Kwami Ahiabenu,II Knowledge Chief

  By Bernard Tabaire ( email the author ) Posted Sunday, July 29 2012 at 01:00 Sometime in the late afternoon of Tuesday last week, a hush swept through the room affecting only Ghanaians. But amongst them were journalists, and the need to spread news, or some version of it, quickly overcame them. Kwami, seated a table away in a meeting room at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in Accra, passed me a note. President Atta Mills was in a bad way. Then I got another note from another Ghanaian. About an hour later, the Ghanaian journalists in the group had stopped paying attention to their compatriot who was leading a session on how oil is metered. Their BlackBerrys, smart phones, iPads and tablets were aflame inside the room and on the balcony. The President was dead. Later in the GIMPA dining room, debate revolved around whether the presidential passing had altered the dynamic heading into the December pres...

Accra, June 21, GNA-The International Institute for ICT Journalism (Penplusbytes) would on Thursday June 21, hold a workshop on "Connecting civil society and media for credible 2012 Ghana Elections." in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region. The workshop forms part of African Elections Project (AEP), "Enabling Peaceful Transparent and Credible Elections in Ghana Using New Media Project" with funding from STAR-Ghana, a release issued and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday by Mr Kwami Ahiabenu II, Team Leader, Penplusbytes said in Accra. It would bring together journalists and civil society actors around the upcoming elections from the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions. The next workshop is expected to be held in the southern sector of Ghana. The Connecting Media And Civil Society for Credible 2012 Ghana Elections workshop aims at facilitating an effective and efficient civil society interacti...

Kwami Ahiabenu, II, is a team leader of International Institute for ICT Journalism [1] , the co-ordination organisation for African Elections Project [2] (AEP). With over nine years of experience in management, marketing, new media, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and development, Kwami was Executive Director of AITEC Ghana and a former board member of Ghana Information Network for Knowledge Sharing (GINKS). He served as a key committee member for the organization of World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) African Regional Meeting 2005. He has undertaken several training sessions on new media across Africa. He is a Steve Biko and Foster Davies Fellow. African Elections Project was established in 2008 with the vision of enhancing the ability of journalists, citizen journalists and the news media to provide more timely and relevant elections information and knowledge while undertaking monitoring of specific and important asp...

When the oil sector in Ghana and Uganda are well managed, the revenue generated would be major contributions to both economies, a Senior Geophysicist of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development in Uganda, has said. Mr Bernard Ongodia however warned of many dire consequences that might affect the two emerging economics should they ignore to take measures to manage the sector. Addressing journalists at an ongoing training programme in oil and gas reporting being held in Kampala, Mr Ongodia said Uganda which discovered oil in 2006 had not started producing the product because it had taken time to put the necessary infrastructure and institutions as well as other mechanisms in place before embarking on production. Ghana which discovered it oil finds in 2007 on the other, started the production before putting in place other major infrastructure and frameworks. The 10-day training is being organised by Ghana based Penplusbytes, an International...

The Fourth International Institute for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Journalism (Penplusbytes) innovative global online course is underway with 35 participants drawn from Africa, Asia, North America and Europe. A statement issued in Accra by Mr Jeremiah Sam of Penplusbytes, copied to Ghana News Agency on Monday said the objective of the course was to teach the theory and concept of ICT journalism; the impact of ICT on Journalism and how to increase excellence in journalism using ICT as a tool. The course which began on Friday, April 20, would end on Friday, July 20 and would expose participants to the wider context of ICT assisted journalism including how these technologies are impacting on the world of journalism. Mr Kwami Ahiabenu, the course facilitator stated that, “The course is designed to enable participants harness the power of ICT in producing high quality impactful stories, and how to manage change process in using innovative ICT tools.” He noted that ...

We were privileged to have Dr. Alabi serve on ICONNECT GHANA editorial board during inaugural editions of this GINKS publication May His Soul rest in perfect peace Kwami Dr. Niyi Alabi is dead, burial on Friday Seasoned journalist and media trainer and consultant, Dr. Niyi Alabi has been reported dead. Family sources say Dr Alabi passed away at 3:20am Thursday at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra where he had been on admission for the past two weeks for an ailment. He will buried tomorrow Friday, in keeping with his Muslim calling. Family sources say the body will be conveyed to the Madina Central Mosque at midday for religious rites before interment at the Madina cemetery. Dr. Alabi, who worked with many international organisations around the world, would have turned 60 in September. Dr. Niyi Alabi has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education (1st Class Honours) from the University of Cape Coast; a Diplôme Supérieur d’Etudes Françaises from the Université d’Abidjan, Cô...

