Deep Dive: Stories from The Labari Journal

Accra, Ghana's capital, is an overrated city despite its modern image. In this podcast, our AI hosts highlight a disparity between luxury offerings and poor infrastructure. The episode details issues such as high rent disproportionate to average income, inadequate public transportation unchanged since the 1960s, and poor city planning leading to perennial flooding.

Despite attempts at improvement, including consulting a Singapo...

On Tuesday, February 18, 2025, Juliet Asante, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana National Film Authority (NFA), logged onto Facebook to share her working experience and to extend best wishes to her successor. 

Her post soon became a revelation of an inappropriate incident she experienced while in office. 

These are just a few stories about victims of sexual harassment in the workplace. Despi...

In this episode, we look at our published article, which asserts that Ghana's struggling economy significantly contributed to Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia's defeat in the 2024 presidential election. 

Despite his efforts to highlight achievements in digitization and education, soaring inflation, high interest rates, and a downgraded credit status overshadowed his campaign. Voters prioritized economic concerns, mirroring a trend...

The growth of padel in Ghana has become more noticeable with investments into the construction of padel courts across the city of Accra

In February 2024, the Professional Padel Association of Ghana (PPAOG) was established and officially recognized by the National Sports Authority as the country's 55th sporting federation.

The association aims to regulate, develop, and promote padel nationwide, with plans to create championships ...

After a system upgrade, most Calbank's services went offline for its customers.

Since the announcement of the outage, customers took to social media to air their grievances. Numerous users reported GHC 50 deductions from their accounts with no explanation. Others say they attempted ATM withdrawals, only for their accounts to be debited without receiving any cash.

Listen to this discussion about the issue of Calbank's digital ...

This episode discusses the failed attempt by Ghana to establish a new national airline in 2023 under the Akufo-Addo administration.

Despite signing agreements with Ashanti Airlines and Zotus Group, the planned airline, known as Ghana Airlines, did not launch as expected, reportedly due to Ashanti Airlines lacking the necessary Airline Operator's Certificate and sufficient resources.

This episode discusses the evolution of Accra's nightlife scene, highlighting a shift from community-focused venues to more profit-driven spaces.

Kobby Graham notes how the rise of social media and the "Boiler Room effect" have transformed DJing into a performance for the camera, prioritizing spectacle over the music itself. Furthermore, his article explains how a preference for new and flashy venues, combin...

This deep dive focuses on the challenges faced by Dr. Paul Azunre and his team at Ghana NLP in developing Artificial Intelligence tools for Ghanaian and other African languages.

Despite limited funding and a lack of institutional support, they have successfully built machine translation and speech systems for various languages, often with fewer resources than their international coun...

This episode explores the evolving landscape of tattoo culture in Ghana, highlighting its transition from traditional body markings with cultural and spiritual significance to a modern form of personal expression and fashion, influenced by global trends and social media.

It discusses the work of tattoo artists like Winston Vasnani and the growing tattoo industry in major cities, whil...

This episode explores the challenges and criticisms surrounding the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO), the body responsible for distributing royalties to Ghanaian musicians.

It highlights the frustration of creatives who report receiving minimal payments, citing examples like Stonebwoy and Ohemaa Mercy. It details the difficulties GHAMRO faces, including a lack of reliable technology for monitoring music usage across var...

This episode highlights the significant disparity in treatment and funding between male and female athletes in Ghana, particularly in football.

It details instances where women's teams have had to protest for promised payments, contrasting this with the substantial media attention and financial support given to the men's team despite inconsistent performance.

The episode also discusses cultural barriers and the lack of fema...

This episode explores Affinity Africa, a fintech company in Ghana building a digital bank inspired by Nubank.

The company started with a microfinance license and is patiently navigating regulatory hurdles to offer full banking services through a mobile app and other platforms. Affinity focuses on providing loans to individuals and small businesses, developing its own credit scoring engine based on user behavior rather than thir...

This episode discusses Ghana's urgent need for an emergency broadcast system to better inform its citizens about potential dangers and critical incidents. It highlights past events, such as gas explosions and dam spillages, where timely public notification was lacking, leading to confusion and casualties.

It suggests that cell broadcast technology is a proven and effective method used in other countries for delivering emergency...

This episode discusses how Ghana's rapid urban development, particularly in Accra and Kumasi, is causing a significant decrease in urban green spaces. There has been a 30% reduction in the last decade.

This loss leads to increased temperatures, worsened air quality, and higher flood risks, impacting residents' health and well-being. While Ghana has laws regarding land use and green areas, weak enforcement, political interferenc...

This episode discusses the challenges faced by Telecel Ghana after acquiring Vodafone Ghana, despite initial expectations of improved service. Customer complaints regarding poor network quality, dropped calls, slow internet, and inadequate customer service have been prevalent on social media and reported by users.

This comes as MTN Ghana continues to hold a dominant market share, while Telecel has seen a decline in its subscrib...

This episode discusses the problematic rollout of 5G service in Ghana, which has faced significant delays and criticism since its initial planned launch. Despite promises and announcements from various parties, including MTN Ghana and the Ghanaian government, the service has not yet become widely available.

A key issue highlighted is the controversial granting of an exclusive, 10-year license to a new entity called Next-Gen Inf...

This episode explores the potential benefits of Ghana adopting open source software (OSS) for its government services, drawing parallels to a Swiss mandate requiring government entities to use OSS.

This episode argues that for African nations with limited resources, OSS offers cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and the avoidance of vendor lock-in. Examples of both successful and unsuccessful software implementations in Ghana are ...