vicky wireko

Bring back our girls … not skeletons
- Is it not obvious then that this suspect knew what he had done with the girls but tried in crafty ways to cover his back by tricking all into believing that the teenagers were alive?
Ringing in my ears since last week were cries of: “Bring back our girls ……. Not their skeletons.” I am definite that that was the silent cry of parents and other relatives whose promising teenage daughters had gone missing, purportedly kidnapped in Takoradi at different stages last year.
Changing face of white-collar work
- Now with COVID-19, a new world order is about to emerge. One could envisage a reversal of open to enclosed office spaces for white-collar work considering social distancing as a key protocol to be observed.
Change has come to our world. The game changer is COVID-19. When the history of this pandemic comes to be penned down, it is not only the health challenges it brought the people of the world that would be highlighted.
COVID-19 communication must not be cause for stigmatisation
- In any community, the last one would want to see is the pointing of fingers at recovered individuals simply because of dreaded life time side effects that the disease may have left them.
A couple of weeks ago, a discussion that took some space in the media concerned some side effects of COVID-19.
COVID-19: Social distance hugs for frontline medical personnel
- What would one have done without these dedicated medical personnel at these critical times? The coronavirus has taken the world and indeed our nation by surprise. No one saw it ...
The unforgotten ones. Silent and hardly thought about. The news gets focused on the infected, the fatally ill, the dead and the survivors, but hardly on those who get swamped each day, each hour, working tirelessly to save these lives.
The world and, particularly, those of us here in Ghana will do well to stop a minute to celebrate all our frontline medical workers, from doctors to nurses, to pharmacists and all ancillary workers in hospitals and clinics both private and public.
COVID-19: This contagion is shattering lives
- Regrettably, in a matter of four weeks, as at January 27, the active cases have reportedly shot up to 3813 with 377 deaths and the country’s reported average daily cases stands at 600. That sounds scary.
The infected COVID-19 patients last year were reported as cases, so the impact of the disease was not quite felt.
Delta variant - What is in the name?
- Wearing of face masks must be forcefully enforced at all points and those who flout it should be punished as a deterrent.
I am not sure what is in the name delta for this deadly and highly transmissible variant of COVID-19 to have been so christened. I wondered and did not spare a minute to look up the dictionary meaning of the word.
Different strokes – the corrupt and the incorruptible
- This man stopped me to check my luggage tags. I did not have any qualms because that is his job. But what worked me up was his demand saying, “I have done this speedily for you, please help ....
It is not always the case that one meets a gentleman’s gentleman, too honest to a fault. That person would not even accept a freewill offer of a bottle of water after a hot day’s work because his company’s policy says they should not accept a gift for work done.
Extending validity of Ghana passport to 10 years -Time to consider
- My experience in early 2017 when I had to renew my five-year biometric passport gave me nightmares. It was a tiring process moving from one location to the other and office to office with very long waits. I was baffled because the impression created was that applying for a biometric passport and more so renewal was quite easy and straight forward.
We have come far with passport acquisition as Ghanaians. So also have we come very far with the transformation of the Ghana Passport, a legitimate right of every Ghanaian citizen.
Food everywhere but preservation is a problem
- Planting for Food and Jobs may have been one of the contributory factors to the abundance of food items in our markets today. But the rains have also been kind to our planting strategy,...
Written By Vicky Wireko - Going to my home region the other week, I decided to travel the four hour tiresome journey by road rather than the convenience of a thirty minute flight.
If you detest your shape or skin colour, just change it; But should you?
- he story cautioned pregnant women who were taking Glutathione tablets to bleach the skin of their unborn babies to desist from it. The drug, according to experts, could cause birth defects, including damaged internal organs and limbs.
Written By Vicky Wireko - We live in intriguing times; a time when if you dislike your God-given body or colour as a black African, the flexing is: “pamper yourself. Just change it”. But should one live blindly to fashion or peer pressure in things that could have serious health ramifications?
Making sense of Ghanaian-diaspora inclusion - Agenda 111 on my mind
- Football has taught us that sometimes, it is better for the coaches to look further afield to support our local teams with skills and competencies acquired abroad for international matches.
Emancipation, diaspora inclusion, home-coming, year of return, just think of any name or description, we have used them interchangeably to encourage Ghanaians living abroad and African Americans who claim ancestorship in Ghana, to return home and join in the development of our country.
More prophets in Ghana than Israel?
- Today, we have been swamped by thousands of apostles, prophets, Odifou, ‘Nyame Nnipa’ and many more who have invaded our public spaces. Perhaps, the worrying bit is that some ...
On our way from Cape Coast the other week, a colleague made me laugh so hard I nearly fell off my seat. She said there were more prophets in Ghana than in the whole of Israel. And what informed her judgement?
Politics of divisiveness – a thorn in our flesh
- It is so painful to hear people saying Ghana is heading for the worse with the intense divisions created by partisan politics.
Each day we wake up, there is one thing that one cannot miss in the news and that is the guaranteed noises from extreme partisan twists.