Ben Akoh & Kwami Ahiabenu II The African Elections Project ( www.africanelections.org ) was established with the vision of enhancing the ability of journalists, citizen journalists and the news media to provide more timely and relevant election information and knowledge, while undertaking monitoring of specific and important aspects of elections using social media tools and ICT applications. Elections are the cornerstone of democracy and the media have a key role to play in deepening democracy by providing impartial coverage of elections. In addition to traditional election coverage, online election reporting on the Africa continent has been experiencing growth in recent years. It takes the form of special election websites that incorporate elements of citizen journalism or crowdsourcing and is mostly driven by mobile phones. It is mashed up with blogs, interactive maps and social media tools such as Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Facebook among others. This article chronicles the Af...

This May, in Kampala, Uganda, Revenue Watch will begin our third class for African journalists seeking new expertise in reporting on oil, gas and minerals. Without an informed, responsive media community providing oversight of the money from these industries, governance weakens, corruption rises and citizens lack the knowledge to hold their governments accountable and the opportunity to benefit fully from their country's natural resource wealth. The application process is open to journalists from Ghana and Uganda. The program is designed for individuals with a demonstrated interest in reporting about the extractive sectors of oil, gas and minerals. To fill out an application now, go to:www.revenuewatch.org/mediatraining2012. This latest class in our ongoing media training program is conducted in partnership with the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) in Uganda, Ghana-based Penplusbytes and the Thomson Reuters Foundation. After the initial Uganda session from 14-23 May, two ...

A LECTURER at the Department of the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the College of the Engineering of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has acknowledged the huge potentials of Ghana’s oil find. Dr. Stephen Kudom Donyinah says the quality of Ghana’s oil is unique and, therefore, Ghana cannot fail with the discovery. He was sharing his views on Ghana’s budding oil and gas industry at the launch of the “Strengthening Media Oversight of the Extractive Sectors Pilot program” in Kumasi, under the Oil and Gas Project of the Penplusbytes (International Institute for ICT Journalism), in conjunction with Revenue Watch Institute, to increase media coverage of the oil related issues. The pilot programme aims at promoting good governance and an effective oversight of the oil, gas and mining (extractive) resources and revenues, and ensuring a knowledgeable and active media which is critical to having an informed and engaged public, civil society and parliament t...

Future journalists will gather at the Accra International Press Centre on 21st October, 2011 for the first Boot Camp on online Journalism under the theme "Enhancing your Future as a Journalist through Online Journalism" Keynote address for the occasion will be delivered by Ethan Zuckerman, Director of the MIT Center for Civic Media, USA and board member of Penplusbytes and Dr. Kwabena Riverson, board chair of Penplusbytes, will deliver welcome address with Kenneth Ashigbey managing Director of Daily Graphic Company serving as chair for this important boot camp. The Boot Camp is aimed at providing learning and knowledge exchange opportunities in online journalism topics such as. ; online News Publishing and Online tools for gathering news, revenue models for online news, modern trends in broadcast technologies and social media and journalism. The International Institute for ICT Journalism (Penplusbytes) working with Ghana Journalists Association(GJA) is organ...

Penplusbytes in collaboration with the Ghana Journalists Association will be organizing a first ever boot camp on online for future journalists at the Accra International Press Centre on 21st October 2011 with support from Main One and Raycom Technologies . The boot camp forms part of 10th anniversary of the International Institute for ICT's Journalism (Penplusbytes), which was establish on 18th July 2001 with the vision of  empowering the media through the use of ICTs. Under the theme "ENHANCING YOUR FUTURE AS A JOURNALIST THROUGH ONLINE JOURNALISM" is aimed at educating budding journalists on online reporting and related technologies and how they can take advantages of opportunities offered by online journalism as part of their career development plan.  as journalists. www.penplusbytes.org

Accra, Aug. 16, GNA - Staff of African Elections Project (AEP) would participate in the coverage of the Liberian Referendum scheduled for August 23. This would be under its Liberia Elections Incidents Monitoring system project in strategic partnership with Humanity United. This was contained in a statement issued in Monrovia on Tuesday by Mr Jeremiah Sam of Penplusbytes and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra. AEP was established in 2008 to enhance the ability of journalists and the mass media to provide more timely and relevant election information and knowledge while undertaking the monitoring of specific and important aspects of governance. "Liberia's referendum has largely been viewed as a giant stride in the country's democracy since the end of the civil war in 2003. It entails a "yes" or "no", to the four proposed constitutional amendments, including whether the country should hold its general elections in October or November ...

African Elections Project (AEP) is covering Liberian Referendum scheduled for 23 rd of August, 2011 under its Liberia elections incidents monitoring system project www.myliberiawins.org in strategic partnership with Humanity United ( http://humanityunited.org/   ) Liberia's referendum has largely been viewed as a giant stride in the country's democracy since the end of the civil war in 2003. A "yes" or "no" to the four (4) proposed constitutional amendments, including whether the country should hold its general elections in October or November during its elections year.   In addition to its main website www.myliberiawins.org AEP is working with the Liberia Media Centre, Ushahidi Liberia and other partners to provide comprehensive report of happenings and events from all the 4,457 polling places spread across the 1,780 voting precincts via an SMS system,   a Call centre   and   the use of social media tools such as twitter , facebook   an...

