2025 AFRICAN SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIP The much-anticipated draw is scheduled to be held in Abidjan at the WAFU-B headquarters. The event marks the beginning of another exciting journey for West Africa’s brightest U-15 football talents. This year’s tournament will culminate in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where six nations will battle for supremacy in both the Boys’ and Girls’ categories from December 1 to 4, 2025. Organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the African Schools Championship continues to serve as a vital platform for unearthing exceptional young players from schools across the region, each team chasing a coveted spot at the continental finals. The WAFU-B zone brings together Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Niger and hosts Burkina Faso. Ghana also returns to the qualifiers with renewed optimism, inspired by its outstanding performance in the previous edition. The Ghanaian sides impressed at every stage, with the girls’ team lifting the African Schools Championship trophy at the University of Ghana Sports Stadium. The Boys team, on the other hand, was rewarded for their efforts with a third-place finish at the last edition. 22nd November,2025

2025 PAGEANT CONTROVERSIES Fatima Bosch of Mexico has been named Miss Universe 2025 in a scandal-hit competition where she emerged as a fan favorite after she was berated by a Thai pageant director during a pre-pageant meeting, triggering a walk out by contestants. The 25-year-old humanitarian and volunteer was crowned by last year’s winner Victoria Kjær Theilvig from Denmark. Miss Universe is widely known as the “Super Bowl” of beauty pageants and draws millions of viewers each year. Delegates for each country are selected via local pageants that license local rights from the Miss Universe Organization. Thailand’s Praveenar Singh came runner up, with Venezuela’s Stephany Abasali, Philippines’ Ahtisa Manalo and Ivory Coast’s Olivia Yacé also making it to the top 5. Thailand, this year’s host country, has a vibrant and lucrative pageant industry with one of the largest fanbases in Asia, alongside the Philippines. The event featured representatives from 120 countries. Nadeen Ayoub became the first woman to represent Palestinian people at the pageant, and made it to the final 30 semifinalists before she was eliminated. Friday’s finale was hosted by American comedian Steve Byrne and opened with a performance by Thai singer Jeff Satur. Following the swimwear round, the top 30 contestants were narrowed down to 12, and then down to 5 after the evening round. Finalists were asked questions including which global issue they would speak about in front of the United Nations General Assembly, and how they would use the Miss Universe platform to empower young girls. “Believe in the power of your authenticity,” Bosch said. “Your dreams matter, your heart matters. Never let anyone make you doubt your worth. The competition took place over three weeks, with delegates traveling around the country to rehearse and participate in events. On Wednesday, the beauty queens competed in the national costume showcase, which saw contestants donning flamboyant outfits designed to highlight their homelands. Miss USA, Audrey Eckert, paid homage to her home with an elaborate bald eagle costume designed by Simon Villalba. The contestant from Jamaica, Gabrielle Henry, took a scary tumble during the evening gown round at Wednesday’s preliminaries and was carried away in a stretcher, according to social media videos which circulated of her fall. Miss Universe President Raul Rocha said in an update to Instagram that Henry was “under good care” in hospital and that she had not broken any bones. This year’s Miss Universe competition was beset by controversy and internal drama in the weeks leading up to coronation night. The walk out sparked conversations over the merits of the international beauty pageant which claims to promote female empowerment. At a live-streamed pre-pageant meeting earlier this month, Miss Universe Thailand director Nawat Itsaragrisil publicly scolded Bosch, for not posting enough promotional content, appearing to call her a “dumbhead,” though Nawat denied this, insisting that he had actually accused her of causing “damage.” After Bosch pushed back against the insults, Nawat called security to escort her out of the room. Other contestants then stood up and walked out in solidarity. The incident drew global backlash, including from Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum, who described it as an “aggression” that Bosch handled with “dignity.” Sheinbaum congratulated Bosch for winning the Miss Universe title during her morning press conference in Mexico City on Friday, praising the beauty queen for standing up to one of the competition hosts. “What I liked about her, aside from everything else, is that she speaks up when she feels there’s an injustice against her,” Sheinbaum said. “That’s an example for all Mexicans and for women…those old sayings at rallies, like ‘you look prettier when you’re quiet,’ are behind us,” Sheinbaum added. The Miss Universe Organization condemned Nawat’s behavior and limited his role in the pageant. Nawat apologized in a livestreamed welcome ceremony and declined to comment further on the incident to CNN. Then, Miss Universe 1996, Alicia Machado, was criticized for making racist comments in an Instagram live video discussing the incident. Machado referred to Nawat as “that despicable Chinese,” and when a commentor pointed out he is Thai, Machado said “Chinese, Thai, Korean. To me all these people with slanted eyes like this are all Chinese,” while pulling up the corners of her eyes. Machado’s representative did not respond to a request for comment from CNN. 22nd November,2025

