The year has been very dramatic for Ghana following the turn of events on both the political and economic fronts.
The country certainly has faced some challenging issues throughout the year.
Let’s take a look at the issues that made the headlines in 2021 on Adomonline.com:
Moment Carlos Ahenkorah snatched ballot sheets [Video]
The Member of Parliament (MP)-elect for Tema West, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, snatched ballot sheets during the election to appoint a Speaker for the 8th Parliament.
After the counting of votes for Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, the MP-elect snatched the ballot papers from the Clerk and bolted with them.
Confirmed: Alban Bagbin is new Speaker of Parliament
Another news that got some Ghanaians contented was when one of the oldest serving MPs polled 138 votes against his predecessor’s 136 with one spoilt ballot.
Former Member of Parliament (MP) for Nadowli Kaleo, Alban Sumani Bagbin of the NDC was elected as the Speaker of the 8th Parliament of the Fourth Republic.
He won a chaotic, closely contested secret ballot in the Chamber of Parliament against former Speaker, Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye.
Anti-LGBTQ bill: Parliament to begin public hearing today
For the first time in the history of the country, Parliament was expected to sit for a controversial issue on the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill.
Over 140 memos were presented to the committee regarding the bill.
The bill, if passed, would criminalise Lesbianism, Gayism, Bisexual, Transgender and their related activities.
Achimota SHS allegedly denies two Rastafarians admission
Remember this issue which started after a father identified as Raswad Menkrabea alleged on his Facebook page that his son has been denied admission to Achimota School.
Describing it as a gross human right violation, he vowed to battle the situation out, adding that the dreadlocks did not cause any harm to the children to be denied admission.
Tyrone Iras Marghuy, the Rastafarian student, who was denied admission into Achimota School revealed that he wanted to win the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) for the school.
Tyrone said it has always been on his heart and he had good plans for the school, however, all of those feelings have been ruined by the admission saga that rocked him.
The message sparked a lot of attention after the Rastafarian council appealed to CHRAJ to put an end to the discrimination of their members suffering in public schools.
The two students, who were refused admission, later filed a suit at the Humans Rights Division of the Accra High Court.
The Human Rights Division of the High Court, presided over Justice Gifty Agyei Addo, ruled in favour of the two students on May 3rd and further ordered the school to admit the two Rastafarian students who were denied admission.
However, the school and Attorney General’s Department filed an appeal to challenge the High Court’s ruling.
According to the school, the High Court erred by indicating that the rules and regulations of the school with regard to ensuring uniformity in appearance is unlawful and interferes with one’s religious rights.
The year 2021 also came with many surprises which brought the nation to its knees.
On Saturday, April 3, a 10-year-old Ishmael Mensah Abdallah was murdered at Kasoa by his two teenage friends.
One of the suspects was 18-year-old Nicholas Kini while the second suspect’s identity could not be revealed as Section 3 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2003 (ACT 653) prohibits anyone from revealing the identities of juvenile suspects.
Ishmael was killed for suspected ritual purposes a few hours before his birthday.
He was struck with the wooden handle and later hit with a cement block on the head, leading to his death.
The suspects confessed to the Police they initially wanted to kidnap Ishmael to demand ¢5,000 ransom from his family before killing him to get the needed body part for the spiritualist.
The Ofankor District Court has since charged the two teenagers with murder.
The Central Region Police Command later arrested a priestess allegedly involved in the murder of Ishmael at Amanase near Suhum and she was charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Another topical issue in the year was the Ramadan fasting saga at Wesley Girls.
On April 26, an angry father, Ishmael Zakaria Alhassan, stormed the premises of the Cape Coast-based Girls school amidst threats to withdraw his child.
This was on the back of a report received from his daughter, Bushira Ishmael, that the school authorities stopped her and other Muslim students from partaking in the fast.
The matter became a national interest and gained prominence on social and traditional media and brought about calls for tolerance from several institutions.
Among those who expressed concern over the matter were Muslim MPs, Chief Imam, Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, and the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC).
However, the Wesley Girls’ High School Old Girls’ Association (WGHS OGA) argued the school’s ‘No fasting’ policy was made for health reasons but not to discriminate against other faiths.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) intervened and directed the management and head of all schools to allow Muslim students to partake in the fast.
But it asked that parents of such wards are to write to the respective school relieving it of any obligation should such students suffer health complications.
Kissi Agyebeng nominated Special Prosecutor
Following Martin Amidu’s resignation in November 2020, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Godfred Dame, nominated private legal practitioner, Kissi Agyebeng to head the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
This was in a letter to President Akufo-Addo on April 16. The nomination was subsequently accepted by the President despite numerous criticisms.
The Minority, including Tamale South MP, Haruna Iddrisu and his predecessor, made several comments describing him as young, lacking the experience and credentials and not fit for purpose.
His predecessor indicated the nomination should be worrying to Ghanaians since it was meant to cover the tracks of persons implicated in the corruption risk assessment report of the Agyapa Royalties Transaction.
But during his vetting on July 22, 2021, Mr Agyebeng argued that age is just a number, adding that many influential persons, some he is older than, are key officeholders.
He noted he could not fathom why questions were being raised about his age and capacity when he has colleagues and juniors who occupy relatively higher positions.
Assault against Citi FM’s Caleb Kudah
A journalist with Accra-based Citi FM, Caleb Kudah was picked up by National Security operatives in May 2021.
The operatives stormed the premises of the Adabraka-based station to whisk away the journalist and another colleague, Zoe Abu-Baidoo.
He was arrested for filming a video at the premises of the National Security Ministry.
A development that stirred mixed reactions among Ghanaians amid backlash on the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) President, Affail Monney over comments made on the incident.
Mr Monney had faulted the journalist for breaching the GJA Code of Ethics in going to the premises of the National Security Ministry to film without the required permission.
However, a couple of days after this, Mr Monney issued an apology to Ghanaians and said he did not, at the time of granting the interview, have the full facts of the situation before commenting.
Death of TB Joshua
The news of the death of the founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Temitope Balogun (TB) Joshua shook the foundations of the world in June.
The renowned televangelist passed on on Saturday, June 5, 2021, aged 57 shortly after concluding a programme at his church.
Murder of Kaaka Macho
The murder of Ibrahim Mohammed, also known as Kaaka Macho, sparked chaos at Ejura, leading to the death of two others and six more sustaining gunshot wounds.
There are questions over why the social media activist, who spent time reporting the ills in his society and sought a change on social media platforms, especially Facebook, could become a target for murder in cold blood.
New media watchers wonder how the man whose activism receives little or no attention with limited reach on social media could become a target for making the ruling government unpopular.
It must be on record that the late Ibrahim Mohammed’s advocacy on social media received more attention after his death than the work he did whilst he was alive.
Several visits to his Facebook wall before his demise indicated his social activism series dubbed “What’s going on in Ejura” attracted maximum of two visitors or one in most cases during Facebook Live events.