The Fourth Estate CMS

Author: Seth J. Bokpe

  • 294 political appointees rush to declare assets following The Fourth Estate’s exposé

    294 political appointees rush to declare assets following The Fourth Estate’s exposé

    Two hundred and three (203) metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) rushed to the Audit Service between May to November 2022 to declare their assets and liabilities in unprecedented compliance with the Asset Declaration Law, Act 550.

    While 65 of the MMDCEs, who filed their declaration, have been in office since 2017, 19 others who took office after the creation of new regions in 2018 have now complied with the law. 114 others appointed in October 2021 also declared their assets in the said period.

    The MMDCEs were among 294 political appointees, including ministers and former ministers, members of Parliament, presidential staffers, judges and heads of state institutions who declared their assets and liabilities after The Fourth Estate’s exposé on public officials’ non-compliance with the Asset Declaration law.

    Before The Fourth Estate’s story, only six MMDCEs appointed in October 2021 had declared their assets and liabilities.

    Also, 20 ministers and former ministers; 48 members of Parliament; 15 presidential staffers, 6 heads of state institutions and 8 judges declared their assets after The Fourth Estate publication. Asset declaration by certain categories of public sector workers is a requirement of the 1992 Constitution.

    Compliance List by The Fourth Estate on Scribd

    Article 286 (1) of the 1992 Constitution states that “a person who holds a public office mentioned in clause (5) of this Article shall submit to the Auditor-General a written declaration of all property or assets owned by, or liabilities owed by, him whether directly or indirectly (a) within three months after the coming into force of this Constitution or before taking office, as the case may be, (b) at the end of every four years; and (b) at the end of his term of office.”

    The law requires that the president, vice-president, the speaker, deputy speakers, and members of Parliament, ministers and deputy ministers of state, ambassadors, the chief justice, judges of superior and lower courts and managers of public institutions in which the state has interests submit to the Auditor-General written declarations of all property or assets owned by, or liabilities owed by them, whether directly or indirectly.

    The Constitution requires the declaration to be done before the public officer takes office. However, Section 1(4)(c) of the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act directs public office holders to meet this requirement “not later than six months after taking office, at the end of every four years and not later than six months at the end of his or her term.”

    The frantic declarations took place between May and November 2022 after The Fourth Estate started a series in May 2022 on public officeholders’ compliance with the law. The publications were based on the list of public officials who had declared their assets, which we requested and obtained from the Audit Service of through a right to information request in March 2022.

    The data revealed widespread non-compliance among public officeholders in the executive, judiciary and legislature. It, however, showed high levels of compliance among civil and public servants in the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Audit Service, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, and the Petroleum Commission.

    To track compliance after the series, The Fourth Estate made another right to information request in November 2022. This time, the data showed that hundreds of public officeholders had scurried to declare their assets. The asset declaration traffic to the Audit Service peaked on Friday, October 7 and Monday, October 10, 2022, when 159 declarations were filed.  On October 7, 2022, alone, 113 declarations were submitted.

    159 MMDCEs declared their assets on October 7 & October 10, 2022, alone.

    Going by the dictates of the law, all the MMDCEs who were appointed in 2017 should have declared their assets by December 2017, given that they were endorsed between May-July 2017. Those appointed in October 2021 should have met their obligation by April 2022. But the majority of them disregarded the law. This was in spite of a presidential directive.

    On July 5, 2017, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo directed 119 MMDCEs present at an orientation ceremony to declare their assets and liabilities by July 24, 2017.

     “That exercise will be monitored,” the president warned. However, only four MMDCEs complied with the directive.

    They are Martin D. Bomba-Ire, Lawra; Marian Iddrisu, Sagnarigu; Samuel Kwame Agyekum, Asuogyaman; and Emmanuel Kofi Agyemang, Dormaa East.

    By the end of President Akufo-Addo’s first term on January 6, 2021, not a single MMDCE had fully complied with the law. They were expected to file their declaration within six months of assuming office and within six months after their tenure had expired. They did partial declarations.

    But between March 2019 and December 2020, 53 of them filed their declarations. This was at a time they were leaving office.

    Compliance with the asset declaration law by MMDCEs was not different in President John Mahama’s era.

    Only four MMDCEs declared their assets from 2013-2017—one MMDCE did when she assumed office while three others did when they exited.

    Akufo-Addo’s administration

    During the president’s first term (2017-2021), only 18 out of his 126 ministers declared their assets fully.  18 others never declared their assets. For the second term, 8 out of 87 ministers did not declare their assets, while 89 appointees, including the vice-president, did partial declarations.

    However, after The Fourth Estate’s work, 19 ministers and deputy ministers, who either never filed their asset declarations or did partial declarations, have lived up to their responsibility. Eleven others are still indebted to the asset declaration regime.

    Presidential staffers

    Although the Secretary to the President, Nana Asante Bediatuo, has been signing President Akufo-Addo’s appointment and dismissal letters since 2017, the legal practitioner failed to file his asset declaration when he was supposed to do so. He and 14 others, including the vice-president’s economic advisor, Dr Gideon Boako; secretary to the vice-president, Augustine Blay; the presidential advisor on media and communications, Florence Oboshie Sai Cofie, and national security advisor, Brigadier General Emmanuel Okyere (Retd), have also now done the declaration. They did it after The Fourth Estate publications.

    Lord Commey who is the director of operations at the Office of the President, is yet to declare his asset since 2017.

    Parliament

    In the current Parliament, 95 legislators have complied with the law. 180 0thers have not. 85 of them are first-time MPs. The compliance scorecard of the legislators was 35%.

    Parliament Asset declaration status as of March 2022

    The list of non-complying MPs included at least 10 leaders of the House. However, after The Fourth Estate’s revelations, the deputy Minority Leader, Alex Afenyo-Markin, and former Deputy Minority Leader, Dr. James Klutse Avedzi, declared their assets. So did the Adansi Asokwa MP, K.T. Hammond, who hurled insults at The Fourth Estate journalist after he was asked about his asset declaration status.

    Lawmakers in the seventh and eighth parliament were not different. Only 20 MPs who served in the House from 2017-2021 fully declared their assets. They had a 7.2% compliance rate. While 129 did not declare their assets and liabilities at all, 126 did partial declaration either when they entered parliament or when they exited.

    Heads of state institutions

    The National Identification Authority Chief Executive, Prof Ken Attafuah; the Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, John Allotey; the CEO of the Minerals Income and Investment Fund, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng; the Chief Executive of the Public Procurement Authority, Frank Mante; the Administrator of the Scholarship Secretariat and the Administrator of the National COVID-19 Trust Fund all breached the law as they exceeded the grace period for declaration. They declared only after The Fourth Estate reports.

    Mahama’s administration

    The data showed that, under former President Mahama’s administration, out of the 102 ministers who served at one point or the other, only 34 fully complied with the law.11 ministers never declared their assets. 56 others failed to fully comply.

    However, only one Mahama-era minister, Nii Osah Mills, who was the former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, did his declaration after The Fourth Estate’s listed him among the defaulters. It came nine years after his appointment in 2013 and six years after he left office.

