VACATION SCHEDULE FOR POLYTECHNICS IN GHANA

                         VACATION SCHEDULE


Following an emergency Academic Board Meeting held on Thursday, 19th June 2014, the following decisions regarding the 2013/2014 academic calendar have been taken:

1. That 1st & 2nd Year Students PROCEED ON VACATION WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT and CONTINUE with their INDUSTRIAL ATTACHMENTS while all 3rd years CONTINUE with their RESEARCH & PROJECT WORKS

2. That the industrial liaison office quickly contacts respective companies and organizations in order to arrange for a possible re-scheduling of the date of commencement of industrial attachment for students

3. That the RE-OPENING DATE for the CONTINUATION of the 2nd SEMESTER of the 2013/2014 ACADEMIC YEAR and a REVISED VERSION OF THE ACADEMIC CALENDAR be published as soon as the CURRENT INDUSTRIAL STRIKE by POTAG is RESOLVED .

Registrar

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SOURCE;ACCRA POLYTECHNIC

10-Year-Old Boy-Genius is One of the Youngest High School Graduates Ever

Like many 10-year-olds, Tanishq Abraham harbors dreams of one day becoming president of the United States (and a scientist and a doctor and curing cancer).

Unlike his peers, however, Abraham just received a personalized letter from the White House congratulating him on a rather singular achievement: he is one of the youngest people in the world to graduate from high school.

Abraham, who was admitted to the high-IQ society Mensa at age four, celebrated the accomplishment bedecked in a cap and gown at a special ceremony last weekend thrown by his parents and attended by roughly 200 friends and family members.

“The way my brain works is that when you give me something, information about that topic comes into my mind," the Sacramento, CA resident told the AP. "I don't know what it is, but that's how it is for me."

Related: How a Teenage Entrepreneur Built a Startup on Bitcoin Riches

In a speech at the ceremony, Abraham said “it’s been a rough and bumpy ride, but I reached my destination early.” He thanked his parents for their unfailing support. “My mom recognized my intellectual talent when I was only a few months old,” he said. “I’m extremely humbled by those who have been inspired by me,”

Abraham concluded, whereupon his 8-year-old sister, Tiara -- who is also a Mensa member -- honored him by singing a medley of Somewhere Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World.

Abraham, who was home-schooled, graduated from high school with -- you guessed it -- a 4.0 average, and has been taking classes at a local Sacramento community college since March. He expects to graduate from a four-year university by 12 or 13, according to the TodayShare

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Source:entrepreneur.com

Will the Apple iWatch replace traditional watches?

Wearable revolution in the making

The day Steve Jobs died weighed heavily on Apple fans the world over. The iPod, iPad, iPhone, and iTunes were all revolutionary developments in the tech world that elevated Apple from its moribund ways in the early 90s into the stratosphere of the 21st century.

Since Jobs’s passing, Apple enthusiasts continue to lie in wait wondering what else Apple can introduce that’s going to fundamentally impact human behavior.

Disruptive technology is the bane of any long-standing traditional industry. When something new unexpectedly comes along that excites the user base, it shakes up the status-quo. It’s no surprise, then, that rumors of an “iWatch” have begun to seep out, raising the eyebrows of traditional watchmakers.  Just how disruptive would an iWatch be to the more traditional wristwatch industry, where more than a billion wristwatches are sold every year?

I wear a wristwatch, but my iPhone tells me the time when I want it to. I find myself spending a great deal more time with my iPhone than I ever do with my watch. What could an iWatch provide me with that my iPhone or iPad doesn’t already do? Reviewing the history of the digital watch, you come across these fun developments:  Seiko’s first LCD, Casio’s calculator watch, Seiko’s TV watch, Timex’s Data Link 150 — all of these have come and gone, all essentially replaced by greater advancements in digital technology.

Apple’s Chief Executive, Tim Cook, is under pressure to deliver some bold new products by the end of 2014 to beef up Apple’s aging product line. Apple hasn’t delivered on any new product since the iPad’s debut back in 2010. What else could Apple add to the wristwatch (or smartwatch)  that consumers don’t already have?

