The Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA) has announced that it has launched an investigation into the practice of two healthcare facilities located in South Odorkor in Accra.
HeFRA’s action follows The Fourth Estate’s investigations which discovered that Francisca Quaye, alias ‘Matron Gaga’, an unlicensed midwife’s over 30 years of malpractice has resulted in numerous medical accidents, including the death of at least two babies under disturbing circumstances at the facilities within 11 months.
The Registrar of HeFRA, Dr. Philip Banor, says the agency on Tuesday dispatched a team to the New Generation Medical Centre where Ms. Quaye worked for almost three decades, and the Adam Family Specialist Clinic, where she found a new job after she was sacked from the former.
“This is pretty bad, and it is unfortunate that it went on without someone noticing and stopping it earlier than that. But once we’re involved, we’ll make the necessary referrals and we’ll discipline both the ownership and management of the facilities,” he told Joy FM on Tuesday.
Possible sanctions
Quack midwife, Francisca Quaye, and CEO of New Generation Medical Centre, Dr. Ralph Owusu Obeng Snr.
Dr. Banor says should investigations establish culpability, the management and owners of the institution will be sanctioned. The sanctions include the revocation of a facility’s license, and referral of the medical professionals involved to the professional bodies, including the Medical and Dental Council for sanctions.
Where the findings border on criminality, he says the agency would recommend that Attorney-General prosecute the offenders.
In the case of Francisca Quaye, who is not a midwife and is currently on the run, he says her case would be referred to the police.
It is an offence under Section 23 of the HeFRA Act (Act 829) to provide the regulatory institution with false information concerning the premises or to fail to submit the health data required to the Ministry of Health.
Section 15b of the law allows HeFRA to deny the renewal of a health facility’s license if it has “reasonable grounds to believe that the continued operation of the practice by the licensee will create a risk to public health, public safety or is indecent.”
Dr. Banor says the agency faces many constraints which prevent it from executing its mandate, including manpower.
Although the country has more than 15,000 healthcare facilities, the agency has only 125 personnel performing HeFRA’s monitoring functions.
Hiding the unqualified
With HeFRA required to announce schedules for its visits to health facilities before actually arriving for inspections, he says the agency is at a disadvantage when it comes to detecting fake healthcare personnel on the payroll of some of the facilities because the managements tend to devise ingenious ways of hiding them.
“The question is after you leave, who do they bring in? There are some people who don’t provide the list because they know there are issues and then the law says you must have a minimum number of [healthcare professionals]. There might be eight people working there, they give you six people as qualified. But then they go and hire other people.”
When The Fourth Estate wrote to HeFRA in 2022, it indicated that Francisca Quaye was not on the roll of workers the two institutions submitted to it.
“Unless you get a report like [The Fourth Estate’s] or someone reports them, then you make unannounced visits and enter the premises and so on [to investigate],” he explains.
Asked if HeFRA needs to announce its facility visits knowing that some of the facilities have been hiring unqualified persons, he says that can only happen after the agency receives a tip-off.
“The two institutions are registered but that woman was not registered. That is the funny thing they did. They know there might be an issue.”
Monitoring fees
Currently, the facilities are obligated to pay a monitoring fee to HeFRA before officials from the agency can visit and perform their functions intended to safeguard public health.
Dr. Banor acknowledges that the current arrangement poses challenges for HEFRA in fulfilling its role because when facilities fail to pay their monitoring fee, HEFRA is unable to conduct visits.
“Unfortunately, they have to pay for us to come. They have to pay monitoring fees and we use their fees to do the monitoring,” he says.
To authenticate the credibility of healthcare facilities, he advises patients to look out for the HeFRA license displayed at the facility.
Ironically, the New Generation Medical Centre and Adams Family Specialist Clinic had their licenses displayed but still employed Francisca, who is unqualified to practice midwifery in their facilities.
The Fourth Estate’s visit
Adams Family Specialist Clinic.
Meanwhile, When The Fourth Estate visited the two institutions on Tuesday, the New Generation Medical Centre was the busier of the two. At least two pregnant women at the facility were receiving healthcare.
There was, however, only one patient at the Adams Family Specialist Clinic.
Health sector regulations are designed to curtail quacks like Francisca Quaye, who practised midwifery for more than three decades without any form of training. Should the laws work as expected, the system should have stopped her from entering the health sector or fished her out within a short time.
Had the licensing and inspection regimes of the Health Facilities Regulatory Authority (HeFRA) and the monitoring of the Nursing and Midwifery Council been effective, Francisca would probably have been an administrative staff or an orderly, at best.
For decades, she thrived as a midwife on the laxity of enforcement of laws and rose to become the matron of a private hospital that delivered at least 20 babies monthly.
The system did not just fail. It failed pregnant women who went through Francisca’s hands, hoping to receive competent care, from a licensed facility and practitioners.
Some lost their babies. Others had their babies maimed. Some suffered a postpartum haemorrhage while others had their reproductive organs stitched terribly—sutured—as the medical professional would put it.
There was no such thing as being trained on the job to qualify as a midwife in Ghana.
On top of that, they paid illegal fees, fees already covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), directly into Francisca’s pocket.
What the laws say
Although the law did not permit her to be a midwife, she told The Fourth Estate that she had 34 years of experience.
Per Section 58 (3) of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act (Part 3):
“(1) A person does not qualify to practice as a nurse, midwife or nurse assistant unless that person (a) holds a certificate from an institution recognised by the Council, and (b) passes a licentiate or professional examination conducted by the Council.”
However, the board has the discretion to grant exemptions to persons deemed fit.
Quack midwife, Francisca Quaye, whose 30-year practise resulted in the death of babies at the New Generation Medical Centre.
Francisca Quaye didn’t attend any accredited training institution or passed any examinations. Neither has she been given the green light by the Board of the N&MC as she confessed to The Fourth Estate.
The Fourth Estate wrote to the N&MC on August 12, 2021, requesting the status of Francisca Quaye as a midwife.
In a verbal response, the nursing and midwifery regulatory body said it needed more information to be able to dig through its database.
But unofficial search in the N&MC database indicated that no such midwife existed.
Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Felix Nyante says “If you don’t sit and pass the licence and exams, if you are not registered by the council, you cannot say I am a registered midwife.”
However, in an interview on February 22, 2022, the registrar of the N&MC, Felix Nyante, said there was no such thing as being trained on the job to qualify as a midwife in Ghana.
“You see, whatever we do, we are guided by this Act,” Mr. Nyante said, raising a booklet of the law that empowers the council.
“If somebody says, ‘I’m trained on the job’, you don’t pass through our regulatory mechanisms. You cannot put your hands on your chest to say, ‘I´m a midwife’. And when we don’t also pronounce on you that you are a midwife by virtue of the fact that, one, you meet the entry requirements…,” he said.
He continued, “So, you are put in a classroom to be trained. You are sent to the hospital to also gain some clinical skills. A nurse’s supervision, preceptorship, mentorship and all those things [are necessary]. If you don’t sit and pass the licence and exams, if you are not registered by the council, you cannot say, ‘I am a registered midwife.’”
‘There is nothing like learning on the job for the unqualified’
While Francisca did not have any training, she learned on the job, courtesy of Dr. Owusu of the New Generation Medical Centre, where Francisca was employed for 28 years, and Dr. Essuman of the Adam Family Specialist Clinic, where she got a new job two months after she was sacked by the former.
Dr. Nana Oduro Essuman employed Francisca Quaye as Midwife Assistant but the Nursing and Midwifery Council says there is no such designation in the nursing practise in Ghana.
Asked if the midwifery system in Ghana recognised any designation as ‘midwife assistant’ as Dr. Essuman suggested, Mr. Nyante said, “No.”
The President of the Midwives Association of Ghana, Mary Ofosu, agreed with Mr. Nyante but was quick to add that some private health facilities had such personnel.
Mr. Nyante pulled out a list of people who impersonated nurse assistants and nurses but were arrested in public health facilities across the country and added that the N&MC published the faces of such people in national newspapers.
The conversation delved into an inter-institutional collaboration between the N&MC and the Health Facilities Regulatory Authority (HeFRA), which is in charge of licensing health facilities.
“Do you work with HeFRA?” The Fourth Estate asked him.