    What they are to declare

    Section 4 of Act 550 requires public office holders to declare their assets and reliabilities related to:

    (a)lands, houses and buildings;
    (b) farms;
    (c) concessions;
    (d) trust or family property in respect of which the officer has beneficial interest;
    (e) vehicles, plant and machinery, fishing boats, trawlers, generating plants;
    (f) business interests;
    (g) securities and bank balances;
    (h) bonds and treasury bills;
    (i) jewellery of the value of ¢5 million [now ¢500] or above; objects of art of the value of ¢5 million or above;
    (j) life and other insurance policies;
    (k) such other properties as are specified on the declaration form

  • Ghana fails to make progress on Corruption Perception Index

    Ghana fails to make progress on Corruption Perception Index

    The government’s big talk about building the capacity of antigraft institutions to tackle corruption has not reflected in this year’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) as Ghana failed to make any significant progress in the latest ranking released by Transparency International.

    This year, Ghana placed 8th in sub-Saharan Africa behind Seychelles, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Rwanda, Mauritius, Namibia and Sao Tome and Principe. Ghana shared the same spot with Senegal and South Africa. Ghana placed 9th last year.

    President Nana Akufo-Addo has been crediting his government for being the most audacious in the fight against corruption in Ghana.

    In a televised address on the eve of the Constitution Day to mark 30 years of Ghana’s Fourth Republic, the President said his government deserved plaudits for taking giant steps to deal with the canker.

    “I say, without any form of equivocation, that my government has undertaken, arguably, the boldest initiatives since independence to reform and strengthen the capacity of our institutions to tackle corruption in the public sector,” the president said.

    However, his words are not reflecting the country’s performance on the CPI.

    In the latest CPI, Ghana ranked 72 out of 180 countries /territories assessed annually by Transparency International, the global anti-graft body. Last year it ranked 73rd globally.

    For the third year in a row, the country scored 43 out of 100 on the index, which measures the levels of perceived corruption in the systems of various countries around the world. The maximum points a country can score is 100 points. For a country to be ranked average, it needs at least 50 points.

    President Akufo-Addo’s best scores in the last three years remain the worst in the Mahama administration, which then-opposition candidate Akufo-Addo described as corrupt.

     

    Ghana’s best CPI score in the past 11 years was in 2014 when the country scored 48. It dropped to 40 in 2017, went up marginally to 41 in 2018, stayed that way in 2019 before climbing marginally to 43 which it has maintained in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

    Corruption and the Covid-19 pandemic

    The latest ranking comes in the wake of the Auditor General’s report on COVID-19 funds management which opened a pandora box of wasteful expenditure.

    “This score reflects a lack of progress in the country’s fight against corruption. Addressing the problem of corruption is critical now more than ever as corruption is a major contributor to the country’s current economic woes as evinced by several reports including that of the Auditor General’s report on Government of Ghana’s COVID-19 expenditure,” a statement issued by the Ghana Integrity Initiative, the local chapter of Transparency International, said.

    The Auditor-General’s report showed that millions of COVID-19 funds the government mobilised towards the fight against the virus cannot be accounted for because only 3.5% of the spending went through GIFMIS, the govt accounting system.

    The report revealed that the Ministry of Health entered into a 25-year Finance Lease Agreement valued at GH¢15,265,000 in 2020 to be used as a holding and isolation centre in Adaklu, in the Volta Region. Although the ministry failed to use the place, it is remodelling the building at an additional cost of GH¢20,382,247.70 out of which GH¢13,726,079.86 has been paid.

    The Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs paid GH¢451,800.00 to paramount chiefs of six traditional councils to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The report further indicated that the Northern and Volta Regional houses misapplied a total amount of GH¢154,161.97.

    The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection paid almost GH¢12 million in cash to caterers who provided hot meals during the COVID-19 lockdown period. However, the auditors could not authenticate the cash payments because they were supported with honour certificates, and lacked internal checks. It feared this could result in the possibility of payments being made to persons who may not have provided any service.

    It is not only the CPI and the Auditor-General that have recorded Ghana’s underperformance in the fight against graft.

    Results of the Round 9 of the Afrobarometer report released last year gave a damning verdict of the public’s perception of corruption in Ghana. According to the report, Ghanaians say the level of corruption in the country increased in 2021.

    The GII is worried that the increasing level of corruption could affect trust in state institutions.

    “The misuse, embezzlement or theft of public funds can deprive the very institutions of resources they need to fulfil their mandate, which includes protecting citizens, enforcing the rule of law and safeguarding peace,” the GII said.

    “In Ghana, corruption continues to negatively affect citizens’ trust in government and institutions, hinders the provision of essential services, impedes economic development and creates vulnerabilities that have the tendency of being exploited by extremists. Corruption, if not addressed, has a potential to lead to social unrest and conflict. As such, it is essential that steps are taken to combat corruption in order to ensure a more peaceful and secure society,” it adds.

    Starving anti-corruption institutions

    While President Akufo-Addo continues to give his government high marks on the anticorruption scorecard, his critics say his performance is full of inertia and contradictions as some anti-corruption institutions continue to cry for funds.

    For instance, although the Office of the Special Prosecutor requested GHc 1.2 billion to fully operationalise, it was slashed to approximately GHc 80 million (about 6.6%) in the budget. It is unclear how much of that was released. The OSP made a similar request in 2021 but got GHc 170.5 million allocated to it in the budgeted. On top of that, the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, had not been paid for 16 months as of December last year.

    In May last year, the Speaker of Parliament lamented that Parliament was broke and had no money to run its affairs. The Speaker attributed the development to the delay by the Ministry of Finance to release funds to Parliament.

    “Parliament is currently being run on arrears and the House should not be treated like one of the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs),” he said.

    The Right to Information Commission, which oversees the implementation of the Right to Information law, has also been complaining about its limited funding which constraints it.

    GII Recommendations

     To address the problem of corruption in Ghana, the GII recommended the following measures:

    1. Relevant state agencies must address security vulnerabilities and protect the country against external threats. This should include measures such as strengthening the defence sector, increasing intelligence and security capabilities, and control the perceived politicisation of enlistment/employment. Strengthening the professionalism of the defence sector and improve border security to counter smuggling, illicit trade and potential terrorist activities.
    2. b. Government must promote economic development and reduce barriers to investment. This includes the implementation of effective monetary and fiscal policies and the creation of a transparent environment in the public and private sectors where corrupt practices are easily identified and addressed more effectively.
    3. c. The Executive should urgently take steps to lay the Conduct of Public Officers’ Bill in Parliament while we call on the Legislature to attach equal level of urgency to its timely passage.
    4. d. Parliament should ensure implementation of recommendations contained in the Auditor General’s report by referring it to the Attorney General to recover lost funds and prosecute persons found culpable to have engaged in fraud, misapplication or embezzlement of state resources.
    5. e. The Auditor General must exercise its powers of disallowance and surcharge per Article 187 (7) of the 1992 Constitution to recover misappropriated funds and prevent the reoccurrence of wastage in the public sector. Government should as a matter of urgency ensure that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is adequately resourced to enable the office effectively perform its mandate of prevention, prosecution and recovery of proceeds of corruption and corruption related offences.

     

  • “The Fourth Estate wrote to us, but we refused to respond” — Lighthouse witness tells court

     A bishop of the Lighthouse Chapel International has admitted that the church “refused” to respond to a letter The Fourth Estate wrote for a response before publishing the “Darkness in the Lighthouse” series. The series contained allegations of economic exploitation and psychological abuse six aggrieved former pastors of Lighthouse made against the church.  