Wearable sensor technology

Wearable tech might still be a fad these days, but it’s the future for a number of companies looking to create ways for technology to augment our everyday experiences.

Nice article #wearable technology hitting a tipping point. Like ref to most prolific sensor on phones: the camera. http://t.co/F8ATsDydc6
— Corey Wilson-Wirth (@corey_ww) April 22, 2014

Apple’s foray into wearable technology has prompted it to invest in the biotech sector — in particular, sensor technology. With a reported 100 + product designers at work on the iWatch, the features that are currently under consideration include enabling users to make calls, displaying the identity of incoming callers, and checking map coordinates, according to this Bloomberg article.

It could also include integrated sensors for monitoring aspects your health, such as your heartbeat, or biotech features that will help you sleep better. Apple is developing a new health-related app called “Healthbook,” and according to 9to5, it will be part of iOS 8 and will be reliant on the iWatch. One mobile health executive told Reuters that Apple has aspirations beyond wearable devices and is even considering a full health and fitness services platform modeled on its App Store.

Traditional luxury watchmakers respond: is iWatch a threat?

Suffice it to say, with Apple wanting to break into the billion dollar smartwatch marketplace, more traditional players in the watch market have their own opinions on the move. For starters, Swiss watchmaker Swatch has registered its own trademark with the iSwatch and according to Serena Chieseura, Director of Communication for the Swatch Group, the company believes there is a “high risk of confusion between the two products.”

This wouldn’t be the first time that Apple got into hot water over trademark infringement.
Of course we don’t yet officially know if Apple will call their product the iWatch, but it most certainly would face potential legal challenges if it does. Southern California-based fine watch purveyor Westime isn’t intimidated by Apple’s investment. “Westime is expanding and finding that our industry is still in high demand.

The iWatch does bring some concern, but if you put a fine watch next to this new technology, you will see that the consumer buying fine watches is not the same consumer that would purchase an iWatch,” said Greg Simonian, the president of Westime.

It brings up a more important point about those who still value timepieces as the original fine pieces of jewelry that they are. It was Peter Henlein, a clockmaker out of Nuremberg, Germany, in the early 16th century who is attributed as the inventor of the first pocketwatch. Today, traditional wrist-watch aficionados can still find each other on various social media channels like this Pinterest Watches Lover board.

Cristiano Ronaldo wearing #Jacob

Simonian told me that fine watches are purchased for their quality and for their aesthetics as watches, not for their digital functionality. He noted, “smartwatches and fine watches are inherently different, so for our purposes, we will continue to provide high quality service to customers who are looking for fine watches, not new tech.”

Or take it from Philippe Léopold-Metzger, chief executive of jewelry and watchmaker, Piaget, who told the New York Times, “We’re arriving at a stage where people are getting tired of technological machines, because I think they are invasive. If I go out at night or am invited to a dinner, I don’t take my phone with me.”

Wearable competition between two giants

Apple’s splash into wearable technology will also increase competition with that other 800-pound gorilla, Google. Google has made its computing device, Google Glass, available in fits and starts to the public at large while trying to avoid more PR imbroglios involving glassholes. Owners of Glass can snap pics, shoot video, and connect with email, among other tasks, but Apple is no stranger to disrupting already-mature markets.

The iPhone virtually reinvented the smartphone overnight with record sales thanks to Apple’s unique style and design. Tim Cook needs to find a new product to counteract slower sales of the iPhone. Coming up with a new watch that captures the imagination of millions of consumers will test Apple’s design strategists. If the iWatch successfully merges fashion with product design it just might quadruple the size of the watch business.

As far as an iWatch is concerned, I’m in no rush. Right now, I can feel my heart beat, I know what time it is,
and I’m taking a brief respite from opening my email. I could use a break from staring at my computer screen though.

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Source;technorati.com

10 Questions to Help You Determine When to End a Long-Term Relationship

Have you ever been in a state of ambivalence in your relationship where you are not sure whether the two of you fit together or not? Perhaps you continually ask yourself whether you should leave and look for something better and truly fulfilling, or stay committed to the relationship and accept that what you have is good enough.