“…Yes, sometimes when HeFRA has or encounters any challenge, they verify from us whether this practitioner is in good standing or not in good standing. Certain times,” he said.
“Apart from them getting in touch with you, do you work together? For instance, you’re licensing the practitioner and they are licensing the facility. They do a lot of inspections.
“We also do a lot of inspections.”
“You do inspections?”
“We don’t call it an inspection. We call it to support supervision and accreditation.”
He said the N&MC monitoring teams visit both public and private health facilities to observe best practices, according to its procedure manual.
This document can be likened to a nurses’ and midwives’ bible.
During these visits, the practitioners are also given the opportunity to clarify nagging issues concerning their work.
But the response didn’t sound like private facilities were part of the monitoring.
The Fourth Estate probed further: “Does this system track private hospitals as well?”
“The regulation is not only for public facilities. Yes, it tracks private.”
“And also tracks the qualifications of those practicing there?”
“Yes. You see, before you even set out to do anything, you would have written to the facility. Usually, it is only fair to inform the facility ahead of time. And then you even request the list of the staff in that facility and you give them a template, so they’re able to tell you the registration number, validity of the license of the person. And then you even compare it in your database here before you set out. So, you have some fair idea of the standings of the staff before you set out.”
“Using this system, is it possible for you to lose within the mill, someone who is a quack for instance, and has been in the system for 30 years. Is it possible?”
“I wouldn’t say no. It might be possible. It might be possible. But once our radar falls on you, we’ll bring you to book.”
Asked how it was possible that for [almost]30 years, a quack midwife avoided their net, he said it was possible because humans by nature didn’t like regulation.
“So, can we say with certainty that every single healthcare facility in Accra for instance, is checked by you, in search of qualified midwives, qualified nurses?”
“It´s not that easy. Per the law, we are supposed to. But it’s not that easy.”
“Why is it not easy?”
“You have just limited it to Accra. But essentially, it’s not only Accra, it is the whole country…
“So, we sample. Those we sampled last year, of course, this year we wouldn’t go there. But we have a robust database of all the institutions that come under our regulation. That’s why I said if any institution exists without our knowledge, then this institution is not under our regulation, and we cannot say that we are regulating that institution.”
Offences
Over the years, the spotlights have been on quacks caught in the act in health facilities but the owners of those hospitals and clinics go scot-free.
But Section 73 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Part 3), makes it an offence to engage unqualified persons to practice.
For the quacks, it is an offence to practice in a licensed facility, or provide unauthorised service in a licensed facility.
“Although both facilities are licensed, Examination of the files of the two facilities did not indicate the inclusion of the mentioned Francisca Quaye in the staff nominal roles of either facility during the registration, inspection, post-inspection, and by extension, the entire licensing process.”
According to the law, a person found guilty of any of these offences “is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than 500 penalty units and not more than 5,000 penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not more than ten years or to both.”
To be eligible for a license, HeFRA requires “copies of certificates of proposed practitioners in the practice and proof of their up-to-date registration with their professional bodies.” This is on HeFRA’s website.
As part of promoting a standard of care, HeFRA does annual inspections of both facilities and personnel.
Registrar of the Health Facilities Regulatory Authority (HeFRA), Dr.Philip A.Bannor says both the New Generation Medical Centre and Adams Specialist Clinic do not have Francisca Quaye’s name in their nominal role.
In a letter dated February 16, 2022, and addressed to the Registrar of HeFRA, The Fourth Estate enquired about the status of Francisca Quaye and her working relationship with the two facilities.
The Fourth Estate sought to know if Francica’s name ever came up during the assessment of the two facilities for licensing.
In a response dated February 17, 2022, and signed by its head, Dr. Philip A. Bannor, HeFRA said:
“Although both facilities are licensed, Examination of the files of the two facilities did not indicate the inclusion of the mentioned Francisca Quaye in the staff nominal roles of either facility during the registration, inspection, post-inspection, and by extension, the entire licensing process.”
Interestingly, Dr. Ralph Obeng Owusu told The Fourth Estate that his clinic’s license had been renewed. Dr. Nana Oduro Essuman of the Adams Family Clinic also said HeFRA had been on an inspection tour of the facility in January 2022.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council’s registrar, Felix Nyante, told The Fourth Estate that health facility managers who conceal the information on unlicensed practitioners would not be spared by the law.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story shall not be republished or broadcast, in part or in full, in any shape or form without the express permission of the Editor-in-Chief.
In parts one and two of this story, we chronicled how The Fourth Estate uncovered an unlicensed midwife whose 30-year history of practice has resulted in the death of at least two babies within a year and the laissez-faire attitude of the owners of the facilities she worked. Today’s story reveals how the New Generation medical centre provided the Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate with false statistics about its operations.
In February 2022, The Fourth Estate wrote to the Ablekuma North Municipal Health Directorate requesting data on maternal and infant mortality at the New Generation Medical Centre, Sakaman, from 2019 to 2021.
The Municipal Health Directorate supervises all the health facilities under its jurisdiction.
This was to establish the number of mothers and children who had died at the facility within the period.
The response arrived nine months later— October 2022— although it was dated March 29, 2022.
“Per the Ghana Health Service (GHS) Code of Ethics and per the Standard Operating Procedures of Health Information for GHS external person seeking certain information pertaining to the service, kindly refer your letter to the Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate,” the letter signed by Dr. Yaa Dankwa said.
As it so happens, The Fourth Estate had already written to Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate in March 2022, asking for the clinic’s five-year child and maternal mortality statistics.
Their response came on April 11, 2022. Astonishingly, the New Generation Medical Centre says it did not record a single death, be it a child or mother, in the five years under review.
The Fourth Estate, however, established that within a span of 11 months, at least two babies died at the hospital.
A baby born to Kate Tetteh (not her real name) died on June 25, 2020. Another infant, Selasie’s baby, died on May 21, 2021.
Ideally, the New Generation Medical Centre is expected to submit monthly reports to its supervisory facility, the Ablekuma North Municipal Health Directorate.
Maternal and Infant Mortality Rate at the New Generation Medical Centre between 2016-2021.
Source: Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate.
Although the reports were submitted to the regional health directorate for the past five years, it appears the figures were ‘cooked up’ and did not capture the death of at least two babies in 2020 and 2021 as The Fourth Estate established.
The quack-midwife-turned-matron, Francisca Quaye, confessed that she sometimes delegated the writing and submission of these reports to her subordinates.
Her boss, Dr. Ralph Obeng Owusu Snr, the Chief Executive Officer of the New Generation Medical Centre, told The FourthEstate that he did not pay attention to such records.
Background
When Kate Tetteh’s (not her real name) baby died at the New Generation Medical Hospital in June 2020, the midwife in charge, Francisca Quaye, and the facility did not communicate the whereabouts of the baby to her until three days later.
Francisca convinced her that the baby was sent to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital because she wasn’t breathing well.
The story changed from the baby’s breathing difficulties to a brain tumour.
It took Kate’s mother to break the news to her. Kate said she was broken and vowed never to give childbirth another attempt.
Francisca corroborated Kate’s account, insisting that it was an attempt to help the first-time mother who had lost the child under her supervision.
The baby died a stillbirth, the clinic’s records show. This was not captured in the Ablekuma North Municipal Health Directorate’s records.
That was not the only death recorded in the New Generation Medical Center.
Selasie Awaworyie’s baby weighing 4 kg died on May 21, 2021, at 7.45 pm.
The baby got stuck in the birth canal for about 20-30 minutes.
The weight of the baby should have alarmed the clinic to refer her, Dr. Owusu would later admit to The Fourth Estate.
Repercussions
The facility’s failure to provide accurate data to the Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate undermines Ghana’s drive to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 3. This goal places priority on high-quality, evidence-based obstetric and neonatal care as a way to reduce maternal and infant mortalities.
This failure, according to the Health Institutions and Facilities Act,2011 (Act 829) is an offence punishable by law.
Section 23 of the Health Institutions and Facilities Act, 2011 says anyone who commits an offence by providing unauthorised services in a licensed facility and provides the Board with false information concerning the premises or practice “is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than five thousand penalty units or to not more than ten years term of imprisonment or both and in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine of ten penalty units for each day.”
Part four of this story will be published on Friday, May 26, 2023.