Rhodes University's Highway Africa programme and its partners are pleased to announce the opening of the nomination process for the prestigious Highway Africa New Media Awards.   For 11 years these unique awards within the profession of journalism on the continent, have been rewarding pioneering, innovative and creative use of technology in journalism and the media. The Awards were established reward and recognise African innovation in the area of digital media and to highlight the role that digital technologies play in journalism and the media at large.   The Highway Africa New Media Awards are in three categories:   Individual – awarded to individual persons who design or appropriate new affordable applications of communication technologies to overcome the limitations of existing infrastructure and / or capital resources.   Not – for – profit – awarded to users of appropriate media technology to advance and assist communities and persons limited by infrastruc...

African Elections Project Liberia monitoring team has spotted a new group on Facebook for upcoming Liberia 2011 Elections called Liberia Elections 2011 Media Monitoring Group According to the group page it is designed to discuss media coverage of the elections based on media monitoring results and alerts of on media compliance to code of ethics, journalism standards and conflict sensitive elections reporting. join the group at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_137338993012105

With a lot of high-speed Internet cable landing on the coast of Ghana the expectation was that Internet prices will go down. With a majority of persons in Ghana accessing  Internet on the mobile phones using internet dongles, it quite interesting for MTN to increase  its pricing on its mobile data service. According to the company, the prices went up in the name of price rationalization, not sure what that means. Internet campaign currently going on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/MTN-your-new-internet-charges-are-too-much-aba-do-something-about-it/118902514865411   and   http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=240006512691473 to aimed to pushing MTN to reduce prices. see MTN Ghana official customer satisfaction page at http://www.facebook.com/mtnghanacustomers

Monday's arrest of former President Laurent Gbagbo, ending the four-month post-election standoff, was largely met with relief in Ivory Coast. But the divisions in the country—possibly worse now than at the time of the election last November—means the nation's legitimate president, Alassane Ouattara, will have to be a skillful broker if he hopes to bring the battered nation together. Ouattara, a former deputy director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), had the support of a majority of voters in last November's election. Nevertheless, the vote split between Ouattara and Gbagbo ran along much the same lines as north-south alliances in the 2002–3 civil war. Gbagbo posited the fight for the presidency—and his fight to stay on even after losing the election—as a battle for the nation itself for true Ivorians, accusing Ouattara of being a puppet of France and the West. On April 1, with the support of France and the United Nations, Ouattara launched what became a...

Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is organizing a one-day workshop on the impact of new/social media on development, scheduled for Tuesday, 19th April 2011 at 9:30 a.m. at the Ghana International Press Centre, under the theme: "The Role of New/Social Media in the Promotion of Press Freedom". The workshop is part of GJA's celebration of the 2011 World Press Freedom Day on May 3, which is under the theme: "21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers".           Chairperson – Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, Chairman, National Media Commission  ( NMC)       Welcome Remarks – Mr. Ransford Tetteh, GJA President   Speakers/Topics The State of Social Media -Global overview and The Frontiers and Barriers to Social Media   -  Ms. Myra Michele Brown U.S. Embassy Challenges to Journalistic Standards in a Digital Age -Kwami Ahiabenu,II www.penplusbytes.org Professor Linus ...

Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is organizing a one-day workshop on the impact of new/social media on development,   scheduled for Tuesday, 19th April 2011 at 9:30 a.m. at the Ghana International Press Centre, under the theme: "The Role of New/Social Media in the Promotion of Press Freedom". The workshop is to usher in the GJA's celebration of the 2011 World Press Freedom Day on May 3, which is under the theme: "21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers". During this workshop, I hope to make a presentation on the topic :  Challenges to Journalistic Standards in a Digital Age (Kwami Ahiabenu,II www.penplusbytes.org ) Other topics and invited speakers include : Chairman of National Media Commission The President of GJA The State of Social Media – Global overview/ The Frontiers and Barriers to Social Media    -   Ms. Myra Michele Brown   U.S. Embassy   Professor Linus Abraham, Director, NAFTI Social Media: the Gender ...

African Elections Project (AEP)  http://www.africanelections.org/niger , your authoritative elections information and news services is covering Niger Elections 2 nd   round slated to take place on Saturday the 12 th   of March 2011 between the former   Prime Minister Seini Oumarou(MNSD-Nassa ) and   long-term opposition figure Mahamadou Issoufou(PNDS-Taray) The Niger 1 st   round general elections, took place on  Monday 31 st  January 2011 to elect a president out of 10 candidates and 113 members of parliament. The final results indicated that, none of the 10 candidates who aspired to be president got more than the 50% required thereby necessitating a second round to take place.  According to Gerard Guedegbe, who is leading a team of reporters to cover this elections said "African Elections Project is set to provide timely  and relevant elections information and knowledge while undertaking covering specific an...