    While under cross examination on Tuesday in the church’s defamation case against The Fourth Estate, Bishop Marcel Aboagye said the church ignored the media outlet because it suspected “collusion” between The Fourth Estate and the lawyer for the six former pastors, Kofi Bentil.

    “We suspected there was collusion between the former pastors, Kofi Bentil and the defendants [The Fourth Estate]. We thought a response to the letter would mean giving away the potential defence to an imminent suit,” he told the court.

     Bishop Aboagye said a few days before the church received The Fourth Estate’s letter requesting a response, he had a personal discussion with Mr Bentil on phone about the former pastors’ grievances.

    He claimed Mr Bentil declined to write officially to the church but warned that “if we don’t respond to his oral complaint, he was on the verge of filing suits on behalf of the former pastors.”

    The former pastors had a number of grievances against the church, including its failure to pay their social security contributions, underpayment of their salaries and psychological abuses.

    The Fourth Estate’s attempt to get the church’s side of the story failed. The Fourth Estate also sought the help of a prominent charismatic leader to get Lighthouse Chapel to respond before the publication of the story, but the church declined.

    Bishop Dag Heward Mills (left) and Bishop Marcel Aboagye of Lighthouse chapel
    Bishop Dag Heward Mills (left) and Bishop Marcel Aboagye (right)

    However, Bishop Aboagye, who is a lawyer and the Director of Crusade of Lighthouse, said after his encounter with Mr Bentil, he sent him messages in expectation of a phone call Mr Bentil had promised but he did not call.

    “Then three or four days later, the defendants [The Fourth Estate] rather wrote to us detailing almost all the grievances my colleague lawyer Kofi Bentil had told me against the plaintiff [Lighthouse],” he said.

    He continued: “The language of the letter was as though the defendants [The Fourth Estate] were literally eavesdropping on the call between myself and Kofi Bentil. I reported to the plaintiffs [Lighthouse] Kofi Bentil’s foreboding words that, if we don’t get back to him, and the suit hit the media, ‘it will be electrifying.’ My Lord, it’s against this background that the plaintiffs refused to reply defendant’s letter.”

    The lawyer for The Fourth Estate, Samson Lardi Anyenini, asked if it was on the back of that suspicion that the church failed to explain itself.

    “The writs were filed on the 19th of April. We were not served the whole week until Monday. It is clear in the publication, by references to the suit, that the defendants, although not party to the suit had access to the suit long before we got them,” he said.

    Although Bishop Aboagye admitted that the eight-point reasons the church gave for not paying Bishop Larry Odonkor’s SSNIT contribution as contained The Fourth Estate’s s story were factual, he said the entire letter was not published. He added that after publishing the reasons the church gave for not being responsible for paying Larry Odonkor’s pension contribution at a certain period, The Fourth Estate proceeded to “bastardise” the church in the next section of the story.

    “In your testimony, you said that in the paragraph headed ‘inconsistencies’ and reaction to the church’s response, the “defendants proceeded to ‘bastardise’ the plaintiff [Lighthouse].  Kindly point the court to this claim of yours,” Mr Anyenini said.

    “My Lord, first of all, the use of the word ‘inconsistencies’” Bishop Aboagye said, reading The Fourth Estate‘s report in the court document. “Next, the publication says, ‘There appear to be some inconsistencies in the response from the church when held against some documents of the church, as well as the treatment of Bishop Oko Mensah and others in similar situations. While the UD-OGLC maintains that Larry Odonkor was not entitled to SSNIT because he was a volunteer, the Bishops Governing Handbook of the church states that full-time ministers who are even “interns”, are to benefit from “monthly social security payments also made on their behalf.’”

    The voice of God

    In one of the stories, The Fourth Estate published about the plight of the six aggrieved pastors, it quoted a statement from Bishop Larry Odonkor: “And I heard God say to me on 6th March 2020, that ‘if you don’t leave, you will not fulfil your ministry.’”

    Asked to point out what he disagreed with in that statement, the witness said “Maybe not disagreeing, but I found that quote defamatory to the plaintiff [Lighthouse].”

    “I put it to you that there is not a whiff bothering on defamation in the pastor’s said encounter with his God as quoted in the publication,” Lawyer Anyenini said.

    Bishop Aboagye said “to the extent that those words question the objective of the church,” it was defamatory.

    “You agree with me, don’t you, that those words to the pastor in question, are the words of God speaking to him,” Mr Anyenini pointed out.

    “This is according to the claimant,” Bishop Aboagye said.

    “Is it your contention, sir, that this quotation is not factual?” the defendants’ lawyer asked.

    “My contention is that defendants or journalists cannot hide behind a deity and cast aspersions, okay? And publish insulting matters against anybody,” Bishop Aboagye said.

    “I put it to you that these words are the facts in pastor’s interview with the defendants.”

    “That is correct,” Bishop Marcel Aboagye said.

    Who was defamed?

    Lawyer Samson Lardy Anyenini also questioned the witness on the relationship between the founder of the Lighthouse Chapel International and the church.

    “It is your contention that the plaintiff’s founder, Bishop Dag Heward Mills, is the same as the plaintiff. Not so?”

    Bishop Aboagye asked to be allowed to refer to the court document.

    “You may look at paragraph 5 of your amended statement of claim,” the defendants’ lawyer pointed told him.

     “It is the Plaintiff’s contention that the relationship of the Plaintiff and its founder is so closely fused and inseparable that an attack on the Plaintiff’s leader is as good as an attack, both directly and indirectly, against the Plaintiff,” Bishop Marcel read from the Lighthouse Chapel’s statement of claim.

     Mr Anyenini demanded a yes or no answer, but the lawyer for Lighthouse, Kweku Paintsil, stepped in: “I have an objection. You ask a question in which you put it to the witness. He reads. If that’s not an answer to the court, I don’t know what the answer is.”

    The judge overruled the objection and asked the witness to respond to the question.

    “The answer is no,” Bishop Marcel Aboagye said. “The paragraph says the relationship between the founder and the plaintiff is so fused that an attack on the founder especially in the way defendant [The Fourth Estate] did is an attack on the plaintiff. And, again, paragraph 5 should be quoted in context. The preceding paragraphs and the ones after talk about the writings of the founder and how the plaintiff uses the writings of the founder to work. And therefore, attacking the founder casts a dark shadow on the modus operandi of the plaintiff [Lighthouse],” he explained.

    Samson Lardy Anyenini asked the witness to explain what he meant by an “attack in these circumstances.”

    “My Lord, within this context, an attack refers to the three defamatory publications of the defendants. Going through each of them, the founder’s name is mentioned so many times in connection to the operations of the plaintiff,” he said, and continued:

    “The publications say, for instance, that the founder imposes, in an unbiblical manner, the teachings of his books in the plaintiff’s [Lighthouse] churches. Again, the publications say that the founder exercises undue and brutal influence on the plaintiff pastors and that one even says that the founder tried to force one or some of the plaintiff bishops, one in particular, Okoe Mensah, to divorce his wife. These attacks cast a dark and gloomy shadow on the plaintiff and that cannot be denied. Finally, just as attacking the person of the Pope is an attack on the Catholic Church.”

    “Bishop Dag Heward Mills is not a party in this suit. Is that so?” Samson Lardy Anyenini asked.