In all these, what roles could regulatory bodies, including the Nurses and Midwifery Council (N&MC) and the Health Facilities Regulatory Authority (HeFRA) have played in keeping the likes of Francisca Quaye out of health facilities? How they respond to The Fourth Estate’s enquiries will be detailed in our report.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story shall not be republished or broadcast, in part or in full, in any shape or form without the express permission of the Editor-in-Chief.
After 18 months of investigative reporting at a private health facility in Accra, The Fourth Estate’s Evans Aziamor-Mensah and Seth J. Bokpe have uncovered a frightening case of ‘Matron Gaga’, an unlicensed midwife whose 30-year track of malpractice has resulted in numerous medical accidents including the death of at least two newborn babies.
Inside the labour ward of New Generation Medical Centre, a private clinic in the South Odorkor Estates at Sakaman in Accra, Kate Tetteh (not her real name), a heavily pregnant beautician was writhing and groaning in pain from her first labour pangs. As her contractions peaked, her screaming grew louder.
But the nurses on duty found that funny: they laughed out loud.
“They were even teasing me,” Kate, 28, recalls in disgust.
All she wanted at that point was professional assistance, as one would expect from a health facility. What she got at New Generation was derision. Her request for her fiancé and her mother to be allowed in to soothe her was summarily dismissed.
The ordeal became even heavier than she anticipated.
The beautician says she felt like she was between life and death, alone. She says the professionals who should have been her helpers became her tormentors.
“When my baby’s head was visible, the midwife who was the one delivering me wasn’t around.”
Francisca Quaye alias Lady Gaga, the quack midwife, whose unprofessionalism led to the death of at least two infants and the maiming of others at the New Generation Medical Centre.
The ‘midwife’ in question is Francisca Quaye alias Matron Gaga. Matron Gaga had apparently taken some time off her busy cooking preoccupation to visit the nuisance of her patient who was admitted to the facility to deliver a baby. Kate says Matron Gaga walked into the labour ward to check on her holding a cooking utensil in one hand and vegetables in the other.
“When she returned, she was holding a knife and an onion or something; I don’t remember. I didn’t see her again for like five minutes.”
Kate’s ordeal and loss
Kate, who lives in Accra, says she first visited the New Generation Medical Centre on June 24, 2020. According to her antenatal records, she had a normal pregnancy, with her baby kicking from time to time as expected. According to her scan, she could deliver any day between June 19 and 30,2020.
And then a strange thing happened: even though Kate still had a week left within the expected delivery window, Matron Gaga, contrary to all established medical practice, decided to artificially induce labour by prescribing the oral medication Cytotec.
And then she asked the confused expectant mother to go back home.
Cytotec is used to induce labor in women. It works by softening the cervix to allow easier dilation and producing contractions. In most cases, Cytotec is a safe and reliable medication that can make labour easier for women in distress when administered correctly. The Reproductive Health Centre of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital however warned in 2011 that Cytotec abuse can cause infertility and even death.
Kate recalls the ordeal that ensued after the unnecessary artificial induction.
“I felt weak, [but Matron Gaga] asked me to go home, [and] roam until I felt pain, then I could come. I boarded a taxi and went home. But I couldn’t sleep. The pain was unbearable. I was feeling the pain and I called her and she said I should come when I felt more pain. I went through pain from 10 am to 6 pm”.
Kate says she cried until her neigbour convinced her to return to the clinic. Then her nightmares began.
“Initially, my baby was kicking. My baby was very strong. He used to kick me and I would even be crying. When [the midwives] started pressing my stomach, I didn’t feel him again. But it was my first time, so I thought it was normal,” she recalls.
Kate remembers Matron Gaga using “something sharp” to cut her “down there and “pulling” her baby boy out.
“When my baby came, I didn’t hear him cry. I expected the baby to cry because there were days I went to antenatal and would hear newborns cry. When I didn’t hear mine cry, I asked [Matron Gaga] why. She said the baby was tired and that he would eventually cry.”
Mother-child bonding is essential for normal infant development. New mothers will hold their babies next to their bodies, rock them gently, strive for eye contact, sing or talk to them and begin to nurse. Often within just hours of birth, mothers report feelings of overwhelming love and attachment for their new baby. As a convention, newborn babies are handed over to their mothers as their first opportunities for bonding. In Kate’s case, this did not happen.
“I forced [Matron Gaga] to put him on me. It didn’t even take a minute and they took him off me and placed him on a chair,” laments the horrified beautician.
The nightmare continued.
“I raised my head and saw one nurse cleaning my baby’s nose. There was blood from the nose. I asked the nurse what she was cleaning. They didn’t want me to know what was happening.”
Instead, Francisca Quaye and her team turned to congratulate her. They even poured powdered talc on her, a ritual to celebrate victory.
“Someone went to call the doctor. But I didn’t hear what they were saying because I was in pain. I saw his facial expression, and it wasn’t good. What I heard was [the doctor asking]: ‘Why didn’t you come and call me?’”
Matron Gaga then followed him outside. When they re-entered the labor ward, the doctor proceeded to “beat” the newborn baby.
“[He] was beating [my] baby. I didn’t know what was happening. I thought it was [normal] so I kept quiet for them to do their work,” Kate recalls.
Kate was then moved to a recovery ward where the horror continued.
Kate’s mother suddenly came in crying. When asked why she was crying, no answer came. The Fourth Estate can confirm that the clinic’s poorly kept records show, however, that Kate had a stillbirth.
She became suspicious when she saw her baby wrapped tightly, but Matron Gaga falsely assured her that her baby was being referred to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital because “it wasn’t breathing well”.
That was Day One.
The next day, she was discharged.
“I was told I should go home for like three months before I could come for my baby,” Kate tells The Fourth Estate in disbelief.
When she insisted that she wanted to be with her “sick baby”, Matron Gaga assured her that she would be assisted to visit her child at Korle-Bu that night.
That night, the clueless mother held a vigil in pain and in anticipation. Needless to say, Matron Gaga’s call did not come. Instead, she lied to Kate that she tried to reach her during the night, but she was deep in sleep.
“She said she came and called, and I didn’t mind her, so she went with the doctor and my baby to Korle-Bu and [that] they put him in a machine.”
Soon, the reason for the baby’s referral changed from respiratory complications to the presence of a brain tumor. When she expressed confusion, Kate says Matron Gaga put her through to a “doctor” in Korle-Bu.
“She put the phone on loudspeaker and the person was talking. [The person asked]: ‘Are you Kate? Your baby has a brain tumor, and a lot of issues,” narrates Kate, who believes a New Generation Medical Centre staff member conspired with Matron Gaga for that call.
“They said my baby had a brain tumor so they would want to leave him in the machine so that he dies in the machine because if they brought my baby to me, it would become a burden on me,” Kate explains.
On day three, Kate’s worst fears were confirmed: her mother confessed to her that she lost her baby at birth.
Kate says almost two years after that fateful experience, New Generation Medical Centre is yet to officially communicate the death of her baby and its cause to her. Normally, each health centre in the district is required to submit monthly reports to its supervisory facility, the Ablekuma North Municipal Health Directorate. But these reports, The Fourth Estate has learned, are often “sanitised”, and do not reflect events at the private clinics.
The phony matron, Francisca Quaye, said she sometimes delegated the preparation of the report to her junior staff. The head of New Generation, Dr. Ralph Obeng Owusu, admitted to The Fourth Estate that he does not pay attention to such records.
According to Kate, “Even when I went for the dressing and asked [Matron Gaga] if my baby was dead, she asked me who told me my baby was dead, and that, I shouldn’t mind them.
“It was later that I whatsapped her that I knew my baby was dead and that she should forget it.”
“My baby would have brought me a lot of joy because my baby daddy said he would marry me after [I give] birth. Now, he couldn’t marry me. I don’t think I can give birth again. Maybe I’ll adopt or something like that.”
Stitching gone bad
Going through the ordeal and losing her son at birth was not the end of Kate’s suffering at the hands of the fraudulent midwife Francisca Quaye. The bereaved mother discovered that her perineum was very badly infected. The perineum, which is the area between the vagina and anus, is liable to tear during childbirth. After delivery, the doctor or midwife usually closes the perineal tear with stitches. The stitches usually dissolve in a week or two, so they will not need to be removed. In Kate’s case, the suturing was done so badly that the entire region was septic.