SENTENCED TO DEATH Bangladesh plans to execute its former leader. There’s one big thing in the way:. She was once cast as a secular heroine, the daughter of a revolutionary leader, whose brutal assassination in the 1970s defined her political ascent. But Sheikh Hasina’s rise to the top of Bangladesh’s politics preceded a stunning fall from power to self-exile in India. A death sentence delivered in absentia could now see her executed – if New Delhi decides to send her back. The ousted leader was found guilty of crimes against humanity for the violent suppression of student protests that toppled her regime in 2024. She fled to India last August after 15 years of increasingly authoritarian rule, seeking refuge in the capital of one of her closest allies. Now she’s become a pawn in a tense standoff between the two countries as Dhaka demands her extradition to face justice for crimes that she insists she did not commit. “She had to flee the country to flee the rage of the people,” said Bangladeshi political scientist Mubashar Hasan. “Hiding in India and handed down a death penalty. It’s quite an extraordinary story.” Hasina’s political journey is a story of Shakespearean proportions – a saga of tragedy, exile and power inextricably linked to the history of her home country. The eldest daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the charismatic “Father of the Nation,” she was thrust into politics early in life as she witnessed Bangladesh’s struggle for autonomy from Pakistan. But it was a single, bloody night in August 1975 that truly forged her path. In a brutal military coup, army officers assassinated her father, her mother, and three of her brothers in their Dhaka home. Hasina and her sister survived as they were visiting West Germany at the time. In the chaotic aftermath, Gen. Ziaur Rahman – the husband of her future arch-nemesis, Khaleda Zia – rose to power, his regime passing a law that would protect Mujibur’s assassins for decades. Overnight, Hasina’s life was transformed, and she was forced into six years of exile in India, which imprinted a deep respect for the Indian state on the future leader. When she finally returned to Bangladesh in 1981, it was to a nation clamoring for its founding ideals of secularism. But she also entered a political arena about to be defined by another woman pushed into tragedy: Zia, whose husband had himself been assassinated. Recalling the day of her return from forced exile, Hasina said: “When I landed at the airport, I didn’t get anyone of my (relatives) but received love of millions of people, and that was my only strength.” Thus began the era of the “Battling Begums” – a deeply personal, yet destructive duel between two women that would grip Bangladesh for the next 30 years. Taking the helm of her father’s Awami League, Hasina embarked on a long journey through the political wilderness, navigating house arrests and crackdowns amid a growing rivalry with Zia. In 1996, Hasina led her party to electoral victory, becoming Prime Minister for the first time. Her first act in office was to announce the prosecution of those involved in the 1975 coup and murders of her family, finally beginning a quest for justice. 22nd November,2025

ISIS TARGETS GAS IN NORTHERN MOZAMBIQUE Mozambique — Musty salt air crept at dusk over the nets and moored boats on northern Mozambique’s coast as seven armed and uniformed men marched into the fishing community last month, demanding the keys to the mosque. Once inside, they commanded – over the microphone used for the call to prayer – that locals on the edge of the port town of Mocimboa da Praia come to listen. It was only when they unfurled an ISIS banner, the mosque’s imam Sumail Issa told CNN, that it became clear who they were. Also palpable was the new-found confidence of the jihadists, emerging in recent months after the chaotic collapse of US aid funding to one of Africa’s poorest countries. “When they called everyone over, as soon as they saw that flag, a colleague and I left, saying we needed the toilet,” Issa said, adding they went to notify the military. The men’s faces were exposed, video posted to social media reveals, and the speech one of them gave was considered – delivering a highly localized manifesto, showing both ambition and independence from other ISIS franchises, analysts have noted. Locals didn’t flee but attentively filmed, the social media video shows. ISIS had made their point about where they could roam, unopposed. Mozambique’s gas-rich northern Cabo Delgado region has been ravaged by eight years of killing and land grabs. The insurgents seized control of this coastal town from August 2020 to August 2021, resulting in significant displacement and damage. Four years followed during which Mozambican and Rwandan forces – acting under invitation from Maputo – restored