Report jeans-wearing wives to the police? Where are the marriage counsellors?
- As I began to process the headline and the story, I asked the question, “But where are the marriage counsellors?”
I had always thought that reading widely was not only refreshing for the brain but also a knowledge builder and another way to learn about and from our world.
Safety and church security; how well do you know the stranger on your pew?
- But there are also those who go immaculately dressed to cover up their intent which is to mingle and steal from purses and offertory bags or to size up and cause harm or ...
Safety breaches and security scares of recent times are making even the most care-free persons think twice as far as security and personal safety are concerned.
Struggle over masks... Stay home alternative
- The time to wear the face mask in all public places has come. The only option for those who think it is an imposition on their personal liberties is for them to stay at home. That is even a far better option, going forward.
Earlier this week, I saw one of the best vivid illustrations, perhaps more of a warning, directed at complacency with COVID-19 protocols, particularly the wearing of face masks.
Table-top momo agents – huge security threat
- I kept pondering why the Telephone Companies (Telcos) are allowing their Momo agents to operate in the open on table-tops with no security whatsoever as if they were selling tomatoes in the open market.
It beats logic as to why one should play down on security and safety even in one’s own backyard. Yet, when the unfortunate happens we shout the loudest for government to step in and help.
I have just returned from my home region, from Bekwai District to be specific. My biggest shock while there was witnessing the unacceptable lackadaisical approach by Mobile Money (Momo) agents to the security and safety of their operations.
The best in the west – Kudos, Kotoka International Airport
- It reminded me that Ghana has some good stories to tell just that we do not applaud ourselves enough unless someone from outside does it for us.
It was the turn of Ghana’s Kotoka International Airport (KIA) for the red carpet the other week. Another best practice acclamation came our way when the Airport Council International made our country proud by ranking the KIA as the best International Airport in West Africa and the fourth best on the African continent.
The Ring Road will always take you home
- The pathetic thing about street hawking on the Ring Road is that the active selling takes place right under the noses of the Fire Service office, the Police Headquarters and the Nima Police Station.
Written By Vicky Wireko - A few years ago, one of the expatriate managers at my former work place made an observation which continues to inform me about the Ring Road in Accra.
The year of return; We must utilise the opportunities

The third homecoming summit of Ghanaians in the diaspora was held earlier this month in Accra to celebrate the Ghana diasporeans and commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first 20 West African slaves in the United States of America.
To every rule there is an exception?
- While it may be true that there is an exception to every rule, there is no doubt that that interpretation has ...
If there is anyone out there who has been helplessly watching on, frustrated with the indiscipline and lawlessness which are mercilessly battering our society, you are not alone. And what do you feel about a recent defence on camera by a lawmaker when he stated that for every rule, there is an exception? Scandalised? You are certainly not alone.
Tramadol abuse; Pharmacy Council where are you?
- The report made some startling revelations on how the users were buying the drug dispensed in very high doses at drinking pubs and marijuana joints across the Ashanti Region. Some also said they got their stock from some local drug stores or from drug peddlers from neighbouring countries using all kinds of code names to sell.
Written By Vicky Wireko - It was as if one had woken up from a trance. I was dazed by the admission of some tramadol abusers on a local FM station the other day. In an interview with a reporter, the abusers recounted what to them were “feel-good” moments when they took the drug.
UK COVID-19 variants spreading in Ghana? What happened to KIA antigen tests?
- It is time to seal every loophole in admitting international passengers at the KIA. The worrying infection rates, the pressure on our health system and dedicated medical staff and the painful loss of lives are regrettable.
Shocking but it is true. Strange United Kingdom (UK) variants of COVID-19 said to be more ferocious than the one we knew in 2020, have escaped from the cold and made their way to the warm weather in Ghana.
What kind of people are we?
- Commercial motorbikes, popularly known as Okada, have unleashed terror on our roads and yet they are outlawed in our country’s statute books. They are totally out of hand now, doing all the unthinkable; breaking road traffic regulations and endangering lives and properties. Amazingly, new ones are being registered every day,...
Written By Vicky Wireko - A group of us were in a bus the other day for church duties when suddenly, a commuter bus (tro-tro) driver made while holding his mobile phone to his ear with one hand negotiated a U-turn dangerously with the other hand.
When foreigners cry and pity our beloved Ghana
- He alleged that during negotiations, these officials begged for few amenities for their communities and then asked for their cut to be paid into their overseas bank accounts. They then scribble their overseas account details on pieces of paper for them.
Written By Vicky Wireko - The news of the sacking of the Minister of Energy, Mr Boakye Agyarko, saddened my heart last Monday night. It was the least expected news to close the day with.
When property rate knocks at your gate should you return to sender?
- Why do we continue to pay property rate to the local assemblies with no corresponding services to communities? And for how long should we give it ...
I can say that I am a law-abiding citizen on the score that I am energised to check in where statutory rules and regulations apply. However, I sulk; I curse and almost swear when my annual property rate notice is delivered at my gate every year.