“[Matron Gaga] told me to sit on hot water after 10 days. I did, but the thread tore, and it became sore and became big like a gutter. I took a picture and sent it to Dr Ralph Owusu. He got pissed and asked who did that to me. I told him it was Francisca [Quaye]. He told me to come so they could stitch it again.”
When Kate arrived at the clinic, she met an angry Matron Gaga who demanded to know why she sent the picture to her boss when it was, she who did the stitching.
“She got pissed… said I wanted to get her sacked. She said the doctor insulted her that she didn’t [close the perineal tear] well. They had to re-stitch it,” remembers Kate.
For the next three months, Kate couldn’t walk.
“Since then, I deleted all their numbers. I don’t [want to] have anything to do with them,” she told The Fourth Estate in July 2021.
That series of painful episodes at the New Generation Medical Centre has destroyed many things in Kate’s life — her baby, her relationship, and the idea of ever-carrying a baby. The trauma has left a scar in her life.
“My baby would have brought me a lot of joy because my baby daddy said he would marry me after [I give] birth. Now, he couldn’t marry me. I don’t think I can give birth again. Maybe I’ll adopt or something like that.”
“A midwife cannot do induction on her own”
Unconventional midwifery
President of the Midwives Association of Ghana, Mary Ofosu says a midwife cannot do induction on her own.
When Kate’s induction ordeal was reported to the Midwives Association of Ghana, the President of the group, Mary Ofosu, described Francisca Quaye’s action as unconventional and inconsistent with midwifery practice.
“A midwife cannot do induction on her own,” she said of Matron Gaga’s Cytotec procedure. “There must be a medical officer or specialist around. You should also have a theatre around because induction can fail. So, when you induce and it fails, we need to take the client to the theatre. So, before you do induction, you need to get all those things around.”
She was not done yet.
“You can do induction of labour when the client is post-date. That’s when the doctor can prescribe induction of labour or when there is maybe some medical condition like pregnancy-induced hypertension,” the professional midwife with 16 years’ experience explained.
In addition, regarding the secrecy around Kate’s stillbirth, Mary Ofosu made it clear that a mother who loses her child at birth must be told before she leaves the health facility.
July 6, 2021: the case of Esther
On Tuesday, July 6, 2021, Esther Baker, 31, delivered her first baby. For a period of four hours, she suffered the most excruciating pain in her life. This was the longest four hours of her life.
She nearly bled to death. Medical practitioners call it post-partum haemorrhage, which research says accounts for 24% of all maternal deaths in Ghana. Experts say it happens within the first 24 hours after a baby is born. The most critical time for post-partum hemorrhage is the period from the birth of the infant until the placenta is delivered.
The night before she went into labour, Esther, a worker at a savings and loans company, said a part-time midwife who ran the night shift at the New Generation Medical Centre wondered why she had not been referred to a bigger hospital. She recalls:
“She said my age and [my] past record [with] miscarriage could cause some problems. She was like, immediately, they had to give me a transfer and that I shouldn’t deliver there.”
Given her history, Esther was very concerned, but she put her trust in prayer for divine intervention.
But that night, a midwife, whose name Esther remembers as Abigail, assured her that all was well. With that assurance, Esther prayed silently that Abigail would be the one to deliver her first bundle of joy, four years into her marriage.
Alas, this was not to be.
New Generation Medical Centre at South Odorkor, Dansoman,Accra, where Francisca Quaye worked as a midwife for nearly 30 years without a license.
The night passed at the New Generation Medical Centre without any incident. The clinic is popular for affordable care. The icing on the cake for its poorer patients is that it accepts National Health Insurance. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was one of the vaccination centres.
And then morning came. At the point when Esther was fully dilated, her body became the grounds for a turf war between midwife Abigail and the clinic’s matron, Francisca Quaye. Matron Gaga, disagreed with her staff’s professional assessment of the situation and proposed a rather bizarre remedial action. The two argued: in the end, Abigail had her say, and Matron Quaye her way.
“Abigail is a professional midwife,” observes Esther. “It’s like a ‘by force’ something that [Matron Gaga] was doing. She doesn’t take her time attending to the person in pain. Hers is to just rush you and that you shouldn’t be that soft.”
From janitor to midwife
The Fourth Estate’s investigations have revealed that Francisca Quaye has never been to any nursing or midwifery training school.
To be recognised as a midwife in Ghana, one has to complete an accredited nursing/midwifery training institution and pass a licensing exam conducted by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (N&MC) renewable annually. Any exemptions to this rule may only be granted by the board of the N&MC.
Francisca Quaye has neither a license nor an exemption.
Eventually, Francisca Quaye delivered babies, undertook incisions (episiotomy, which allowed the birth canal to open for childbirth), and stitched afterward. When the doctor got too busy with patients, she handled consultations for outpatient cases too.
In the last 18 months that The Fourth Estate has been digging into malpractice at New Generation Medical Centre, a long list of frightening medical accidents has been uncovered.
Our investigations found at least two deaths under disturbing circumstances while she was in charge. A new mother nearly bled to death. Two other new mothers needed urgently to have perineal tears re-stitched due to unprofessional sutures and infection and a newborn had her arm dislocated.
Francisca Quaye allegedly also charged National Health Insurance cardholders unapproved fees.
Who is Francisca Quaye alias Matron Gaga?
An ‘O’ level-holder from Ebenezer Secondary School, Matron Gaga claims she cut her teeth in midwifery under the tutelage of her mother at the Dora Quaye Maternity Home at Takoradi in the Western Region. After school in the 1980s, she got a job at the Susan Clinic, where she multitasked— mopping, manning the front desk, and filing forms.
This was where Francisca Quaye met Dr Ralph Obeng Owusu who had returned to Ghana in 1988 after a seven-year stint in Nigeria. For five years, Dr. Owusu ran the Susan Clinic, and when the time was ripe, he poached Francisca Quaye. The two started the New Generation Medical Centre in 1993.
Her multi-tasking became handy at the new facility. With time, she shifted from administrative work to helping as a medical hand—attending to pregnant women on antenatal visits and assisting during deliveries. Eventually, she delivered babies, undertook incisions (episiotomy, which allowed the birth canal to open for childbirth), and stitched afterward. When the doctor got too busy with patients, she handled consultations for outpatient cases too.
“There were times her procedures [were off], and you would prompt her, and she’d tell you that she knew better.”
For the past 30 years, therefore, she has been Dr. Owusu’s sidekick in all respects of the term.
Still, in her early 50s, not everyone views Francisca Quaye as a villain. Some past New Generation patients swear by her care and kindness. They say she lends her ear even to their domestic problems.
“When it comes to marriage, relationships, and life in general, she was very lively. When it comes to communication, she is nice,” a midwife who worked briefly at the New Generation Medical Centre in 2020 remembers.
“She has no limits to love. She pampered and even fed me before,” Kate recalled the days before Matron Gaga’s professional incompetence got in the way of their patient-nurse relationship.
On occasion, Francisca Quaye would offer freely unconventional remedies for medical problems. One former patient recalls her recommending residual water from a washed fufu mortar to treat sores.
Science and superstition mixed freely in her practice—one that has a lot of question marks, The Fourth Estate has learned.
Even many junior midwives doubted her competence.
“I didn’t really know if she was a professional midwife. I still can’t figure it out. There were times her procedures [were off], and you would prompt her, and she’d tell you that she knew better,” a midwife who wants to remain anonymous told The Fourth Estate.
“There was a time I received a baby [Matron Gaga had delivered]. There is this creamy thing on newborns. To keep them warm, you don’t have to clean all of them. She told me what I had learned in school was not what was [done] on the field…She undressed the baby and cleaned everything,” the midwife said.
The midwife is referring to the vernix on newborn babies. The World Health Organization also recommends not wiping off the vernix at birth. The main reasons to wait with your baby’s first bath include keeping them warm and stabilizing blood sugar levels. Babies who are bathed too soon after birth are more likely to become cold and could develop hypothermia.
The trained midwife said she left the facility because she was afraid of losing her license working in a facility where her boss opposed best practices.