    “That’s correct,” the witness said.

    Background to Lighthouse case against The Fourth Estate

    In December 2021, Lighthouse Chapel International sued publishers of The Fourth Estate alleging defamation in a series of reports the news outlet had published about the church and its former pastors and bishops.

    The church cited the Editor-in-Chief of The Fourth Estate, Manasseh Azure Awuni; and the investigative reporter, Edwin Appiah; who wrote the story, as defendants. The other defendants are the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, and The Media Foundation for West Africa.

    The church had turned down an opportunity to respond to the allegation after the journalist sought its side of the story ahead of the serialised publications. The charismatic church, founded by Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, sued for defamation, claiming that it was losing members because of the story.

    The church said it had also “suffered considerable damage, distress and embarrassment” because the stories cast the church as a “two-faced” Christian organization and a “ranking hypocrite”.

    The church wants the court to restrain The Fourth Estate from publishing “similar words defamatory of the plaintiff.” It also wants The Fourth Estate to apologise for the stories and also pull down all the stories.

    After a back-and-forth including a court directive in July 2022 that the parties explore an amicable settlement, which failed, the court began the trial of the case on Tuesday.

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    Lighthouse sues all six former pastors again 

  • ‘I saw skeletons in the Sahara Desert’

    When Ibrahim left Ghana in June 2019 for Niger, it was meant to be the springboard out of abject poverty for him and his family.  

    For nine months, the 26-year-old butcher spent time in the ghettos of Agadez, a crossroad for people on the move and hive for migrant smugglers.

    He waited for the right moment with assurances from smugglers for the death-defying journey through the Sahara Desert to Libya and then Europe.

    “In the early part of 2020, I finally got a break. The smugglers demanded $2,000 per head to take about 30 of us in a pickup across the Sahara. When we got to Libya, we paid another $1,000 to cross the sea to Europe.  The day we left; we wore a mask and carried just a small backpack. The entire vehicle had one jerry can of water,” he told The Fourth Estate.

    They left in a convoy of seven vehicles. The only encounter with the law was a lonely police checkpoint on the immediate outskirts of Agadez, Ibrahim, recalled. Not much of a check happened. The rest of the journey was through an endless expanse of sand as far as the eye could see.

    A day into what was to be a three-day journey, the vehicle Ibrahim was travelling on broke down. He and his colleagues became a dough in an oven; the sun baked them so severely that one person lost consciousness from dehydration. Their water was rationed with a syringe. A drip on the tongue at a time, nothing more.

    Eight Bodies, Heartbreaking Note Found In Car Stranded In Libyan Desert - Zenger News
    Abandoned vehicles such as this are common in the Sahara Desert              Credit: Zenger News

    The few hours they were promised the vehicle would be fixed turned into a day, then two.

    For two days, they took turns sleeping in a congested pick-up truck, while stranded in sand dunes. The women wanted to go back to Agadez. The men had the patience to wait for the next truck. But the water in the jerrycan was fast draining.

    “People were just falling left and right in the sand out of fatigue. The combination of the hot sand and dust was wicked,” Ibrahim recalled, shaking his head.

    Eventually, on the third day, another vehicle arrived. But the journey took more than a day to make it to Libya. There were more stops, where the smugglers paid bribes. It was the most horrifying journey of his life, he said.

    “I saw dead bodies in the sand, there were skeletons, bags, and shoes on the route. By the time we got to Libya, almost everyone in the vehicle was crying,” he remembered, breaking into tears for the first time in years.

    Skeletal remains of migrants are said to be common sight in the Sahara Desert
    Skeletal remains of migrants are said to be common sight in the Sahara Desert Credit: KPBS

    At this point, he stopped and mopped beads of sweat. It was like a mock demonstration of his job as a cleaner in a hotel in Niamey.

    Ibrahim said he stayed in Libya for 10 months and returned to Ghana because of COVID-19.

    “I ran out of money. I couldn’t get any job to keep going. There was an evacuation of Ghanaians by the International Migration Organization. I joined and returned to Ghana in November 2020.”

    He returned safely, but the feeling of an unaccomplished mission kept eating away his sanity. So, he jumped into a bus again. Niger is now his temporary home as he eyes another sojourn through the desert.

    He found the cleaning job through a Nigerian friend he made in Libya.

    “I’m accumulating enough money to try my luck again. I want to go to Italy. I have friends there,” the former butcher from Banda in the Bono Region said.

    His friends in Italy sold to him the prospects of a better life in Italy once he crossed the twin hurdles of the desert and the Mediterranean.

    These friends got to Italy with the help of smuggling rings.

    But when Ibrahim arrived in the West African country deep in the Sahara, he began to understand the scale of the smugglers’ deceit and his friends’ oversimplification of the dangers that awaited him.

    These smuggling rings also have links to other countries in North Africa including Morroco and Algeria.

    The story of Ibrahim and other African migrants was the focal point for the discussion when more than 200 stakeholders gathered in Niamey for Regional Conference on Media and Migration in West and Central Africa this year.

    Celebrate successful migrants

    The conference took place within the framework of the project, “Empowering Youth in Africa through Media and Communication”, which has been implemented since 2019 in eight West and Central African countries—Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.

     

    The project is funded by the Government of Italy through the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). The Regional Conference, which marked the end of the project, engaged the participants in a reflection on the main issues related to the media coverage of migration.

    It became obvious at the conference that many young people are making their decisions to travel from uninformed positions.

    The media is, therefore, seen as an antidote for the information deficit and the misinformation that create fertile grounds for young people to make their decisions to embark on perilous journeys across the Sahara and the Mediterranean to Europe.

    West Africa’s high unemployment is a push factor that drives thousands of young people annually out of their countries.

    International Migration Organisation’s data shows more than 100,000 young people make this extremely risky journey each year

    According to the European Council on Foreign Relations, extreme poverty, food insecurity, and the predatory behaviour of authoritarian regimes also prompt people to flee their countries to find alternatives both within Africa itself (about 90% of African migrants remain on the continent) and in Europe.

    Africa Union’s (AU) data suggests that only 20% of migrants actually leave Africa. More migrants move from the Horn of Africa to Southern Africa than those crossing the Sahara to North Africa to reach Europe.

    But even before they join the dingy boats for the make-or-break journey across the Mediterranean, an average of 25 migrants lost their lives daily on their way to North Africa, IOM data revealed.

    Thousands risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe on dingy boats                     Credit: The Guardian

    From 2014 to 2019, at least 7,400 people died on Africa’s migration routes.

    These numbers notwithstanding, there were echoes of dissatisfaction at the conference about skewed media reportage which paints migration as irregular, dangerous and unwarranted.

    “There are stories about the success stories of migrants that must be told.  We are not telling enough of these stories. If we don’t do it, others will in a manner they deem fit,” Peter Iorter, the Executive Director/CEO at Safer-Media Initiative, said.

    The success stories of African entrepreneurs, academics, politicians among others remain untold, he said.