I have and let me tell you, IT SUCKS!
Ambivalence is that gray area where you are not in the relationship, but you don’t leave it either.

It deprives you from joy, intimacy, freedom, hope, and ultimate happiness. A lot of us fall into this deadly trap because of low levels of self-awareness and not knowing how to choose our own happiness, thinking that our happiness depends on outside people and circumstances rather than ourselves.

How do you increase your level of self-awareness? It’s simple: ask questions.
Relationships are one of the most complex aspects of our lives. They act as doorways to people and experiences that can elevate you to new heights, or drag you down into the mud.

Here are 10 questions that can give you a clear direction of whether to end a relationship or stay committed to it.

1. If God or some divine being told you it was OK to leave your relationship, would you feel relieved that you could finally leave?

If religion is the only reason you are still together, then the relationship is already dead, and it’s time to leave. There’s no point in staying if your heart is not in it.

2. Are you able to get your needs met in the relationship without too much difficulty?

If getting your individual needs met takes too much effort, then the relationship is doing more harm than good. It’s time to break up.

3. Do you genuinely like your partner, and does your partner seem to genuinely like you?

I know it sounds very basic, but I have seen people who cannot stand each other commit to a relationship that has no future. If you don’t mutually like each other, you don’t belong together.

4. Do you feel a unique sexual attraction to your partner?

Most people say that only personality matters, not what’s on the outside. I disagree. Physical intimacy is a need in any relationship. If there’s no spark, there’s no point in staying.

5. Does your partner exhibit any behavior that makes the relationship too difficult for you to stay in? Do you find that your partner is either unwilling or incapable of changing?

If your partner behaves in a way that’s intolerable to you, then it’s time for a change or you need to leave. Trying to tolerate the intolerable will only erode your self-esteem.

6. Do you see yourself when you look into your partner’s eyes?

It’s all about compatibility. If you are not compatible, you’re better off with someone else.

7. Do you and your partner each respect each other as individuals?

No respect = No relationship.

8. Does your partner serve as an important resource for you in a way that you care about?

Your partners is supposed to enhance your life, not drain it. If you feel like every day is a struggle to keep the relationship, and you wouldn’t lose anything important to you by leaving, then leave. Most likely, you will end up finding someone else who is a resource to you.

9. Does your relationship have the demonstrated capacity for forgiveness?

No relationship is perfect, and there will be moments where you will step on each other’s toes. That is perfectly normal. But when there’s no capacity for forgiveness, and resentment slowly builds up until it replaces love, there’s only one thing left to do: leave.

10. Do you and your partner have mutual goals and dreams for your future together?

If you aren’t planning to spend your future together, something’s terribly wrong. Take off.

If you know any other interesting Questions to help you determine when to end long -term relationship, please share your ideas with us.

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Source;lifehack.org

Charlie Day: You Shouldn't Just 'Do What Makes You Happy'

 

 

Editor’s Note: With the 2014 graduation season in full swing, Entrepreneur.com is bringing you full commencement addresses given by some of the world’s most inspiring leaders.

When you think "bearer of wisdom," Charlie Day probably isn't the first name that comes to mind. The 38-year-old creator and star of the popular TV series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a professional goof, best known for stuff like this.

While acknowledging that he's no Steve Jobs – "I don’t know how my computer works; I don't even know how my toaster works!" he told the audience -- Day had some genuine lessons to Merrimack College grads nonetheless.

He spoke about the time, fresh out of college, in which he had to decide between taking a "big boy job" at Fidelity Investments (how he got the offer in the first place is a long story), and moving to New York to pursue acting.

As you can probably guess, he rolled the dice and moved to New York. While it wasn’t always easy going – Day recounts a casting director who told him he'd "never work in comedy" – if he was going to fall on his face, he'd do it chasing something he loved.

It's a simple, but profound message: Success always requires the risk of failure. "I don't think you should just do what makes you happy. Do what makes you great," Day said. "Do what's uncomfortable and scary and hard but pays off in the long run…Let yourself fail. Fail and pick yourself up and fail again. Without that struggle, what is your success anyway?"