What Francisca Quaye lacks in an imposing figure, she makes up for in assertiveness and aggression. Some of her former co-workers describe her as bossy, domineering, and sometimes, insensitive. She is not averse to verbally sparring in the presence of patients.
Some patients find her brutish. With a laissez-faire Dr. Ralph Owusu as her supervisor, her influence has grown to the extent that she can override the decisions of even qualified midwives, earning her the nickname ‘Matron Gaga’.
June 14, 2021: the case of Bernice
As was the case of Kate Tetteh, qualified midwives at New Generation Medical Centre identified that Bernice Owusu’s (not her real name) cervix needed a little expansion to make way for her baby to be delivered.
The 28-year-old delivered her first baby, safe and sound. Her birth experience with Matron Gaga was however far from smooth.
“When you’re in labour, you’d need someone who is patient with you. For me, I won’t lie, she wasn’t [patient] with me at all. She did everything as though she was in a hurry to attend to something else,” Bernice says, in reference to Francisca Quaye.
Pad left in the vagina
Before long, she felt something was not quite right with her—it was another case of botched stitching after crude episiotomy. The needle and sutures were worked by none other than Matron Gaga.
Bernice says despite the anaesthesia, she felt the pain while the needle went through her flesh.
“She injected the place, but I don’t know how she injected it. When she was stitching and I was screaming, she didn’t want me to scream. The pain was unbearable.”
Bernice took home medications and adhered to the dosages and instructions from Matron Gaga, but the pain in her perineum region was like a vortex. She was caught in a deep pain that gnawed at her sanity.
In about a week, her vagina area started smelling foul. Bernice says she has always prided herself on taking good care of her personal hygiene. Upon some scrutiny, however, she says she was mortified by what she saw.
“I noticed there was something left in my vagina. The Faytex pad they used in draining the blood. It was left there. I had not given birth before. No one told me that I had to take it out when I get home. The thing was there for about a week and started smelling.
“My mom had to check before she realised that the Faytex pad was there and … [the stitches were] torn and my cervix open.”
She quickly reached out to Abigail, the professional night-shift midwife, who advised her to rush to the clinic.
“When [Abigail] took out the thing, the whole room was smelling. She treated me very well and re-stitched the thing. I don’t know how she injected me but when she was sewing, I didn’t feel anything until she was done. I didn’t feel any pain like the first time and she did it very nicely,” Bernice says.
Bernice said she is psychologically scarred following what she went through at the hospital.
Unlike Kate, like Bernice, Esther Baker gave birth to a healthy baby. But it nearly cost her, her life.
The 35-year-old first-time mother switched from Barnor Hospital in Laterbiokoshie to New Generation Medical Centre about five kilometres North West. She was in her fifth month of pregnancy, but the switch was needed for financial reasons.
Each time she visited; she saw red flags. But when poverty conducts an orchestra, it is the poor who nod to the melodies, so she closed her eyes to the flaws.
On July 6, 2021, Esther delivered but there was trouble. Her baby weighed 3.7 kilogrammes.
Nearly fatal
At the Ridge Hospital [Greater Accra Regional Hospital], the New Generation nurses who accompanied Esther were unable to answer basic vital questions posed by their fellow nurses at the referral facility.
Despite the excruciating pain she suffered, Esther says the resident doctor, Dr. Ralph Owusu made light of her situation and left her to attend to “other” things.
“About five hours after delivery, I started bleeding profusely. I fell unconscious. I don’t know what went wrong.”
Dr. Ralph Obeng Owusu Snr, the Chief Executive Officer of the New Generation Medical Centre, panicked when he saw the unconscious Esther Baker and asked why he was not called earlier to attend to her.
According to her husband’s account, Matron Gaga panicked and called for Dr Owusu’s attention. He said she screamed Esther’s name a couple of times before giving the unconscious woman a bottle of malt in an attempt to revive her. A call to Korle-Bu for a possible referral did not yield any results. As luck would have it, Esther’s sister-in-law, who’s a nurse, intervened and got her transferred promptly to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (also known as Ridge), even as efforts were being made to resuscitate her.
At Ridge Hospital, the New Generation nurses who accompanied Esther were unable to answer basic vital questions posed by their fellow nurses at the referral facility.
“No record was taken of me. Even the quantum of blood I had before delivery. They were just fumbling,” Esther recalls being told by the nurses when she gained consciousness at the Ridge Hospital. This raised curiosity among the Ridge Hospital professionals. Before they could make sense of the cause of the emergency, their counterparts from the New Generation Medical Centre had resorted to a solution to the embarrassment – they bolted.
Fortunately, Esther’s condition stabilised the following day. Apparently, the medical team detected and immediately discontinued a medication that was wrongly administered.
Again, prior to delivery, Esther recalls that the team at New Generation Medical Centre had administered Cytotec “when I went to antenatal in the morning and when I dilated, one [Cytotec] came out.” The doctors at Ridge “suspected that to be the cause of the excessive bleeding”.
More horrifying tales from New Generation Medical Centre exist.
May 7, 2021: the case of Selasie
Selasie Awaworyie went into labour at 7.45pm on May 21, 2021. But there was a complication: the baby which weighed 4kg got stuck in the birth canal for almost 30 minutes.
The 4kg weight should have alarmed the clinic to refer Selasie to a specialist facility, Dr. Ralph Owusu would later admit to The Fourth Estate.
…And then Zekiya
What happened to Kate, Esther, Bernice, and Selasie were more than isolated accidents by a midwife. Malpractice at New Generation Medical Centre is more the norm.
Zekiya Abubakari commuted 19 kilometres from Tuba, a dusty community near Kasoa in the Central Region, to the New Generation Medical Centre for antenatal care until she delivered.
Zekiya, whose baby, little Afua, suffered from Erb palsy at the New Generation Medical Centre due to Francisca Quaye’s unprofessionalism was asked to go home without any remedy when she complained.
Her first three children had everything intact at birth, but the fourth gave her heartache. Her experiences in delivering two children in a public hospital weren’t worth repeating so she opted for private healthcare for her third and fourth.
Within two hours of arriving at the New Generation Medical Centre, Zekiya gave birth. Matron Gaga was on duty. It was a few minutes after noon.
Baby’s arm broken at birth
“When I was delivering the child, I had difficulties and was told that the child had opened her arms while coming. It blocked her safe delivery. It took the intervention of the resident doctor to help deliver the child.”
When the baby’s father took her into his arms on the first day, she was screaming. The family took it for her reaction to a new environment.
But on day three, the baby’s aunt noticed that the baby’s right hand had gone limp. Her elbow had also twisted. When the sponge touches her right arm during bath time, the little girl screamed.
“I suspected that it was the process of delivery that got my child’s right hand dislocated.”
When Zekiya called Matron Gaga to report the state of her daughter’s health, her response was that there was nothing wrong and that her daughter’s arm was normal. She told the anxious mother that many children were born with such defects and that the mother should let the hand be. She said it would heal.
The bonesetter
The bone setter, Issah Tetteh, confirmed to The Fourth Estate that little Afua’s shoulder joint had dislodged, and her elbow twisted when she was brought.
But the little girl was restless. She couldn’t sleep. She was suffering what is known as Erb palsy, a condition characterized by arm weakness and loss of motion. It can occur in both infants and adults. Experts say it’s typically caused by a physical injury during delivery or by traumatic force downward on the upper arm and shoulder, damaging the network of nerves near the neck that provides movement and feeling to the shoulder, arm, hand, and fingers.
Furious, Zekiya contested Matron Gaga’s false assurance, saying that she was experienced enough to know that there was a problem.
For a second opinion and on the advice of elders in the family, the baby’s parents took her to a traditional bonesetter famous for resetting the bones of accident victims.
The bonesetter, Issah Tetteh, confirmed to The Fourth Estate that little Afua’s shoulder joint had dislodged, and her elbow twisted when she was brought to him.
He took to massaging her and bandaged the arm in a manner that breathed life into it.
“My child is getting better,” Zekiya says.
Mr Tetteh said it was likely there was still some pain left in the arm and it needed some extra work.
While the investigation was ongoing, Dr. Owusu sacked his sidekick “midwife” Matron Gaga, but she [Francisca Quaye] got a new job at another health facility just about three kilometres from the New Generation Medical Centre.