    Niamey Declaration on Migration

    In a declaration read by Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Information, Fatimatu Abukakar, the participants from the eight countries rallied the media and civil society organisation operating in the field of migration:

    • Ensure the diversification of narratives, including through the treatment of the subject from various angles, to contribute to the provision of comprehensive information on migration;
    • Support the production of diversified editorial content in local languages on migration;
    • Make narratives in migration-related editorial content more inclusive, by engaging more voices from youth, women, and people living with disabilities, as well as stakeholders;
    • Contribute to the deconstruction of stereotypes and other prejudices relating to migrants;

    Participants also wanted development partners to “Support initiatives to enhance the plural and inclusive representation of migrants and the diversification of narratives on migration; strengthen the capacity of media and fact-checking organisations in the region to counter misinformation and disinformation on migration; strengthen national and cross-border collaboration between media from the region and other relevant regions to foster collaborative journalism in media coverage of migration.”

    They also recommended that governments in the eight countries should do the following:

    • Adopt access to information law, in conformity with the African Union model law and international standards, and ensure their effective implementation to guarantee the right to information;
    • Strengthen mechanisms and arrangements for the safety of journalists, particularly in relation to the production of migration-related content;
    • Promote policies and mechanisms that support pluralism, diversity and economic viability of the media;
    • Pursue capacity-building initiatives for media professionals, particularly on the treatment of information related to migration;
    • Encourage and support research initiatives on the causes, effects, and dynamics of migration in West and Central Africa;
    • Support the creation or development of migration information and documentation centres to facilitate access to information sources;
    • Adopt and implement strategies to popularise media and information literacy among young people in order to equip them with the necessary skills to critically research, verify, evaluate and use information.

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  • School block burns as riot breaks out at Sandema Senior High School in Upper East Region

    A violent demonstration erupted around midnight on Sunday at the Sandema Senior High School (SANSEC) has resulted in the burning of a school block.

    Police personnel stationed in Builsa North, a municipality in the Upper East Region, raced to the school to restore order.

    How riot at Sandema Senior High School started

    Eyewitnesses say the riot started building up around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday when the school’s cadet corps attempted to seize mobile phones from some students under the instruction of a teacher.

    The students refused to hand over their phones. The refusal resulted in a struggle as the cadet team would not leave the scenes without executing their mission. Tension flared up and spread as some students joined the fray. The situation took a sharp turn for the worse when a senior student trimmed the hair of another senior student who was reportedly wearing an unapproved hairstyle on campus.

    Some students stormed dormitories, hurled stones at anything in sight and set an entire building on fire. Scores of boarding students fled the campus in different directions. They stayed the rest of the night outside.

    “Some of us ran to Wiaga to sleep there,” a student told The Fourth Estate in the early hours of Monday. “Some who did not take part in the disturbance slept in the bush overnight. Many students fainted as they were running during the confusion. Some of the students already were asthmatic patients. But they are fine now. Those involved in the riot entered dormitories, throwing stones and saying if we didn’t go out, they would kill us.”

    Another student told The Fourth Estate on Monday: “We just returned to campus. Police are around. There are about five police cars in front of the administration block― police cars alone. Even though the school authorities have not asked us to go home, everybody is packing because some are saying they can’t wait and die. We are still in our exams period but I don’t think we will write today.”

    The fire from the riot ripped the roof of the Sandema school block
    The fire from the riot ripped the roof of the school block

    It was difficult for The Fourth Estate to reach the headmaster of Sandema Senior High School,  Robert Yelioni, on the telephone for his comment on the development at the school as his mobile line was still busy before press time. But he is said to have assembled the students on Monday, entreated them to be calm and asked them to go to their classrooms.

    Speaking to The Fourth Estate, a teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, said the building torched by the rioting boarders was a block where Visual Arts equipment and foodstuff among other kinds of items were kept.

    “It’s a whole block. The school has its practical equipment, cadet equipment, even foodstuff and so many things inside the building. But everything is calm now. Authorities are meeting.

    “So, we are waiting for the outcome as to whether the students should go home or whatsoever. So many visitors are in because of this issue. The headmaster is busy in an engagement with the visitors,” the teacher told The Fourth Estate.

    Police have no business in granting interviews on student demonstration― Police PRO

    The Navrongo Divisional Police Commander, Chief Supt. Yahaya Muchiraru, declined to speak on the riot when The Fourth Estate contacted him.

    “If it is in connection with it, get in touch with the police PRO in the region,” said the commander.

    When The Fourth Estate reached the Upper East Regional Police PRO, ASP David Fianko-Okyere, on the telephone, he retorted: “I don’t think student demonstration is for police to come and grant an interview on that. You have called me. I’m the PRO for the Upper East Regional Police Command. I am saying that I can’t comment on this matter.”

    Meanwhile, the National Peace Council (NPC) says the region may continue to witness student unrest if stakeholders fail to sustain engagement of both students and school authorities in effective ways of resolving conflicts.

    “We started doing some engagement with them, but I think last year and this year we haven’t been able to do much. When you start something and it fizzles out, people would go back to their normal way of doing things.

    “There is nothing that cannot be resolved, particularly if people would sit down and talk. There should be constant engagement between students and school management. But we don’t seem to attach importance to this. We think school riots are part of school life. Even this year, we had a similar incident at the Bolgatanga Technical Institute,” the Upper East Regional Peace Council’s Executive Secretary, Ali Anankpieng, told The Fourth Estate on Monday.

    A large crowd of students and community members besieged the school the day after the inferno

    The frequency of campus unrest has been a major concern in the region. Such was the prevalence some time ago that a former Upper East Regional Minister, Tangoba Abayage, convened a meeting with heads of second-cycle institutions in the region for deliberations on how to check it.

    There are more than 30 second-cycle schools in the region. Many of them have been involved in campus disturbances that saw investigative committees instituted and students surcharged in the long run for causing damage to school property.

    Riots have occurred at some of these schools on more than two occasions. A riot has been very rare at Sandema Senior High School. Observers in the region generally attribute the school’s peacefulness to the calm nature of the headmaster.

    “We have a good father in him,” one of the students, Linda Aba-enge, once spoke about Robert Yelioni. “He is very calm. He calls us his sons and daughters any time he is addressing us.”

  • Man, 31, electrocuted in Chinese mine in Upper East

    A 31-year-old mineworker of the Earl International Group Ghana Gold Limited was electrocuted early Tuesday morning while working for the company.

    Paul Agbango was killed around 4:00 a.m. Tuesday while he was working underground for a chinese mine in Upper East, witnesses told The Fourth Estate.

    The Chinese mine apologised to the family Tuesday afternoon for the death of their relative in the gold-mining district in the Upper East Region.

    It is the latest expression of regret in a growing string of apologies rendered over mining-related injuries and deaths recorded since 2008 when the Chinese-owned company, formerly known as Shaanxi Mining Company Limited, arrived in the district.

    Before the 31-year-old mineworker joined the company on November 5, 2020, as a gathering-arm operator, 16 people had lost their lives in the mine in 2019.

    “It’s so sad,” the company’s spokesperson, Ebenezer Bognaab, told The Fourth Estate as the miner’s body was being transported to the mortuary at the Upper East Regional Hospital. “We just have to empathise with the family of the deceased and allow for investigations to happen.”

    He continued: “It’s unfortunate that we had to record an incident of electric shock. We are very sorry, and we empathise with the family.”

    How a worker at a Chinese mine in Upper East died

    A gathering arm is a tractor-like machine used for loading loose stones or gold ore.

    Agbango, a native of mineral-rich Zongoyire in the Bawku West District, was electrocuted while he was using a gathering arm, per the details The Fourth Estate gathered from the mining company’s spokesperson.