Taking risks isn’t enough, though. To achieve greatness, Day told the graduates, they must also create their own opportunities. In 2005, Day had to decide whether to accept a leading role (accompanied by a big paycheck) on a network show he didn’t believe in, or scramble to develop a show he'd been filming with his friends, for no pay.

He rolled the dice again. The network show, Life on a Stick lasted one season. The show he was developing? That became It's Always Sunny, which is currently shooting its tenth season.
Sometimes, it pays to be scrappy. "It was the riskier road and again I could not have made a better decision," Day said. "Creating the job as opposed to having it offered to me accelerated the process. Draw your own conclusions here but I think the lesson is obvious. Don't wait for your break. Make your break. Make it happen for yourself."

Read the full commencement address below:

Good morning Merrimack. I'd like to thank President Hopey, trustees, faculty, students, parents, and my apologies to all the grandparents in the audience who have absolutely no idea who I am.

You are graduating from an excellent school today. Alumni have gone on to be CEO's, doctors, politicians, professional athletes, however this year you get to receive wisdom, knowledge and life lessons, from a man who has made a living pretending to eat cat food.

I do however have some qualifications, some insight, because I, like you are becoming today, am a Merrimack College Graduate. I know what it took to get here. I was in this very room. I sat in those uncomfortable chairs. I dressed like some sort of medieval pastry chef and I too desperately hoped my hangover would wear off. If you can just make it to brunch you should be alright.

Take note. A quick observation.

Apparently the higher in life you climb in life the more ridiculous your hats become. Like the one I'm wearing today, or the pope's or Pharrell. So if in some way you fear success, just think of the hats and that alone should motivate you.

This may be hard to believe but it was roughly twenty years ago that as a freshman I first set foot on this campus. I remember it well. My parent's eyes filled with tears. My own nervous excitement. I entered the Ash dormitory. I walked to my room. My heart was pounding with what the future might hold. I reached for the door handle, grabbed it tight, only to discover it had been covered with Vaseline.

It was a real lame prank being pulled by the boys on the third floor. "So this is how it's gonna be" I thought to myself. "Okay. They have no idea who just arrived on campus." I had to take action. I befriended a guy named Ed with a similar penchant for mischievousness. And late that evening Ed and 

I went to the third floor community bathrooms and cut all their shower curtains at waist high. Leaving the third floor boys with a diabolical option the next morning. Pass on a shower or take the most embarrassing shower of your life. My apologies for the destruction of school property. I'll donate two shower curtains. You'll have to dig up Ed to get the third.

Merrimack has come a long way since my time. The campus has grown. The quality of student improved. U.S. News & World Report ranked Merrimack as one of the top ten regional colleges in the north. 

In my time there was a young man at this school who scored in the zero percentile on his SAT's meaning nobody in the nation did worse than this man. This was a man who once mistakenly said "he wished he lived when it was black and white." 

A man who with complete seriousness told someone, that "he would take their advice in to cooperation." This man, of course ... was my roommate.

Did you think it was me? Come on. You're confusing me with my tv character. No. I was a decent student and I'm actually a doctor now. I have a PHD. I'd like to thank the school with bestowing me with this honor and highlighting to all the students and the other PHD's in the room today the complete and utter unfairness of life.

And although I join the ranks of fellow prestigious Honorary Doctors like Mike Tyson and Kermit The Frog and although I fully acknowledge that Dr. Charlie Day sounds like some kind of club DJ. I assure you all that I intend to go by this title from here on out. And as a doctor I plan to start writing my own prescriptions immediately.

Now, I know that having a honorary doctorate degree will do nothing for me, but I'm here to tell you today that your degrees, the ones you toiled to get, the ones you actually took classes to earn, those degrees, will also basically do nothing.

Let me clarify. You can't exchange your degree for cash. You can't have a degree audition or interview for you. You cannot eat it. Please don't make love to it. You can maybe smoke it but I wouldn't advise it. 

A college degree collects dust. It does nothing. It does however mean something. It represents something, to yourself and your community. It tells your community. "I have expanded my mind and destroyed my liver but I didn't give up. I pushed through. I made it, man." And although 44 of you today took more than 4 years to achieve that goal, nobody has to know that. Think of the plus side, you gave your parents a couple more years of nobody living in their basement.