partial order, and Western governments surged aid into the region. Many of those who had fled the violence returned. However, the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) under an executive order from President Donald Trump in January cut some assistance entirely, and drastically reduced other programs, some of which were aimed at boosting the central government’s presence and curbing extremism. On September 7, ISIS began a strident offensive again, hitting its former stronghold of Mocimboa da Praia, beheading dozens of mostly Christian men over the course of several weeks, and triggering the flight of tens of thousands of residents. ISIS violence is surging in Africa, where 79% of the militant Islamist group’s global activity occurred between January and October this year, according to analysis by Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED). ISIS activity in Mozambique peaked in October, now responsible for 11% of its violent actions globally, ACLED said. Over two months, CNN interviewed at least a dozen former USAID officials, dependent contractors, or aid workers and examined extensive internal documentation of USAID’s work in Mozambique, to assess the full impact of the USAID shutdown on one of Africa’s most vulnerable states. 22nd November,2025

TRIBUTE TO KONADU AGYEMAN The passing of Madam Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (Madam or Madam Rawlings) on 23 October was as unexpected, and heart wrenching as it was most shocking. There was no indication of illness or medical distress. Ghana lost her first and only true heroine of the 4 June and 31 December Revolutions, and under the Fourth Republican Constitution. Many a First Lady has come and gone since 31 December 1981, but none will measure up to her legacy of achievement and compassion for the ordinary Ghanaian, and in particular women and children with emphasis on the deprived rural communities. Madam was truly a woman’s woman who married the love of her life, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings, stood by him in thick and thin, in happiness and distress. Madam Agyeman-Rawlings made her husband’s cause her cause and paid the price of anguish and distress anytime he got into trouble or was attacked by enemies, adversaries, or traitors within his circle of friends. She had the woman’s knack for ferreting out hypocrites and insincere opportunists. She protected her husband like no woman I have ever known in my life. Her commitment to her husband and her family irked many cadres and friends of her husband who thought she stood in their way. She was a rare species of total commitment to family and her country. Madam Rawlings supplemented her dear husband’s government’s policies with active advocacy for women and children’s rights, and the practical provision of facilities to cushion the poverty of ordinary women and children. It was her passion to mobilize and ensure social justice for the woman and man in the street to complement the revolutionary agenda of equality and social justice that led to the establishment of the 31 December Movement of which so much has been chronicled even by those who were not participants in or witnesses to the events. I saw her passion to empower women in rural communities to generate income and feed their families particularly malnourished children from my vantage position as a cadre from February 1982, and later a minister of state in her husband’s regimes from February 1983 to 7 January 2001. She ensured that women cadres of the revolution were offered training and skills to serve their communities and the nation to supplement the efforts of their families. Madam Rawlings’ role in the transition to Constitutional rule has gone untold and underestimated. Without her the participation of women in the political process would not have increased in the leaps and bound we saw in this country for the first time during that era. When the transition to Constitutional rule brought internal divisions as to whether operatives and supporters of the 31 December Revolution were going to participate in the unfolding constitutional process after the writing of the 1992 Constitution or hand over to an established political party or parties, she had the knack to smell internal conspiracy to denude her husband’s place in the transition to constitutional rule. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) needs to remain forever indebted to her for mobilizing the late Mr. Justice D. F. Annan, the late Mr. J. H. Owusu Acheampong, and Alhaji Iddrisu Mahama, now the Chairman of the Council of Elders of the NDC, for the meetings at the Blue Gate (National Security Secretariat) between March and May 1992 where eventually there was an agreement to establish a political party for those cadres and supporters of the PNDC who could not join the CPP inclined National Convention Party which the late Captain Kojo Tsikata was gestating as a PNDC Member and National Security Advisor. Madam suggested the name National Democratic Party (NDP) for the new political party which was modified by substituting the word “Congress” for “Party” which was registered as the National Democratic Congress (NDC). The Umbrella as a symbol and the colours of the NDC were designed or commissioned and approved by her before they were adopted by the NDC with