Nutrition
Ga kenkey
Ga kenkey
Ga kenkey is a popular carbohydrate food in Ghana.It is mostly served with pepper sauce, (shito) and fried fish or tilapia.
Ingredients
-6 Cups of fermented corn dough
-1 Tablespoonful of salt
-3 Cups of water
-Corn husks
-4-5 Cups water (to cook the kenkey)
Preparation
-Carefully peel the husk from the fresh corn and leave it for 24 hours to dry a bit.
-After 24 hours, wash the husk very well and soak in hot water for five minutes.
-Take them out and set on the side.
-Take fermented corn dough and divide it into three equal parts to make it two cups each.
-Take one part which is two cups of the fermented corn dough and place it in a pot.
-Add three cups of water, a tablespoonful of salt and mix well.
-Place the pot on a medium heat and cook until the dough is halfway cooked. Use a wooden spatula to stir and press against the pot as it cooks and thicken.
-Once the dough is halfway cooked, take it off the heat and add the rest of the uncooked fermented dough (which is four cups). Mix very well until everything is mixed.
-Take the corn husk and scoop the mixture onto the husk. Mould the dough with extra husk until the dough is fully covered.
-Hold the bottom of the husk and twist tight. Then find a spot where you can stick the twisted bottom inside the dough. Cover the gap by pulling the husk back in place.
-In a large pot, line the pot with corn husk and place the now wrapped corn dough in the pot.
-Add four to five cups of hot water and cover with more corn husks. Cover with a lid and cook for three to four hours.
-Make sure to check often and add more hot water as needed. About 30 minutes to an hour. Do not add cold water, always add hot water instead. Adding cold water will slow down the cooking time.
After four hours turn the heat off and enjoy with fried fish, ‘shito’ and red pepper sauce on the side.
Source: thefoodihouse.com
Benefits of corn
-Aids digestion and gut health.
-Helps improve good eyesight
-Provides nutrients and vitamins
-Moderately affects blood sugar
-Offers a healthy gluten-free option
The persistence of malnutrition in Ghana raises important questions about leadership and accountability in nutrition governance. While technical expertise and donor support are available, progress remains uneven due to weak accountability mechanisms and limited political prioritisation.
Effective leadership for nutrition requires more than policy statements. It demands clear targets, sustained financing, and transparent monitoring systems.
Nutrition outcomes must be tracked and publicly reported, allowing citizens to assess government performance.
Accountability must extend across all levels of government. National leadership sets the tone, but district and regional authorities are responsible for implementation.
Strengthening leadership capacity at these levels is essential to ensure that national commitments translate into tangible results.
The media and civil society play a critical role in sustaining advocacy and demanding accountability.
By keeping nutrition on the public agenda, they help ensure that commitments are not forgotten once policy documents are launched.
Ghana’s development ambitions, including middle-income growth and human capital development, cannot be achieved while malnutrition persists.
Nutrition outcomes should be treated as indicators of governance effectiveness, alongside economic growth and infrastructure delivery.
Leadership that prioritises nutrition sends a powerful signal about national values and priorities. It demonstrates a commitment to equity, child survival, and long-term prosperity.
The fight against malnutrition is ultimately a test of leadership. Ghana has the knowledge, resources, and capacity to succeed. What is needed now is the political will to act decisively and hold institutions accountable for results.
Key policy recommendations: The Ghana Statistical Service should establish a National Nutrition Dashboard, publishing real-time data on stunting, wasting, and micronutrient deficiencies by district and region, updated quarterly and accessible to the public.
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) must conduct annual nutrition expenditure reviews, tracking budget allocations versus actual spending across all MDAs.
The Office of the President should institute an Annual National Nutrition Summit where Ministers and DCEs present progress reports, with independent evaluation by civil society organizations.
The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) should launch a “Nutrition Accountability Campaign” educating citizens on nutrition as a governance issue and how to demand action from elected officials. Media houses should be supported to develop specialized nutrition reporting units that investigate and expose gaps in service delivery.
Finally, the Auditor-General’s office should include nutrition programme audits in its annual work plan, examining value-for-money and impact of nutrition investments with findings presented to Parliament.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project
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Ingredients
– 2 large onions (chopped)
– 4 eggs
-3 tomatoes
– 1 green pepper
– 2 carrots
– Salt to taste
Method
– Wash all vegetables (Onion, tomatoes, green pepper, carrots) and cut into cubes
– Crack all eggs into a bowl
– Lightly whisk the eggs and add a pinch of salt together until all the ingredients are mixed
-Add vegetables and whisk
– Heat oil on fire and pour the egg mixture and let it sit, without stirring, for 20 seconds.
– Stir with a spatula, lifting and folding it over from the bottom of the pan. Let it sit for another 10 seconds then stir and fold again.
– Turn off the heat and leave for a few seconds to finish frying
-Give a final stir and serve the scramble egg
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