Of course, jokes aside, you all should be very proud. This is the end of an impressive chapter and in many ways just the very beginning of what your lives will be. And I know that you are curious about how things will go from here. Well let me tell you, Dr. DJ Charlie Day is here to help.

I have been in your shoes. Not literally of course. I wouldn't go anywhere near your shoes. I'm sure half of them reek of stale beer and vomit.

No, my point is this. I was here and I have the rare opportunity today of looking back at myself on this day and giving myself advise. What would I say? First off, "Charlie, lay off the dark beer and the bread. You're getting a little puffy, bud. 

Also get over that girl. She's not that into you. You're really wasting your time, trust me she'll regret it. Oh and you don't need to worry about Y2k it's like not even going to be a big deal or anything." Okay perhaps this exercise isn't too helpful but the truth is I don't have a ton I would say to myself. I'm happy with my choices. Let's face it, my life is pretty sweet.

I'd like to tell you instead three quick stories about some of those choices. The choices that led me from there to here and although most of you are not planning on becoming actors and writers I'm sure there are some parallels you can draw to help guide your own experience. If not, feel free to tune out. 

If your anything like I was at your age I lost you somewhere around "Good morning Merrimack."

When I left this school I was presented with two options. Move to New York City where I knew next to nobody and begin my pursuit of acting or take the entry level position that had been offered to me by Fidelity Investments. I know what you may be thinking. "Why would major financial services corporation offer this numbskull job?" The answer is simple, because I tricked them.

Merrimack's business program was offering interviews with the company. The students would be given a score on their interview. I had no desire to work at Fidelity Investments but I had never been on an audition and I thought it would be a similar experience. I wanted to see if I could pull off the role of aspiring banker. Or whatever they do at Fidelity.

I had a game plan. Deflect from me. Get the guy to talk about himself. I wasn't going to lie. I just thought I'd basically interview him. We had a pleasant conversation. If I recall correctly we talked forever about the intricacies of water skiing, an activity I know nothing about.

Look, had the man asked me what eight times seven was there would have been an unbearable pause in the room. But he didn't. The interview went so well they offered me a job. Now this threw me a little. It was a real job. A big boy job. It was also more money than anyone had ever offered me for anything before. "Should I take it? Is this my destiny? Am I the next great financial genius? Should I come up with a plan B. Work in Boston a few years at Fidelity. Make enough money to have a cozy transition to New York."

Well, I've always had a half-baked philosophy that having plan B can muddy up your plan A. I didn't take the job. I moved to the city. I bussed tables and answered phones. I lived in a basement apartment next to a garbage chute. The apartment was filled with cockroaches. I couldn't have made a better decision. Well maybe not the cockroach part. I should have found a different apartment. You'll find better apartments. Just avoid the trash area.

There is an obvious lesson here about believing in yourself, and there is the plan A plan B stuff but forget all that for a second. I think the lesson is this. Had I worked at Fidelity I'm sure they would have fired me eventually. I'm no financial genius. I can barely do long division.

But I didn't want to fail at Fidelity. And I didn't want to fail in Boston. If I was going to run the risk of failure I wanted it to be in New York. I wanted to fail in the way and place where I would be proud to fail, doing what I wanted to do and let me tell you ... I did fail. Time and time again. I was too short for this or too strange for that. I even had one casting director for a movie say "he'll never work in comedy." 

I was taking my punches but I was in the fight. That's a metaphor of course, I highly doubt I have any ability to take an actual punch.

My second story is a story about creating your own opportunities instead of waiting for them to be given to you. After a few years in New York, my foot was in the door. I was working. I was doing bit parts in film and television like mail kid #1 and junky #2. I couldn't get that big break. After many, many failed attempts of getting cast in television something popped up. It looked as though I was going to be offered a part on a big network show called "Life on a Stick."

Around that same time because I was tired of waiting for the big break I, along with my friends Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton, started filming a show in my apartment.