little modifications. Nobody can deny her the place of the Mother of the NDC. I was the Chairman of the House Committee of the Consultative Assembly, 1991 and Deputy Attorney-General leading the PNDC cadres in the Consultative Assembly who participated in these events and bear witness to her role and commitment to the founding of the NDC. Madam’s tireless mobilization of citizens for continuity was a critical factor in the success of the NDC in the 1992, 1996, and 2008 elections. Madam was misunderstood by the regular members of the NDC when true to character she insisted that the undertaking given by the late Professor Mills that he was doing only one term as President due to ill health must be kept and contested the NDC primaries on 11 July 2011 in Sunyani in the then Brong Ahafo Region. When the visibly sick President Mills changed his mind, to my knowledge as a result of pressure from his puppet masters, Madam would not give way. Madam Rawlings’ ideology has aways been National Democracy; so, she formed the National Democratic Party (NDP) which she had suggested in 1992. Other founding members of the NDC formed political parties such as the Democratic Freedom Party, lost elections, and were enticed back to the NDC. The Paradox was and is still that her dear husband who remains the founder of the NDC stayed with the NDC without any attempt being made by the NDC to reconcile with her during his lifetime and thereafter. On the first anniversary of the remembrance of our dear late Chairman and President Rawlings, on 12 November 2021, I pleaded, inter alia, that: “May [it] “touch the hearts of those who have inherited his mantle to reach out to every cadre and member who had associated with him during his lifetime and to bring unity amongst all his accolades. This cannot materialize without seeking to reconcile with his dear wife without whom the social democratic tradition he epitomizes would have died in 1992 in the transition to Constitutional governance. ….His dear wife, needs to be engaged notwithstanding the needless fall outs from Sunyani in July 2011 and after, whatever the cost.” After Madam’s demise I heard attempts had been afoot to reconcile with her this year. I hope to God this is true and not the usual Ghanaian opportunism of wanting to cash in on the everlasting silence of the dead. I also hope that this is not the politics of using the name of the dead we once hated for convenient political mobilization towards electoral ends. That Madam Rawlings’ departed to meet her husband without witnessing the rehabilitation of her husband as the founder and leader of the NDC after his almost two decades of leading Ghana to enable her bear witness to him when they meet in the home of the ancestors is an indictment on the NDC. I have borne the passing of former President Jerry Rawlings from 12 November 2020 and that of Group Captain Richard Forjoe from January 2022 traumatically and depressingly. I had not visited or spoken to Madam Rawlings for quiet sometime even though I still defended her place in the NDC. When I received Madam Rawlings’ message a few months ago from the first daughter asking me why I was sending her messages about how to handle the memory of her dear husband instead of coming to discuss them with her, I did not understand that I was being summoned to see her before it was too late, as it did on 23 October 2025. Madam Rawlings, the heroic First Lady of Ghana and President of the 31 December Women’s Movement in her lifetime always put Ghana First in actions and deeds. Her passing has elicited an outpouring of praises from least expected sources with a decision to honour her with a state funeral. May Madam Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings’ passing be the beginning of real reconciliation and remorse for the mistreatments of the past. Ghana’s heroine First Lady, the Mother of the 4 June, and 31 December Revolutions, NDC , and NDP has fought a good fight and finished the race both as a Roman Catholic and a patriotic Ghanaian. 28th November,2025

CURFEW FOLLOWING SECURITY ADVICE Interior Minister Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak has renewed curfew restrictions for Bawku Municipality and surrounding areas in the Upper East Region, effective Monday, November 24, 2025. The measure requires residents to remain indoors between 8:00 pm and 5:00 am daily, implemented through an Executive Instrument following recommendations from the National Security Council (NSC). The government has imposed a complete ban on carrying arms, ammunition, or offensive weapons throughout the affected zones. Authorities have warned that anyone found possessing such items faces immediate arrest and prosecution. The directive represents the latest attempt to manage security in an area experiencing decades of conflict. The ministry called on chiefs, elders, opinion leaders, youth and residents to exercise restraint when confronting challenges in their community. Officials urged stakeholders to channel their efforts through non-violent means as the government works to establish lasting peace in the municipality. Bawku has remained under various curfew restrictions since November 2021, when violence linked to longstanding chieftaincy disputes between the Kusasi and Mamprusi ethnic groups intensified dramatically. The