The Fourth Estate tracked her there…
Part two of this story will be published on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The family of Dora Quaye, a renowned midwife who operated a maternity home in Takoradi, has reached out to The Fourth Estate and denied Francisca Quaye’s claim that she was the daughter of the popular midwife and picked her midwifery knowledge from her. They say she was a distant relative who lived in the Quayes household.
The Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) has invited Dr. Michael Boadu, the dismissed assistant senior registrar of the C.K. Tedam University of Applied Sciences and Technology, to respond to allegations that he used a fake certificate to get his job.
Sources at EOCO, who spoke to The Fourth Estate on condition of anonymity, say the anti-corruption institution is investigating allegations of fake certificates and ‘over-aged’ appointments that have put the three-year-old university under the spotlight for the wrong reasons.
Also invited for questioning are the Vice-chancellor, Prof. Eric Magnus Wilmot, and registrar, Dr. V.A. Ankamah-Lomotey, who are still at post even though they have passed the retirement age.
The two senior university administrators appeared before EOCO last week but Dr Boadu is yet to.
Their invitation to EOCO follows a petition EOCO received from a resident of Navrongo, Joseph Pwoawuvi Weguri, who alleged that both the vice chancellor and the registrar were unfit to hold substantive positions in the university.
Mr. Weguri also alleged that Prof Wilmot and Dr. Ankamah-Lomotey also superintended over the hiring of the assistant senior registrar, Dr. Boadu, whose Bachelor of Law and Master of Public Administration certificates were purportedly acquired from the University of Ghana were fake.
Apart from the petition to EOCO, Mr. Weguri has filed a lawsuit seeking the removal of Prof. Eric Wilmot and Dr. Ankamah-Lomotey on the grounds that the two are above the retirement age and are, therefore, ineligible to hold their positions.
In addition to their removal from office, the plaintiff also wants the court to order the two defendants to refund all monies they received from the Consolidated Fund and/or from the university, including salaries and allowances, and costs, plus legal fees.
Earlier this month, The Fourth Estate reported allegations of impropriety against the three members of the top hierarchy of the C.K. Tedam University of Applied Sciences and Technology.
The university, by letters dated December 1, 2020, appointed Prof. Eric Magnus Wilmot as Vice-Chancellor and Dr. V.A. Ankamah-Lomotey, as Registrar of the institution for full terms of four (4) years each.
Prior to that, in October last year, The Fourth Estate raised alarm about the appointment of the two retirees which had become a matter of concern for the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC). The commission has expressed displeasure about the university’s decision to appoint Prof. Eric Wilmot and Dr. Ankamah-Lomotey to substantive positions.
The plaintiff contends that the Act establishing the university mandates it to appoint its officers, including a vice-chancellor and Registrars, in accordance with the statutes of the university.
The plaintiff, however, claims that the appointing authorities violated the public service laws of Ghana, especially Article 199 of the Constitution, 1992, by allowing the public officers to remain in full-term employment after they attain the age of compulsory retirement.
The current retirement age is 60 in accordance with the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766), as amended by the National Pensions (Amendment) Act, 2014 (Act 883).“This Act of impunity is also frowned upon by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission Directive on reengagement of retired employees of Higher Education Institutions which states among other things that ‘persons who are re-engaged after retirement subject to permission cannot be assigned position holding roles nor draw allowances due a person still in active service.”
The University’s Council defended the appointment of the “over-aged” VC and registrar in a response to the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC).
“The Governing Council when duly constituted was given the mandate to regularise the appointments of the vice-chancellor and registrar. At the time of their appointment, the vice-chancellor was 58 years old while the registrar was 59 years old. In pursuit of its mandate to appoint a VC and Registrar, the Governing Council constituted a committee, chaired by an eminent retired professor, to interview and ascertain the suitability or otherwise of the two officers.”
There is more:
“The committee, therefore, subjected the officers to a rigorous interview and submitted its report to the Governing Council. Council discussed and approved the report and then formally sought and obtained approval from the Minister of Education through the Director General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to offer full four-year terms of office to Professor Eric Magnus Wilmot as vice-chancellor and Dr. V. A. Ankamah-Lomotey as registrar, spanning September 2020 to August 2024,” it said in response to the allegations of wrongdoing.
They however admitted that Dr Michael Adusei Boadu presented fake certificates to the University one year into his employment as an assistant registrar.
“Michael Adusei Boadu was unable to present the certificates until late last year when he presented them to the Vice-Chancellor. A few weeks thereafter, the Appointments and Promotions Board met and invited him to present the certificates in person. It was at this point that suspicions were raised after the examination of the certificates. A request for verification of his LLB and Master of Public Administration certificates from the University of Ghana revealed that the said certificates were fake,” Prof. Gordon A. Awandare told the Commission.
Not only that.
Dr. Boadu was asked to refund all salaries and allowances paid to him while in the service of the university.
“You are also required to refund all the salaries and allowances you fraudulently drew from the University from December 2021 to December 2022 to the C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences GCB Bank Account number: 9021130002211.
“The amount you are required to refund is Two hundred and thirty-one thousand, One hundred and Eighty-two Ghana Cedis, Sixty-Four Pesewas (231,182,64.00). You may submit a payment plan to cover the full amount paid to you to the Director of Finance not later than January 15, 2023,” the university’s registrar, Dr. V.A. Ankamah Lomotey, wrote.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia wants Ghanaians to vote and make him the country’s next president in the polls next year, if he is elected as flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party.
This brazen ambition follows seven years of broken promises and misgovernment, a pathetic pattern that has left in its trail incompetence, cronyism, environmental devastation, corruption of untold proportions, and an obliterated middle class. The crime of the Ghanaian middle class was that it trusted and voted an opposition leader and his “Economic Wizkid” running-mate into power.
On the campaign tour in 2016, then vice-presidential hopeful Dr. Bawumia promised to move Ghana’s economy from taxation to production. Alas, seven years later, a cocktail of taxes, including three new ones came into effect this May 1, 2023. These taxes follow the unfortunate case of the government pushing through the obnoxious electronic levy which has fallen abysmally short of anticipated revenue.
Then Akufo-Addo’s running mate, Bawumia, at a rally in 2016.
All these came from a government that assured Ghanaians that the country “is rich”. Back in 2016, Dr. Bawumia assured Ghanaians:
“I worked at the Bank of Ghana and so I know that Ghana is rich. It is because the managers of the economy are incompetent and so all that they think of is borrowing. The NPP, if voted for, will harness resources in Ghana to develop Ghana. I am telling you we can develop Ghana without borrowing. The money is there.”
These assurances came from the lips of the then Vice-Presidential hopeful on November 27, 2016, just before he ascended to power in 2017. Now, one may be tempted to ask: ‘Where in the Bank of Ghana is the money you said was available for the governance of this country, Mr. Vice President?’
Or better still, perhaps, the question should be, ‘Why must anyone take you seriously when you have not been able to deliver on the central promise you made in your campaign in 2016…after seven years in government?’
Veep Bawumia and spouse at the Victory Bible Church at Awoshie, Accra on December 25, 2020. PC: Daily Guide Network
Instead of fixing the economy, Dr. Bawumia gallivants from one place of worship to the next. From Accra to Kumasi and to Ho, our vice president now hops from church to church, ostensibly sharing God’s word to appeal to the Christian community for votes, all the while reneging on his promise as chairman of the economic management committee to ensure that Ghana has a stable economy.
In line with the faith, he advertises so flagrantly, one can liken Bawumia to that third servant in the Christian parable who told his master, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.”
In the Bible, the master did not give his third servant any more talents. Instead, he took what little he invested in him away and gave it to someone more profitable. The master went further, he cursed the worthless servant and cast him into utter darkness.
‘You wicked and slothful servant!’ he chastised.
Ghanaians gave Bawumia eight talents (eight years), regrettably, he has failed woefully to turn it around. Anyone of conscience would use this opportunity to perform several acts of self-abasement, mortification, and devotion to show sorrow or repentance for his sins against God, country, and people.
Instead, what does Bawumia do? He asks to be made president!
True. Things were tough in 2016. But things are tougher now. In 2016 for instance, there was a middle class. That middle class led by the pressure group, OccupyGhana, whipped up the interest of the lower class in the elections through massive protests, drummed home the need for change, and caused an upset in the 2016 election.