We had a sense that maybe we could make a better show than what was being offered to us at the time. We borrowed cameras asked friends to hold microphones and shot this show that we would eventually call "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

Suddenly there was another decision to be made. Another crossroad. Do I do "Life on a Stick." Take the big network opportunity, the big paycheck or bet on myself and my friends, make no money and try to sell what basically was a home movie as the next great television series.

Do I try to convince people that I'm a writer and a show runner even though I didn't own a personal computer at the time. We were talking about a real long shot. It was the scarier thing to do but I said "no thanks," to "Life on a Stick" and went with "Sunny."

"Life on a Stick" went one season and thirteen episodes. We are currently filming our tenth season of "Sunny" we've written and produced one hundred fourteen episodes and are signed on for another two seasons making "Sunny" one of the longest running comedies of all time.

Again the bet on myself and my friends paid off. This time in spades. There was power in numbers. "Sunny" changed my life. Not only did I have a career as an actor and a writer now, I had complete control over it control it too. If I wanted to dress in a full body green spandex suit it went in the show. 

If we wanted to drink wine from a coke can as perhaps some of you are doing today it went in the show and if someone thought mittens were funny on kittens it went in the show.

It was the riskier road and again I could not have made a better decision. Taking matters into my own hands changed everything. Led to everything. "Horrible Bosses," "Pacific Rim," "Saturday Night Live." Creating the job as opposed to having it offered to me accelerated the process. Draw your own conclusions here but I think the lesson is obvious. Don't wait for your break. Make your break. Make it happen for yourself.

My last story of what led me from there to here is the literal act of agreeing to be here. When President Hopey came to Los Angeles to sit down with me my first thought was, "here it comes, they're gonna ask me for money." But when he asked me to speak to you today, I quickly accepted. 

Then as is the case with all great opportunities, reality of what I had to do began to set in. "Dear God" I said to myself, "I'm actually going to have to give a speech." I am not a public speaker. I have a voice like a ten year old who smokes. "How am I going to do this?"

I YouTubed commencement speeches given by Conan O'Brien, Steven Colbert, Steve Jobs. This ... was a terrible idea. Their speeches were so intelligent, so well informed and so eloquent that only more panic began to set in. "What am I thinking'" "How could I ever compare?" And the truth is, I can't. I don't host a talk show or do stand up. As an actor normally you have cut away from me ages ago. 

I am not nearly as smart as Steve Jobs was. I don't know how my computer works, I don't even know how my toaster works! And the YouTube comments, Oh the snarky comments! We live in a world now where things don't go away. And that perhaps is the most terrifying thing of all.

But I didn't back out. I'm here today speaking to you. And I know I will be posted on YouTube and judged and compared by all who care to see. But my lesson is this. I don't give a shit.

You cannot let a fear of failure or a fear of comparison or a fear of judgment stop you from doing the things that will make you great. You cannot succeed without the risk of failure. You cannot have a voice without the risk of criticism. You cannot love without the risk of loss. You must take these risks.

Everything I'm truly proud of in this life has been a terrifying prospect to me. From my first play, to hosting "Saturday Night Live," getting married, being a father, speaking to you today. None of it comes easy. People will tell you to do what makes you happy, but all this has been hard work. 

And I'm not always happy.

I don't think you should just do what makes you happy. Do what makes you great. Do what's uncomfortable and scary and hard but pays off in the long run. Be willing to fail. Let yourself fail. Fail in the way and place where you would be proud to fail. Fail and pick yourself up and fail again. 

Without that struggle, what is your success anyway?

As best we know we have one life. In it, you must trust your own voice, your own ideas, your honestly and venerability and though this you will find your way. You don't have to be fearless just don't let fear stop you.

Live like this as best as you can and I guarantee you will look back at a life well lived.

You are capable of greatness in your profession and more importantly in your quality of self. Stay young at heart. Stay hungry. Take those risks.

You are going to change the world around you in small ways and in big and I greatly look forward to being a part of the future you will shape. Congratulations graduates. And good luck.