conflict has its roots in competing claims over the paramount chieftaincy, known locally as the Bawku skin, and associated land authority stretching back to the colonial era. The Kusasi community, comprising the numerical majority in the area, regards itself as the indigenous population with traditional land custodianship through earth-priest institutions called tindaana. The Mamprusi community traces its authority to the historic Mamprugu kingdom and emphasizes traditional appointments made by the Nayiri, their paramount chief based in Nalerigu. British colonial administrators institutionalized these competing claims through the indirect rule framework, creating administrative structures that favored one group over another at different periods. Post-independence governments have repeatedly reversed earlier determinations regarding legitimate chieftaincy claims, deepening mistrust between communities. The 1958 Opoku-Afari Committee recognized a Kusasi candidate as the legitimate Bawku Naba, but the 1966 coup government issued National Liberation Council Decree (NLCD) 112 shifting recognition toward Mamprusi claims. In 1983, Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) Law 75 restored Kusasi paramountcy, though this determination has remained contested. Since violence resumed in late 2021, casualty figures have climbed steadily. The municipal chief executive stated in August 2023 that close to 200 people had died since November 2021, exceeding official police records. A 2024 policy assessment by the Clingendael Institute similarly documented hundreds of conflict-related fatalities during the 2021 to 2024 period. Recent months have witnessed particularly severe escalations. In July 2025, violence surged again following the killing of a Kusasi chief and attacks on educational institutions where gunmen killed three high school students. The government responded by deploying additional soldiers and tightening curfew enforcement, which had previously operated from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am before the current adjustment. The conflict has displaced more than 30,000 residents according to multiple reports, disrupting farming activities, trading relationships and essential service delivery in health and education sectors. Business closures have occurred repeatedly during violence surges, with professionals departing the area during escalation periods. Security expert Professor Kwesi Aning has argued that the conflict has evolved beyond its chieftaincy origins, suggesting that organized crime networks and transnational actors now exploit the instability for their own interests. He warned that viewing the situation solely through ethnic or traditional authority lenses obscures newer dynamics driving continued violence. The government has pursued various interventions including specialized taskforces, sustained military and police deployments, and dialogue initiatives. The Bawku Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee, established in 2009 with civil society support, has facilitated community-level engagement. Organizations including the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) have supported mediation and early warning systems with backing from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). President John Mahama, who took office in January 2025, visited Bawku early in his term to meet with traditional rulers from both sides. He held discussions with Bawku Naba Zugraan Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, recognized by Kusasi communities since April 1984, and the Nayiri of the Mamprugu Traditional Area. The president emphasized that achieving peace ranks among his administration’s top priorities. The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has agreed to lead mediation efforts between the conflicting parties. His successful facilitation of the Dagbon chieftaincy dispute resolution has raised hopes that similar processes might yield progress in Bawku. The Asantehene has chaired formal sessions with representatives from both ethnic groups since 2023. Neighboring countries’ security situations add complexity to the challenge. Bawku sits near the border with Burkina Faso, where militant groups operate in unstable regions. Small arms proliferation across porous borders has equipped armed factions within Bawku, making enforcement more dangerous for security personnel. Several forestry staff and law enforcement officers have been killed or severely injured during operations. Former President Nana Akufo-Addo, in his final State of the Nation address in February 2025, expressed sorrow over how a once-thriving commercial hub had deteriorated into what he described as a wasteland of destruction and distrust. He warned that Bawku’s vulnerability made it an attractive target for extremists operating across borders. The economic impact extends beyond immediate violence costs. Resources that could support development projects instead fund security operations and emergency responses. The municipality’s strategic location as a trading center connecting Ghana to Burkina Faso and other West African markets means that continued instability disrupts regional commerce. Accusations of security force misconduct have complicated peace efforts. In July 2025, Members of Parliament (MPs) representing