    “He was on a night shift. He was assigned to a working phase as usual. He had almost finished his work and was reversing to clear the muck (broken ore). In the process of reversing, the machine accidentally cut off an electric cable, exposing the cable.

    “The cable got into contact with the electrified machine (the gathering arm). And that was how he got electrocuted. We have formally informed the police. The police [are] escorting the body to the mortuary. We will proceed to inform the Minerals Commission,” Mr. Bognaab explained.

    Teni Ghaatuon, mourns her husband, James Nbalebna, who died aged 21 from a mine blast by the Chinese mine in Upper East
    Agbango (not the man in the picture) is one of many victims who had died in the mine or as a result of the mine’s activities      Credit: Sydney Morning Herald

    Mining in Upper East: Safety Concerns

    There is a lot of gold in the belly of the earth in the district. But there is very little to show for it above the ground in terms of infrastructure.

    There is only one tarred road in the entire district. While some schools in the area grapple with the shortage of furniture worried stakeholders are keenly keeping their eyes on the safety of mineworkers in the district.

    Their safety concerns are rooted in a history of mine accidents that have taken breadwinners away from their families.

    On May 26, 2013, gas from explosives in the mine killed three small-scale miners.

    On April 2 the following year, two miners died from gas poisoining and one person was critically injured.

    In October 2014, three mineworkers were pulled out dead from a collapsed pit.

    In April 2015, two miners died and 8 people got injured from an explosion occasioned by the Chinese company.

    The following year saw 16 miners were rushed to the Upper East Regional Hospital after they inhaled a toxic gas from a mining explosive.

    In 2017, seven miners were trapped and killed many feet below ground while scooping gold ore.

    Two years later, the worst disaster happened, when 16 miners were killed. Each of them frothed at the mouth after the Chinese blasted an explosive. The Minerals Commission shut down the company temporarily in the aftermath of the disaster.

    Members of the area say the Chinese company has killed more than 60 people since its arrival in Talensi more than a decade ago, a number the company has repeatedly refuted.

    Another Safety Assurance

    When The Fourth Estate contacted the Minerals Commission Tuesday afternoon on the latest tragedy, the mining officer in charge of the district, Dickson Achindiba, said he had not been informed about it.

    Agbango’s death is similar to how a Ghanaian-born Shaanxi employee died in October 2018. The miner, whose name was mentioned only as Baarn, was crushed to death underground by a huge metal-made bucket.

    The company’s spokesperson at the time, Maxwell Wooma, assured the public that more measures would be put in place to ensure that workers at the mine were safe.

    “You would recall that for the past three years, the mine has been safe,” Bognaab said. “Since 11th December 2019, we have not recorded a fatality. We have kept the mine so safe. Conditions of workers have improved.”

    He assured: “This is one of the unfortunate incidents that we have recorded. As a mine, we will revisit our safety procedure to make sure that incidents of this nature are completely avoided.”

    Looking back at history, some residents in the region feel a tragedy may strike again in the mine in the future. But they are not sure which family would receive the next apology from the company.

    Meanwhile, the Upper East Regional Police Command has confirmed the incident and said the case is being investigated by the Talensi District Police.

     

  • Table drawer used for computer lessons as computer centres in three regions rot away

    When the government contacted the Paramount Chief of Bongo, Naba Baba Salifu Atamale Lemyaarum, about a decade ago for a piece of land to put up a community information centre, he gladly granted the request without hesitation.

    He welcomed the project as a way of improving computer literacy in the Bongo District.

    But his joy gave way to regret when the government abandoned the project after completion.

    “It was going to be an ICT centre and a post office at the same time. The place was fully constructed. Many years down the line, there has been no handover until it deteriorated,” he told The Fourth Estate.

    The land was given for free. But the structure took thousands of Ghana cedis to construct.

    “How can we in this country do all these things? We waste so much money to put up a facility but at the end of the day nothing is done,” complained the chief.

    While the chief is lamenting the deterioration of the centre, several state-run schools in the district do not have computers for their information communication technology (ICT) lessons.

    One such school―Abelinzanga Junior High School― uses a table drawer to represent a central processing unit (CPU) during ICT sessions.

    The school is situated near Ghana’s border with Burkina Faso and has children from communities in the French-speaking country joining their Ghanaian counterparts every day to learn.

    The schoolchildren say they have never seen a desktop computer and how it works.

    Despite the lack of a computer, the children write ICT as a subject at the crucial Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) every year.

    “It is even closer to the Bongo Senior High School and a cluster of schools,” said the chief, referring to the state-abandoned community information centre.

    “The schools would have made good use of the facility, especially if computers are put there and the internet is connected to the it.”

    Church takes over Bongo’s community information centre

    The centre in Bongo was being used as a brothel and public toilet-until-a-church -took-over the building.

    For some years, the community information centre in Bongo stood in ruins after its completion in 2012.

    The building was converted by some faceless persons into a brothel. Used condoms were often spotted in the rooms.

    A section of the facility also became a public place of convenience. And by 2017, about 450 louvre blades and several doors had gone missing from the structure.

    At present, the Reconciliation Power Ministry has taken over the building. The Fourth Estate recently joined the church’s regular worshippers for a Sunday service. The ceiling and other fittings have peeled off despite the fact that it has never been used for its intended purpose since completion.

    Bush and reptiles take over Navrongo’s community information centre

    The community information centre in Bongo is not the only such facility that government has constructed and abandoned.

    There are several other places across the country where the government, in the interest of bridging the digital literacy gap, constructed the facilities through the Ghana Investment Fund Electronic Communications (GIFEC).

    GIFEC Administrator, Prince Ofosu Sefa                                             Credit: Asaase

    The community information centre in Navrongo in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality is currently rotting away.

    The centre stands in ruins on a bushy plot along the main road that leads to the main Ghana-Burkina Faso border at Paga. A pair of gates that was mounted at the facility for security purposes has lost one of its wings. The wing is fallen and rusting on the ground. The damaged side allows anybody into the unkempt compound at any time.

    The burglarproof bars erected across the doors are padlocked. One of the bars fixed against the louvred windows is partly broken. The wire mesh behind that broken bar is bent in a manner that suggests the centre might have been raided and looted. The bars and their padlocks themselves are rusting away.

    The life that once drew the public to the centre has gone missing. For now, the occupants of the facility are insects― some of which have made mu d nests on the building― and lizards― which hang out there regularly to feed on the insects.

    The only part of the facility that still appears to be in shape is its wire-mesh fence. But one of the metal poles that support the fence is bent frontwards. That pole is about to fall completely.

    Community information centre in Talensi turned into dumping ground

    Entering the community information centre in Talensi, a mineral-rich district in the Upper East Region, to check its state was riskier.

    There is widespread filth inside the centre’s multiple rooms. While going around the facility, The Fourth Estate sighted in those rooms women’s handbags, National Identification Authority (NIA) cards, voter identity cards, e-zwich biometric smartcards, hats, footwear, clothes and empty beer bottles among other items scattered all over the place.

    The white inner parts of the building’s walls are covered in graffiti, scribbled anonymously with charcoal. A number of the doors, generally coated with blue gloss paint, hang half-broken, with their remaining halves still hinged to their doorposts. Overhead are sections of a plywood ceiling, rotting away.