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SOURCE;ENTREPRENEUR

Prosecute officers for unsigned pink sheets – Asiedu Nketia

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, is calling for the prosecution of the over 900 Presiding Officers who refused to sign pink sheets during the 2012 election.

According to Mr. Nketia, such officers should be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to other officers in future... “let us follow the law and punish the wrong doers to serve as a deterrent for those who want to intentionally flout the laws of the country,” Mr. Nketiah said.

About 900 officers refused to sign pink sheets in the 2012 election.

Mr. Nketia noted that their decision resulted in the 2012 election petition.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Nketia revealed that some of the presiding officers actually went to the extent of signing an affidavit to confirm their decision not to sign the pink sheets

He also emphasized the need to determine if the presiding officers had filled in figures relating to the results at the polling stations and proceeded to declare those same results without any challenges.

Mr. Nketia in that regard called on the New Patriotic Party(NPP) to help pursue the matter to the end.

In a rebuttal, a Legal Practitioner, Mr. Yaw Oppong dismissed Mr. Nketia’s request that the presiding officers should be prosecuted.

According to him, there was no law in the constitution backing Mr. Nketia’s opinion that presiding officers should be punished for their failure to sign pink sheets.

“My checks have not confirmed that there is a particular law that makes it an offence for a presiding officer who fails to sign or execute a pink sheet amounts to an offence for which a punishment should be provided,” he stated.

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SOURCE;GHANAWEB

EC to increase polling stations - Afari-Gyan

The Electoral Commission (EC) is in the process of increasing polling stations across the country, to help reduce long queues that occur at various polling stations during voting periods, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Commission has announced.

Dr Afari-Gyan was responding to a comment by a participant at the dialogue series organized by the National Commission on Civic Education’s (NCCE) in Accra, as to what the EC was doing about the long queues that occur at polling stations.

He said EC had taken notice of such long queues that sometimes delay the process, and has mapped out operational mechanism to address it, which includes increasing the number of polling stations.

Commenting on the aftermath of the election petition, Dr Afari-Gyan said, results of elections in the country will continue to be very close, and as such the same issues of irregularities will be causes of concern, so the need to address such problems together with all stakeholders, including IPAC members, as well as voters.

He said he was happy that the Supreme Court judges in dealing with the election petition recognized the role of the voter as an important element of the election, and therefore interpreted the issues within their context.

“The right to vote and to have your vote counted is very important and so if a presiding officer refuses to sign a pink sheet which is an administrative issue, the voter should not be made to suffer after having gone through pain to vote, rather the presiding officer should be made to face the consequences,” Dr Afari-Gyan noted.

On the issue of over voting, he said it was proper that the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP’s) call for interpretation of over-voting was seriously considered by the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), whereas the issue of voting without verification could easily be resolved through the use of technology and other human factors.

He explained that even before a voter’s name appeared in the voters register; he or she would have undergone “a certain form of verification” which could help authenticate the eligibility of a voter. “The ultimate verification is the facial verification”.

EC alone cannot resolve the issues of elections and that each participant must be vigilant, he noted.

The EC Chairman said since all the recommendations from the court bordered on pink sheet, the Commission would sit with political parties to look at the practicalities of the issues and resolve them.

Mrs Charlotte Osei, Chairperson of NCCE, said it was important that IPAC met to decide on the issue of over-voting within the Ghanaian context.

She also indicated that the Dialogue would be held quarterly to educate Ghanaians on various national issues that would “help strengthen our democracy.”

Present at the Dialogue were representatives of the various political parties, state institutions, civil society groups and other professionals.

Some participants at the Dialogue called on the EC to liaise with Ghanaians who have the technology know-how to help involve technology as a critical component of the election processes.

Others called on IPAC to review the “no verification no vote policy,” adopted during the last elections, so as not to disenfranchise eligible voters should a machine fail to identify a voter.

The NCCE Dialogue series have been introduced this year on the theme “Engage, Educate, Empower, ” to discuss national issues that will empower the citizenry to participate in the processes that will sustain Ghana’s democracy.

The topic discussed under the first in the series of the quarterly event was: “Beyond the August 29 Verdict: Lessons and Path Ahead”.

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SOURCE;GHANAWEB