six Kusasi-majority constituencies accused the Ghana Armed Forces of killing six civilians and injuring more than 20 others during what they termed an unprovoked attack. The MPs demanded formal apologies, prosecutions, compensation and strategic reviews of military operations. Curfew renewals have become routine administrative actions as authorities struggle to contain sporadic violence. The Interior Ministry has adjusted hours multiple times throughout 2025, sometimes tightening restrictions to 6:00 pm starts during severe escalations, then easing to 8:00 pm during relatively calmer periods. The situation remains volatile with armed confrontations occurring along major routes including the Bawku-Bolgatanga-Tamale highway. Daily gun battles in some neighborhoods force residents to adjust their movements and economic activities around security concerns. Critics argue that security measures alone cannot resolve underlying grievances about traditional authority, land rights and resource access that fuel the conflict. They advocate for comprehensive approaches addressing historical injustices, economic marginalization and institutional frameworks that perpetuate competing legitimacy claims. The government faces pressure to demonstrate that its approach differs from previous unsuccessful strategies. Questions persist about whether current military deployments and curfew regimes provide stability or simply suppress visible conflict without addressing root causes. As the curfew renewal takes effect, residents continue navigating restricted movement while hoping that parallel mediation efforts produce breakthrough agreements. The challenge involves balancing immediate security imperatives with longer-term reconciliation processes that could finally end one of Ghana’s most protracted internal conflicts. 28th November,2025

TAXES DESPITE REVENUE CRISIS Only 1.2 million Ghanaians currently pay their taxes, a figure the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) describes as alarming and detrimental to domestic revenue mobilisation and national development efforts. Cephas Makafui Zokah, a Compliance Officer at the GRA, attributed the problem partly to low public awareness and reluctance among workers, particularly in the informal sector. He said the Authority has intensified a nationwide tax sensitisation campaign to tackle the challenge and expand the tax net. Zokah made the remarks at a tax education forum in Sunyani attended by artisanal workers including electricians, carpenters, plumbers, masons, tailors, hairdressers, traders and apprentices from the Sunyani and Berekum Municipalities of the Bono Region. The compliance rate stands at approximately 30 per cent, a situation that threatens revenue generation across the country. With Ghana’s informal sector accounting for about 70 per cent of the workforce, tax officials say bringing these workers into compliance could unlock hundreds of millions of cedis annually. The country could mobilise about GH¢800 million in income tax each year if informal sector workers paid their taxes, Zokah told participants at the Sunyani forum. To address the gap, Zokah introduced participants to the Modified Taxation Scheme (MTS), a digital platform designed to simplify tax processes for the informal sector. He took the group through registration and payment procedures, urging them to adopt the system and fulfil their tax obligations more conveniently. The MTS allows informal sector businesses to register with the GRA, file their tax returns and pay required taxes without physical visits to GRA offices. Workers can pay through Mobile Money accounts, ATM cards or at their various banks. Those with smartphones can visit the nearest GRA office for assistance with registration. Zokah explained that the scheme is expected to increase tax revenue, improve compliance, promote fairness and equity across the tax system, and ease administrative burdens on both taxpayers and the Authority. Festus Onomah-Quansah, the Sunyani Area Director of the GRA, emphasised that the application’s flexibility makes payment easier for individuals and small businesses. He reminded citizens that tax collection is a shared responsibility and urged workers, especially those in the informal sector, to demonstrate patriotism by voluntarily paying their taxes to support national development. The tax education drive comes as the GRA launches broader efforts to widen the revenue base. The Authority is targeting eight million new taxpayers through two flagship programmes: the Sustained Tax Education Programme and the Modified Taxation Scheme. Under the first phase of the rollout, the GRA plans to enrol two million new taxpayers annually over the next three years. Officials believe that successfully onboarding these additional taxpayers could yield up to GH¢40 billion in extra domestic revenue over the coming years. Commissioner-General Anthony Kwasi Sarpong has urged the media to intensify public education on tax reforms, noting that without clear and simplified communication, voluntary compliance would remain low. He stressed that many taxpayers hesitate to fulfil obligations when they do not fully understand the system. The GRA has established a Working Group to develop a three-year national tax education strategy aimed at boosting voluntary compliance. Officials warn that relying heavily on enforcement alone risks alienating the majority of taxpayers. The push for broader tax compliance is taking place against the backdrop of major tax reforms set to take effect in January 2026, including changes to the Value Added Tax regime and new measures to capture revenue from digital transactions and cryptocurrency gains. For now, the focus remains on reaching artisans, traders and other informal sector workers through community forums and simplified digital tools that remove traditional barriers to compliance. 28th November,2025