In 2023, however, it does not exist. That class is now in an open fight with the government over their investments, which have suffered “haircuts” due to the debt restructuring.
True. There was good reason to worry back in 2016. Ghana was broken, its bond rating had tanked, and a humiliating state financial oversight board was almost non-existent. Seven years on, however, not only are we still worried about a broken Ghana. As those who lived in the 80s would say, our current situation has compelled some of our brightest talents to embark on perilous journeys to the Americas and Europe to earn a living.
It sounds like ancient history but in 2016, the quest for a new government with a new way of doing things (away from the Mahama-led government) swept across the nation and was thought to be a potential turning point for a country striving to be taken seriously.
With that roiling backdrop, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) lost power to the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Seven years on, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the once-loved running mate of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has now become a laughingstock in many homes. Under the watch of this financial wizard, Ghana’s economy has seen the steepest downgrade ever and is now labeled junk.
The facts speak for themselves: the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-led NPP government is long on promises and woefully short on follow-through and delivery.
Is the economy of Ghana in a mess? Yes.
Has it been labeled as junk by international rating agencies? Yes, several times.
Are we running out of international reserves? Yes.
Are we paying neck-breaking taxes to fund Bawumia and his boss’s profligate lifestyle? Yes.
Has the NPP borrowed more than any other government to ever rule Ghana? Yes.
Has the government suspended external debt payments because we can’t pay our creditors? Yes.
Is there a never-before ‘haircut’ on people’s investments? Yes.
Did Bawumia decide not to speak when the government introduced e-levy? Yes.
Did he decide not to speak when the three new taxes were introduced this year? Yes.
We are all living with the consequences of their reckless and unrestrained borrowing. Many an expert have cautioned both vice president Bawumia and his boss several times to exercise restraint when borrowing but they would have none of that. Now that we crashed-landed, they are holding up the pension funds of retirees and other bondholders who have invested their hard-earned money into the economy.
Being the religious nomad that he is, I am sure Bawumia must have learned during his days at the Methodist Boys Brigade that affliction cannot arise for the second time, hence Ghanaians cannot entrust this country into his hands.
No, we cannot gamble again. No. We cannot. Our country is too far behind. Far behind its former peers at independence such as Malaysia and Singapore.
When the idea of raising taxes was mooted, Bawumia did not speak. When there was a public outcry against it, he did not speak. When the taxes were levied against Ghanaians, he, again, did not speak. What kind of a president will he be then?
Former Chief Justice, Sophia Akufo, joined other retirees to picket at the Ministry of Finance to demand the exemption of pensioners from the Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP) caused by the reckless management of the economy by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-led government.
Never has it been said anywhere in our history that an association of retirees, who should ordinarily be resting at home and playing with their grandchildren, spent days at the Ministry of Finance demonstrating to be exempted from the wicked debt restructuring program. This was occasioned by the mismanagement of the economy led by the Vice President as Chairman of the Economic Management Committee.
I wonder how anyone would even think of entrusting this country our forefathers toiled for to a slothful servant who has already failed to take appropriate actions to make life better for our country men and women when he was given the opportunity these last seven years.
These days, Ghanaians have grown numb to corruption scandals even though graft denies them their primary privileges of belonging to a country. Ghanaians have grown numb because nothing, absolutely nothing, is done to those involved. Whereas in other jurisdictions, journalists produce stories, and authorities responsible take charge to get the prosecution of the individuals who played a role, the Ghanaian story is quite different. In our case, the journalists must petition the very institutions who looked away and continuously follow up to ensure that justice is done. It is as tiring as it can get depressing.
It’s no wonder that many people have lost trust in our government.
In all earnest, what has Bawumia’s ruling government done these past seven years to alleviate the plight of the Ghanaian?
Alas. The resounding answer is, ‘Nothing!’
Oh sorry. Maybe they did. They took us to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the 17th time.
I hear he has caused the launch of a Wifi signal-like logo on social media to show that the signal from the electorates is strong for his ambition.
In fact, when I saw that, the first arrow which towers above the other two reminded me of how his sweet talks prior to 2017 blurred our judgment as voters of his competence, which has metamorphosed into incomparable economic hardship unleashed on us by this NPP government.
It reminds me of his never-materialised promise to move the economy from taxation to production.
More importantly though, if he ever wins the NPP primaries and his face finds its way onto the ballot paper, it will remind me, while in the ballot box in 2024, of how I now have to pay almost three times the cost of my food prior to 2017, transport fares, rent, and many other basic necessities of life.
But even before I get to cast out Dr. Bawumia in the ballot box in 2024, the NPP delegates could make my work easier by casting a verdict on the poor leadership he demonstrated as the chairman of Ghana’s Economic Management team.
This, for once, will be their communal duty to the Ghanaian people. Their failure to do so is just but an insult to their own intelligence, a betrayal of their present, and a trade-off of their children’s future and in extenso, the Ghanaian people.
Like the death of a man in the market square whose funeral is not announced, so is Bawumia’s ambition to climb a step higher as Ghana’s president.
So, why, in God’s name, does the vice president of the worst-ever government in the Fourth Republic hope to become Ghana’s next president? Maybe he’s got no shame, but Ghana deserves better. Ghana should be better. Ghana can be better. This inept servant must never become president!
The founding Editor-in-Chief of The Fourth Estate, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has been selected for the prestigious Nieman Foundation for Journalism fellowship at Harvard University.
Mr. Awuni is among 24 journalists selected globally to benefit from this one-year opportunity at Harvard.
“In the two semesters of study at Harvard, the fellows will examine the growing threats to democracy and the free press; the use of AI in reporting; innovations in storytelling; political polarization; trauma; climate destabilization; scientific advances in health care; reporting under repressive regimes; solutions journalism; media trust; and journalism collaboration,” a statement announcing the 2024 Class of Nieman Fellows said.
This fellowship is a highly competitive opportunity that attracts some of the world’s best journalists. It is therefore a recognition of Mr. Awuni’s exceptional contribution to journalism. While at Harvard, he will participate in seminars, workshops, training sessions, and collaborations with Harvard scholars and leading innovators.
The selected journalists for the 2024 Nieman Fellowship
Being the fourth Ghanaian to be selected for this fellowship, Manasseh Azure Awuni’s project at Harvard will focus on sustainable funding and managerial models for non-profit newsrooms in Africa.
“I feel honored to be selected for this prestigious fellowship. The benefits that come with the opportunity to learn and also network with some of the finest professionals in journalism across the world are enormous,” he said.
As the founding Editor-In-Chief of The Fourth Estate, Mr. Awuni has trained and led a team of dedicated and enterprising journalists who focus on human rights, environments, anti-corruption, and health reporting.
For the past two years, The Fourth Estate has produced stories that have led to the arrest of eight persons who are currently facing trial for their role in the school placement fraud, an asset declaration series that made 294 public officeholders declare their assets and liabilities, the arrest of a predatory ‘doctor’ who used his office to abuse patients, and the suspension of some officers at a Rural Bank in Bongo in the Upper East Region for their role in suspicious transactions at the Bank.
Prior to his role at The Fourth Estate, Manasseh Azure Awuni had worked at the Multimedia Group as an investigative journalist. He won the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Journalist of the Year in 2011. He has produced some of the most impactful investigative anti-corruption stories that resulted in the prosecution of and imprisonment of public officials, the passage of a law by Ghana’s parliament and savings worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
In 2021, the Ghana Integrity Initiative, the local chapter of Transparency International, adjudged Manasseh Ghana’s Integrity Personality of the Year for his role in fighting corruption in the country. In 2022, he was nominated for the Allied Prize for International Integrity.
As part of the numerous journalism awards to his credit, Manasseh Azure Awuni was the overall best journalist in 2018 and 2020 at the West Africa Media Excellence Awards (WAMECA).
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard “educates leaders in journalism, promotes innovation, and elevates the standards of the journalism profession” and it is hoped that Manasseh’s career will be greatly enhanced by the opportunity.
The C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences has terminated the appointment of a Senior Assistant Registrar, Dr. Michael Adusei Boadu, for presenting fake certificates.
The University has also ordered Dr. Boadu to refund the monies paid to him as salary and allowances for the one year he worked with the University.
