in the Missions so that we will continue to have a positive image of our country.”

Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, Professor Samuel Mbrayeh Quartey, who is heading to Morocco, promised the commitment of the group to work diligently to attract trade to the country.

He pledged their unflinching loyalty to the government and the government, adding that “we will not be ambassadors  drinking of champagne but we are going to promote trade.”

The ambassadors and high commissioners are;

Mrs. Irene Dede Nyarko Maamah, Ambassador-designate to the Republic of Senegal

Mrs Mercy Yvonne Debrah-Karikari, High Commissioner-designate to Australia

Prof. Samuel Mbrayeh Quartey, Ambassador-designate to the Kingdom of Morocco.

Mr San Nasamu M. Asabigi, Ambassador-designate to the Republic of Burkina Faso.

Lt. Gen. Peter Augustine Blay, Ambassador-designate to the Republic of Cote D’Ivoire.

Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, Ambassador-designate to the Republic of Algeria.

Major Gen. Carl Setorwu Modey, High Commissioner-designate to the Republic of Sierra Leone.

Mr Samuel Panyin Yaliey, High Commissioner-designate the Republic of India.

Dr Kodzo Kpoku Alabo, Ambassador-designate to the Russian Federation.

Alhaji Abdul-Rahman Haruna Attah, High Commissioner-designate to the Republic of Namibia.

Mr Benjamin Clement Eghan, High Commissioner-designate to the Republic of Malaysia.

Mr Alex Asum-Ahensan, Ambassador-designate to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.

By: Efua Idan Osam/citfimonline.com/Ghana
Follow @osamidan

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Hon. Mahama Ayariga argued that once the President had set up a Committee of Enquiry into the same matter, Parliament was estopped. What law guided him in this submission, only he knows! Indeed the Executive has exhibited absolute bad faith in the matter. It is tragic how pre-conceived political prejudices can cloud every good judgment.  Indeed the Speaker himself showed he was appalled. On Monday 9 July, Hon. Ayariga told Parliament that an administrative enquiry had been set up by government and it would report in 30 days. At this time, the Motion for Parliament to investigate the matter was filed by Hon. Isaac Asiamah. Then stealthily, the President set up a Commission to investigate the same matter while Parliament was considering it. The Minister then came to argue that if the President had set up a Committee to investigate, then Parliament cannot proceed. If this jingoistic politics continues, Parliament can NEVER do its oversight work. You are supposed to OVERSEE another’s work. But anytime you take steps to enquire into his activities, he also sets up some Committee and then your own members rally round the other person and shout: “we are estopped!” This is a pity.

Article 103 of the Constitution gives the Parliament of Ghana full powers to “appoint Standing Committees and other Committees as may be necessary for the effective discharge of its functions”. A Committee appointed by Parliament “shall have the powers, rights and privileges of the High Court”. Let everyone who cares to know be told that this inquisitorial or investigative power of Parliament extends from Archaeology to Zoology and encompasses any matter of interest or concern to Ghanaians and includes any act or omission of even the President. When MPs meet, the whole Ghana has met.

The football saga in Brazil is a matter of grave concern to all Ghanaians. Parliament is the assembly of ALL Ghanaians. Yet the Majority in Parliament says it will not and cannot enquire into it. Indeed, Ghana is a sad place to live at a time like this.

Our hybrid Constitution must be changed. It weakens the Legislature vis-à-vis the Executive. In the first place, the oversight role of Parliament is undermined.  MPs who are also Ministers cannot ask colleague Ministers questions on the floor of the House as expected.  Notably, the Minister/MPs lead, control, direct and influence the other MPs on the majority side. Furthermore, ministers owe collective responsibility for all government decisions and cannot, therefore, criticise the government on the floor of the House.  An MP, once elected, owes his/her constituents deliberative and representational duties by standing in their stead in the House.   Prior commitment to the executive authority of the State undermines this basic duty.

Second, it has become the norm that majority side MPs look forward to the President for ministerial appointments.  The “successful” and “leading” MPs are perceived as those who catch the eye of the President and are made ministers and not those who perform excellently as Legislators and constantly catch the eye of the Speaker.  Indeed, once appointed, a Minister moves to the front benches and he/she moves back when he/she loses his/her ministerial position. Even in the sitting arrangement, Executive dominance is pervasive. No wonder there is very little ambition for Legislators to develop and achieve great heights as known in the US system.

In the US, through the Committee and other Senatorial Hearings, inquisitorial processes of the highest order are held with autonomy, authority and assertiveness. This constitutes the bedrock of the oversight role of the US Legislature. Parliament should be a House of Inquisition. But you can never have this under our hybrid arrangement.