SMARTER FERTILISER BREAKTHROUGH Across the country’s farmlands, a quiet crisis unfolds every planting season. Farmers work tirelessly, invest in fertiliser, and still record underwhelming yields. The culprit is not effort, nor even access — it’s how fertilisers are applied. Decades of blanket recommendations have trained farmers to treat all soils and crops as the same, leading to inefficiency, nutrient imbalance, and lost profit potential. In today’s agriculture, fertiliser selection is no longer a routine decision — it’s a strategic business move. Every bag of fertiliser is a financial decision that determines not only yield, but also the long-term health of the soil. Yet too often, fertiliser choice is made by habit or hearsay, not by evidence. The truth is straightforward: not all fertilisers are created equal, and none work universally. Ghana’s soils are as diverse as its farmers — from the clay-rich fields of the north to the sandy loams along the coast. Each crop, from maize to cocoa to vegetables, has unique nutritional demands at different stages of growth. Fertiliser that boosts one farm’s output can hinder another’s. For many smallholder farmers, the choice often boils down to NPK 15-15-15 or 20-10-10 — a decision made more out of convenience than agronomic need. But this guesswork has a cost. With the right soil data and crop insights, farmers can match nutrient solutions precisely to their field conditions — improving yields, reducing waste, and protecting their soil. That’s where companies like Demeter Ghana Limited are helping to shift the narrative. The company’s range of crop-specific fertilisers and soil-improvement products, from Asaase Hene (Polysulphate), OMEX, Calciprill to balanced NPK formulations, are designed to respond to local soil realities, not override them. More importantly, Demeter Ghana invests heavily in farmer training and soil testing support, ensuring that knowledge accompanies every product sold. The goal isn’t just higher yields, but smarter yields where every cedi spent works harder for the farmer. Matching fertiliser to crop and climate Different crops draw from the soil in different ways. Maize, a heavy nitrogen feeder, demands targeted nutrition during its vegetative stages, while legumes such as beans rely more on phosphorus and potassium to support nodulation. The most profitable approach customises product selection and timing to each crop’s growth pattern — for example, applying a balanced fertiliser at planting, a nitrogen-rich top-dress mid-season, and micronutrient supplements toward grain fill. Some progressive farmers are already pairing inorganic fertilisers with soil conditioners that rebuild organic matter. This integrated approach supports immediate productivity while enhancing long-term fertility, a win for both profits and sustainability. The Economics of Fertiliser Use The cheapest fertiliser is rarely the most profitable. True value lies not in the cost per bag, but in the yield and quality it produces. A well-formulated fertiliser with high nutrient availability might appear costlier, but its efficiency and lower application requirement often make it more economical over time. Farmers who shift their mindset from “price per bag” to “return per acre” see the difference almost immediately. That’s the economics that matter, not what fertiliser costs, but what it earns. Soil Health as the Foundation of Profitability The most sustainable farms treat fertiliser as an investment in soil health. Healthy soils, rich in organic matter and microbial activity, retain nutrients better and respond more efficiently to fertiliser. That’s why practices such as crop rotation, mulching, and the use of organic amendments are no longer optional extras; they are business imperatives for long-term profitability. Fertilisers and soil care are not opposing ideas, they are partners in resilience. A farmer who builds soil health today reduces dependency on external inputs tomorrow. From guesswork to smart work Ghana’s next agricultural leap depends on data-informed, locally adapted fertiliser use. That means testing soils, learning the science behind crops, and seeking professional guidance when selecting products. The transition requires effort, but the payoff is undeniable: higher yields, better-quality crops, healthier soils, and stronger bottom lines. Farmers deserve more than a one-size-fits-all approach. With the right tools, insight, and support — from companies committed to sustainable productivity like Demeter Ghana, they can finally turn every bag of fertiliser into a strategic investment, not a gamble. Because the future of Ghanaian agriculture won’t be defined by how much we grow, but by how intelligently we grow it. 28th November,2025