The decision of the university is contained in a termination letter addressed to Dr. Boadu dated January 9, 2023. It also ordered Dr. Boadu to “stop parading himself as a staff of the University”.
“You are also required to refund all the salaries and allowances you fraudulently drew from the University from December 2021 to December 2022 to the C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences GCB Bank Account number: 9021130002211.
“The amount you are required to refund is Two hundred and Thirty-one thousand, One hundred and Eighty-two Ghana Cedis, Sixty-Four Pesewas (231,182.64). You may submit a payment plan to cover the full amount paid to you to the Director of Finance not later than January 15, 2023,” the university’s registrar, Dr. V.A. Ankamah Lomotey, wrote.
A disclaimer issued by the University.
The university’s Governing Council, through its Chairman, Professor Gordon A. Awandare, told the Ghana Tertiary Education (GTEC) that Dr. Michael Boadu’s Bachelor of Laws and Master of Public Administration certificates from the University of Ghana were not genuine.
This was in response to a petition to GTEC by one Joseph Weguri, a resident of Navrongo, who said Dr. Boadu was not qualified to be an employee of the University.
“Michael Adusei Boadu was unable to present the certificates until late last year when he presented them to the Vice-Chancellor. Few weeks thereafter, the Appointments and Promotions Board met and invited him to present the certificates in person. It was at this point that suspicions were raised after the examination of the certificates. A request for verification of his LLB and Master of Public Administration certificates from the University of Ghana revealed that the said certificates were fake,” Prof. Gordon A. Awandare told the Commission.
Vice Chancellor says demand for documents a witch-hunt
When a deputy registrar at the university wrote for the third time on September 9, 2022, to demand Dr. Michael Boadu’s academic credentials, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Eric Magnus Wilmot, said the continuous demand for the original certificates and other academic credentials of Dr. Michael Boadu was nothing but a display of personal vendetta.
“I am compelled to specifically ask you to put an immediate stop to the repeated memos you are writing to Dr. Michael Adusei Boadu to submit documentation from Valley View University under the disguise of following up on a non-existent request for it by the Senior Member Appointment and Promotions Board,” the Vice-Chancellor said in an internal memo dated September 16, 2022.
“As I write,” said the Vice-Chancellor, “I am even doubtful that it is the Registrar who has been asking you to write and sign such letters on his behalf after the discussion I had with him and also because it has never been a decision taken by Senior Member Appointment and Promotions Board as you keep referencing. I am copying members of the Snr Member Appointment and Promotions Board to keep them informed about how you are trying to use(sic) referencing them to achieve whatever you have on your sleeves.”
The Registrar of the University responded to the Vice-Chancellor, reminding him that the Deputy Registrar, Suuk Laar, was only performing his duty as conferred on him as the secretary to the Appointment and Promotions Board.
“It is worth noting that the Zoom interview of Dr. Michael Adusei Boadu was conducted on 27th October 2021, a little over 10 months now. This period is long enough for him to produce his certificates for inspection. Refusing to respond to legitimate letters and further delays breed suspicion. Dr. Boadu has an enviable academic achievement that includes a Ph.D., three master’s certificates, and a Bachelor of Laws degree.”
“Why should he have any difficulty to have these inspected?” the Registrar asked. “I wonder why it should be the Vice-Chancellor rather than Dr. Boadu raising concerns.”
Meanwhile, the petitioner, Joseph Weguri, has dragged the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar to court over their appointments, stating that they are “over-aged.”
He further states that the failure of the two to inspect the academic credentials of Dr. Michael Boadu until over GHS 200,000 was paid to him shows that both are “incompetent.”
The Fourth Estate called some principal officers of the university to confirm whether Dr. Boadu had made arrangements for the refund as directed by the registrar in his termination letter, but they declined to respond.
Dr. Boadu could not be reached since Sunday, April 24, 2023, despite promising earlier to make himself available for an interview with The Fourth Estate. Subsequent text messages to him have gone unanswered.
The Talensi Traditional Council has denied that its president, Tongraan Kugbilsong Nanlebetang’s invitation to the Acting Upper East Regional Supervising High Court Judge, Justice Alexander Graham, was an attempt to compromise the judge.
In a press statement, the Council said the invitation was extended to Justice Graham “in good faith and not intended to subvert the course of justice in any manner”.
The High Court Judge, on Friday, March 10, 2023, convicted two men who had been sent by the Paramount Chief of Talensi and a member of the Council of State to invite him over to his palace for a discussion regarding some mining-related cases pending before him.
L-R: A convict, Richard Sunday Yinbil, the Secretary to the Paramount Chief of Talensi, and Naab Nyakora Mantii, Chief of Baare in the Talensi Traditional Area, another convict.
Richard Sunday Yinbil, Secretary to the Paramount Chief; and Naab Nyakora Mantii, a divisional chief for Baare; had told the judge behind closed doors that the discussion was to help him understand the cases he was presiding over.
But infuriated by their mission for visiting him in his chambers, Justice Alexander Graham caused their arrest and subsequently dragged them before the Bolgatanga High Court 2 in handcuffs.
Justice Graham said the action of the two men was an attempt to compromise him and, therefore, charged them with contempt of court.
He noted that he had, on several occasions, issued warnings against attempts to circumvent the judicial processes as it had become a common practice in the region for parties of cases pending before the court to seek to influence presiding judges by visiting them privately.
Mr. Yinbil and Naab Nyakora pleaded guilty when the charges were read to them.
But the judge demanded that the two produce the Tongraan in court before their convictions. A number of lawyers, who were present at the time waiting for their cases to be called, intervened and pleaded on behalf of the two accused persons.
The judge then proceeded to convict them on their own plea and ordered that they sign a bond to be of good behaviour for six months.
But justifying the action of the Council of State member, the Talensi Traditional Council described the conviction of the two as unfortunate and surprising.
The council contended that the court, particularly Justice Graham and one other judge, had, on a number of occasions, referred land litigation cases from the Talensi and other areas to it and its president for resolution.
It said it was on the basis of “such collaboration” between the court and the Traditional Council in dispute resolution that the Council and its president extended the invitation to the judge in a bid to settle numerous land dispute cases from the area currently before him, which it said had “culminated in clashes leading to injuries to persons and damage to property”.
“In the light of these earlier cases, which were referred to the Tongraana, it was the respectful view of the Council that no serious problem will arise,” the statement said. “This well-intended gesture on the part of the Tongraana surprisingly did not sit well with His Lordship, Alexander Graham”.
While acknowledging the decision of the court not to fine or slap the convicts with custodial sentence as merciful, the statement said “the Council will be the last entity to circumvent that tradition and legal practice for which reason the two members of the Council were charged and convicted for contempt of court”.
Meanwhile, the judge has reportedly fled the region after his Bolgatanga residence was attacked by unknown assailants.
The assailants allegedly besieged his residence on Wednesday night, five days after his decision, pelting stones at the house.
It took the invention of state security personnel to ward them off and safeguard the life of the judge until the next morning when he was flown to Accra at the instance of the Chief Justice.
Anti-graft group based in Bolgatanga, National Patriots Against Injustice and Corruption (NAPAIC), Ghana has condemned the alleged attack and called on the Chief Justice to ensure adequate security for the judge to enable him to go about his constitutionally mandated duties in the region.
The United States (U.S.) Embassy in Accra has donated laptops and other electronic equipment to some selected media houses and the National Media Commission in Ghana.
The Director of the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Unit at the embassy, Chris Carlisle, said the donation would boost the capacity of journalists to engage in accountable journalism in Ghana.
“The U.S. Government supports the rule of law in Ghana and around the world. This donation to support working journalists, anti-corruption organisations, and Ghana’s main media regulator will help build capacity for stronger journalism and accountable governance in Ghana,” she said at the event at the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday.
The selected media houses include The Fourth Estate, an accountability journalism project of the Media Foundation for West Africa, and Corruption Watch, which is a non-profit news project of the Center for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana and other civil society groups.
Other organisations included the state-owned Daily Graphic, TheGhanaian Times, Ghana News Agency (GNA), and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). The National Media Commission, the media regulator in Ghana, was also given some of the equipment.
Selasie Awaworyie went into labour at 7.45pm on May 21, 2021. But there was a complication: the baby which weighed 4kg got stuck in the birth canal for almost 30 minutes.