    All the sockets are switchless and are partly covered in dust and cobwebs. Wires of different colours and lengths, untidily twisted together, stick out from some of the sockets in large quantities like the fibrous roots of a mature plant thoroughly exposed by soil erosion.

    GES takes possession of Nabdam’s community information centre

    The community information centre built by the Mills administration in Nabdam, another district in the Upper East Region, stands on the edge of an ECOWAS road.

    It is located in Kongo, the hometown of the current Member of Parliament (MP) for Nabdam, Dr Mark Kurt Nawaane.

    The facility was reportedly well furnished― and it once functioned. It was offering training among other key services to members of the Nabdam communities, per the information The Fourth Estate gathered.

    But things ground to a halt at the facility after a new government took over in 2017. For a long time, the building was under lock and key.

    Later, the centre became a ‘free guest house’ for any tertiary students who chose the district to undertake field programmes and needed temporary accommodation during their presence in the district.

    Even with the tertiary students occasionally lodging there, the ‘free guest house’ was denied the maintenance it needed.

    The Ghana Education Service now occupies the centre in Nabdam.

    The decay process was cut short when the MP, reportedly out of goodwill, renovated the structure for the Ghana Education Service (GES) in 2018. The GES currently has no office block of its own in the district.

    The MP redesigned and rebranded the abandoned community information centre and handed it to the GES. That is where the district education office is housed today. But the whereabouts of the centre’s equipment are unknown.

    “It was left there. Rodents and reptiles practically took over the place. Externally it was looking like a building but we had to change a lot of things― the roofing sheets, the woodwork, wiring, painting and plumbing work.

    “I used my GETFund (Ghana Education Trust Fund). I practically used the whole money, which was about Gh¢60,000 to renovate the place. It was a lot of money at that time. We secured the permission of the District Assembly before we did that renovation,” the MP told The Fourth Estate.

    GNAT secures room in abandoned community information centre in Bawku West

    When The Fourth Estate met Ali Mudasiru, a middle-aged shopkeeper, along a road in Zebilla, the hilly capital of the Bawku West District, and asked him for directions to the community information centre in the area, his immediate answer was a question.

    “What are you going there to do?”

    “Somebody just wants to meet with those in charge,” replied The Fourth Estate.

    Without further question, he burst into a prolonged gurgle of laughter.

    “Oh, boy! I’ve not seen anybody there since I came to settle in this district many years ago,” he said as his laughter faded out. “The place has been locked for a very long time.”

    When The Fourth Estate entered the premises, the amount of dust and the thickness of the cobwebs seen on the doors of the centre confirmed the clue in Mudasiru’s laughter.

    The structure is designed to accommodate both the community information centre and a district office of the Ghana Post. The postal office on that block is operating. But the side meant for the community information centre is firmly locked.

    Nonetheless, the Ghana Post has a neighbour on the block― the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), which occupies an inner section of the structure.

    Mentally ill man resides in abandoned community information centre in Bolgatanga

    One of the rooms of the abandoned centre in Bolgatanga is now being used to store commercial firewood

    The block constructed for the community information centre in Sandema, capital of the Builsa North Municipality, is not being used for the original purpose.

    It is found next to a building used as a base by the Builsa North Municipal Police Command.

    A person travelling on the main road from Navrongo to the office block of the Builsa North Municipal Assembly would come to the structure just before turning right towards the assembly’s premises.

    Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED), a non-governmental organisation, is using the building as its office quarters.

    The signboard of the National Youth Authority (NYA) is on the frontage of the structure. The NYA occupied the building some time ago, The Fourth Estate learns. But despite the fact that the structure is occupied by the charity organisation, it still looks abandoned― particularly when the doors are closed.

    “It’s embarrassing that ICT is no longer in the building. The computers are no more in the building,” remarked the Assembly Member for the Sandema Abil-Yeri Electoral Area, Malik Adaambiik.

    The community information centre in the Bolgatanga Municipality is in the same state as the one in the Bawku West District.

    The abandoned building is along the main highway in Bolgatanga, facing a yet-to-be-developed large piece of land near the municipal office of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

    While some windows are without louvre blades, lamp holders are hanging without bulbs from the ceilings and the walls. A room with a broken burglarproof and without a door has been converted into a store where commercial firewood is kept.

    There is no one inside the structure except a calm mentally ill young man who regularly sleeps on its veranda and wakes up every morning to write down his ideas and thoughts on one of the many crumpled pieces of paper mostly found around him.

    From ‘the White House’ to ‘a White Elephant’― the state of the centre in Tumu

    The abandoned centre in Tumu is under lock and key.

    The condition of the red-roofed community information centre in Sissala East, a district in the Upper West Region, is of worry to residents, including the MP for the Sissala East Constituency, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku.

    The abandoned structure is found beside a police station on the Hilla Limann Road.

    Its spotless all-white coat and the round twin pillars in front had inspired some residents to label it “the White House”.

    Many say it was such a delight to the eye until it was abandoned to rot away. Surrounded by a wire-mesh fence, the structure is seen today as a blot on a road named after a former president of Ghana.

    After losing its original glow, the building also lost its popular tag― “the White House”. But because it is still white, some residents now refer to it in its abandoned state as “a white elephant”.

    “There is a collaboration between GIFEC and the Assembly to do it,” the MP for the Sissala East Constituency told The Fourth Estate.

    “The Assembly was supposed to provide some materials for rehabilitation; then, GIFEC would bring in computers and other accessories. The assembly didn’t fulfill its part. I have spoken with the [fellow] from GIFEC. We are talking so that the assembly can provide those materials and, then, they can do it.”

    The staff of Yendi’s community information centre are unknown

    The centre in Yendi has remained locked for a long time.

    The staff of the community information centre in Wa still come to work.

    Situated opposite the Upper West Regional Library, the structure still looks fairly good, too.

    But the centre has been stomaching some chronic challenges in silence. It has no funds to repair damaged machines. There is no cash to restore its collapsed internet service. And, for lack of funds, it has suspended the training programmes it is mandated to undertake for the general public.

    Tamale, the Northern Region’s metropolitan capital, has its community information centre constructed only a few metres away from the premises of the High Courts. The facility is operational. But just as is the situation in Wa, the centre in Tamale is plagued by a longstanding internet blackout.

    The community information centre in Yendi, a municipality in the Northern Region, shares the same condition as its remote counterpart in the Bawku West District.  It is another property that has been forsaken by its proprietor― the government.

    Three other agencies coexist in that building, providing some crucial services to the area. A branch of the Ghana Post, which was commissioned in 2012, occupies a front section of the square-shaped structure. The backside of the building is shared by the Ghana National Service Scheme (GNSS) and a media firm, Dasuma Radio.

    The doors of the facility were padlocked and layered with dust when The Fourth Estate visited Yendi. The other agencies were busy in their own corners. None of the officials of those agencies could tell the whereabouts of the centre’s staff.

    The Presiding Member of the Yendi Municipal Assembly, Hussein Abdul-Karim, benefited from one of the training programmes the centre organised before it suddenly ceased to operate. He is among a number of persons who feel sad today in the municipality about the state of the facility.

    “Their machines broke down. They wrote to the government for support but up to date [no favourable action has been taken]. The machines are not working. That’s why we are where we are. Nothing is going on there for more than 8 years now. Meanwhile, it is the taxpayer’s money they used in buying all these things,” he lamented.