Lindberg, a famous political scientist, wrote of Ghana after careful research:

“The MPs rarely use the investigative power of parliamentary committees to probe into the implementation of enacted bills or into matters of malfeasance. MPs seem not to consider the full options available to them and tend to use primarily the option of filing questions to ministers in exercising oversight responsibilities. Questions typically concern constituency matters such as when a particular road will be completed, or what the minister has done to ensure this or that village will get a new school building, rather than national policy. While important matters of local development are useful, these question and answer sessions fail to fulfill the mandate of the legislature to require transparency and accountability from the executive on implementation of major policy programs”. This is a serious indictment on Ghana.

Our vote of censure provision in the 1992 Constitution is another joke.  Article 82 provides that by a two-third majority of its members, Parliament can pass a vote of censure on a Minister of State.  But Article 82 Clause 5 provides: “where a vote of censure is passed against a Minister under this Article, the President may, unless the Minister resigns his office, revoke his appointment as Minister”.  If the President does not revoke, Parliament labours in vain.  In the light of this, Parliament is a toothless bull dog and the Executive reigns supreme. Are we serious?

We should employ constitutional engineering to ensure that our members of Parliament are free to vote as in the US.  We will refer to Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia in this connection: “Members of the U.S. Congress are generally elected from one of two parties, but its members are free to vote according to their own conscience or that of their constituents”. When shall we get there?

We should amend the Constitution to specifically provide against Members of the Legislature taking up any positions on Boards or other public position offered by the Executive. This practice creates a conflict of interest situation, undermines the oversight role of MPs over the Executive and provides the tempting carrots for which Parliament plays into the strangulating arms of the Executive.

Finally, it is recommended that Parliament’s tenure be changed to five years and a two-year gap provided between Parliament and the Executive. The latter’s tenure should remain four years.

We should change our ways before we totally destroy our nation. Ghana has strangulated accountability. “Create, loot and share” will continue to haunt us. The Executive plunders with impunity and the Legislature gleefully turns the blind eye.

By:  Prof. Mike Oquaye

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According to him President Mahama as Chairman of ECOWAS “has hit the ground running”.

The Sierra Leonean President says President Mahama has shown some difference because the just concluded meeting of ECOWAS heads of states “is one of the best organized and most productive” they have had as a sub-region.

“If we continue with this kind of leadership in ECOWAS I am sure we will go a long way in achieving the protocols that we have set out in addressing the specific issues that are now affecting the sub-region,’’ President Koroma indicated.

He further indicated that although the tenure of President Mahama has also been plagued with many challenges such as; Boko Haram in Nigeria and the scourge of Ebola in the sub-region, the ECOWAS Chairman has so far shown commitment to addressing the challenges.

President Mahama has convened meetings to help address the many challenges the sub-region faces since he was elected by colleague Heads of States to chair the Regional Body ECOWAS.

He has chaired a session to help address the Boko Haram problem in Nigeria and the security challenges in Mali.

President Bai Koroma in an interview with the press after the 45^th session of ECOWAS in Accra stated that President Mahama’s decisiveness is the kind of leadership the regional body needs for growth and development.

President John Dramani Mahama has been elected Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States for one year.

His election was during the 44th ordinary session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in Yamoussoukro, La Cote d’Ivoire. He took over from President Alassane Ouattara of La Cote d’Ivoire.

Click below to listen to Ernest Bai Koroma, Sierra Leonean President

By: Richard Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Explaining the agenda for the session, Director of Communications at the Flagtsaff House, Ben Dotse Malor said all member states have confirmed participation at various levels of the Ebola discussions.

“Sometimes some of these subjects are discussed informally among the leaders but I understand that the issue of Ebola is going to be firmly put on the agenda for discussion”, said Ben Dotse Malor.

Other issues to be discussed include security, a recommendation for the introduction of biometric ID cards for all ECOWAS citizens and the abolition of residence permit requirements for all citizens within member states.

He said with the lifting of sanctions on Guinea Bissau by the African Union, there was need for ECOWAS member states and the international community to re-engage with the country and provide the support that is needed to strengthen its institutions.

The political and security situation in the sub-region especially in Mali and Guinea Bissau, was the main topic at a meeting of ECOWAS Foreign and Defense ministers held on Wednesday in Accra.

“Another issue that will be of concern to people is the request to have the Ebola outbreak in the three member states of ECOWAS also put on the agenda of the Heads of State”, Mr Dotse Malor stated.

The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea where so far, 759 people have been infected with the virus and about 467 of them have killed, is haunting the sub region and the leaders hope to adopt a uniform plan to combat it.

Health ministers from 11 West African countries last week adopted a common strategy and promised better collaboration to fight the Ebola virus outbreak, the world’s deadliest to date.

Leaders will consider a report on ECOWAS’s main activities and projects over the first half of 2014 and further discuss the situation in Guinea-Bissau, where a new president was sworn in last month following parliamentary and presidential elections.

Also among the leaders of the 15 member states attending the meeting are Presidents of Mauritania, Cameroon and Chad as well as the President of the African Union Commission and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Source: GNA

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