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  • Tears for LPG users, a dirge for our falling trees

    One bag of charcoal is GH₵90. A 14.5kg of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) is GH₵240. What will you opt for?

    That was the disturbing reality that confronted me last Sunday when my wife called out from the kitchen to announce the sudden death of the flames under the food she was cooking.

    Our backup cylinder was also empty.

    Weeks before, she had prompted me to fill the standby cylinder to prevent the situation we found ourselves in. I had procrastinated the journey because of the long drive involved. Of late, almost every Ghanaian, except those who get free fuel, keep their eyes on the fuel gauge.

    For years, I have preached to my wife and all those willing to listen about the havoc we wreak on the environment any time we light coal pots.

    LPG vs charcoal prices

    I’m an avowed tree hugger and deeply loyal to LPG. Yes, LPG is a fossil-fuel product. But it is much cleaner. Besides lower CO2 emissions, LPG doesn’t release pollutants, including soot, that have an immediate effect on the environment.

    Of late, however, the increasing cost of LPG means re-examining our options. In January last year, 14.5kg of LPG gas was GH₵ 67. By March it jumped to GH₵89. In October, it was GH₵130.

    Government to ban LPG refill at stations | Pulse Ghana
    LPG price have shot up astronomically                                                Source: Pulse

    Since then, the steep climb has continued. From January last year to now, the cost of LPG gas has almost quadrupled.

    If the government had been true to itself, it would have realised that it would struggle to attain the 50% LPG access for Ghanaians by 2030, which is the target of the National LPG Promotion Policy.

    Statistics from the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) indicate that as of October 2022, only 36.9% of Ghana’s more than 30 million population use LPG. This is up from 24.5% in 2017.

    The NPA’s Chief Executive, Dr Mustapha Hamid, attributed it to “… challenges such as slow uptake in particularly low-income areas, affordability, accessibility, non-adherence to safety requirements by some operators, old and unsafe cylinders, among others.”

    More and more people are switching to charcoal because of the cost of LPG. Comparatively, charcoal is cheaper. For my household, 14.5kg of LPG lasts a month. That is an average of GHc8 daily. Assuming a bag of charcoal could serve us for a month, it means we could spend only GHc 3 on cooking fuel.

    This is the push factor for all those adopting charcoal. It is cheaper for the home and easily accessible as well.  Although environmentally expensive, there are healthier options, including charcoal briquettes, made from bamboo and other fast-growing trees. However, these options are largely untapped.

     Health hazards of charcoal use

    Apart from the environmental degradation that comes with charcoal production, there are health hazards too.

    Experts say charcoal contains chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which have the potential to cause cancer and other serious health problems when consumed over a long period.

    PAHs are a group of hundreds of different compounds that are produced during the incomplete combustion of carbon-based materials, including gasoline and wood. They have also been found in cigarette smoke, vehicle exhaust, and coal emissions. Sources of contamination include the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the foods we eat. Studies suggest that long-term exposure to low levels of PAHs can be toxic to humans and cause reproductive problems, brain damage, and cancer.

    Accra Ghana January 7 2019 African Stock Footage Video (100% Royalty-free) 1022033230 | Shutterstock
    Experts warn that long-term exposure to charcoal fire could have devastating impact on health   Source: Shutterstock

    The World Health Organisation estimates that about 5% of cancers in the world are caused by smoking or exposure to other carcinogenic substances, such as PAHs. The exact association between cancer and PAHs is not well understood. However, some evidence suggests that they promote the formation of tumours by interfering with the action of enzymes in the body.

    In short, charcoal is not safe. But we are cutting down more trees to burn more of it.

    And even more in search of gold.

    Decentralize galamsey fight to achieve better results - Small scale miners to government
    Illegal miners have destroyed vast forests in search of gold               Source: CitiNewsroom

    In 2021, the government launched the Green Ghana project as part of an aggressive national afforestation/reforestation programme to restore the lost forest cover of Ghana and to contribute to the global effort to mitigate climate change.

    It became a media confection because the government had some impressive figures to sell. According to the Forestry Commission, more than 25 million trees had been planted in the last two years.

    While the president and his praise singers milked the political advantage that comes with the green investment, illegal miners are mowing down more trees in our forests.

    Akufo-Addo plants 'tree of life' to mark Green Ghana Day - MyJoyOnline.com

    A talk not walked

      At the ongoing Climate Conference (COP 27) in Egypt, President Akufo-Addo wore verbal gloves in demanding that the West redeem its loss and damage pledges.

    Although Africa has been tagged vulnerable because the economy of all African countries is nature-based enterprises, President Akufo-Addo believes Africa remains the vanguard of hope against climate change.

    “With her vast land, Africa has the greatest potential to help decarbonise the world by absorbing carbon dioxide through regenerative agriculture that requires less fertiliser and reforestation with strong biodiversity content.

    “My government is proud to announce that Ghana will launch projects in these areas, which will tackle at the same time climate change on global and domestic levels and social issues by providing people with dignified and sustainable jobs,” the president said.

    However, the President is not walking the talk back home.  Illegal miners, including brazen ones from his party and his government’s decision to mine in the Atewa Forest for bauxite, are robbing the country of the very forest and biodiversity he touted to world leaders.

    It has been weeks since the Mineral Commission revealed that Akonta Mining, a company belonging to the governing party’s Ashanti Regional chairman, was illegally mining in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve.

    But beyond burning some properties at the site, Bernard Antwi Bosiako, popularly called Chairman Wontumi, is walking a free man.

    In a story with a similar plot, the Energy Commission decided not to pursue another case of illegality against another NPP Chairman. This time, it involved Dela Zuttah, the party’s Afadzata South Constituency chairman in the Volta Region. He was involved in a planned shipment of 21 containers of charcoal, which the commission described as the biggest consignment of illegal charcoal it has ever seized.

    These two incidents and many others do not portray a government that would want to go an extra length to protect our environment. This reflects in the cost of LPG and the other unpunished illegalities in our forests.

    Ghana is currently experiencing what experts say is the biggest onslaught on the environment through illegal mining. Not tackling these and talking big at climate change conferences is meaningless.

    Climate change is real. It is washing away communities along our coast. It is making weather patterns too unpredictable for our farmers to plan, thereby threatening food security. Tropical diseases are going up because of increasing warm weather.

    While the government cannot control all the drivers of climate change, it has the power to ensure that LPG prices are within the means of households and that the wanton destruction of our forest for charcoal is reduced.

    The time to act is now!

  • 547 crimes reported daily in Ghana: here’s how to identify crime scenes

    Averagely, Ghana’s crime rate has been on the rise since 2018. According to the 2021 public safety and crime report, violent crimes rose by 40.8% from 2020 to 2021. The same report indicates that the leading forms of violent crimes in the country were manslaughter, armed robbery and aggravated assault.

    Criminal investigation is gradually becoming a very rigorous process throughout the world. The police rely on experts from various fields to successfully get to the bottom of what happens during the occurrence of crime. One of the factors that have contributed to the general rigor in criminal investigation is the lack of public and police forensic awareness in general.

    FORENSIC SCIENCE LABORATORY - FSL
    Ghana Police Service Forensic Lab Source: Ghana Police Service

    The Ghana Police Service commissioned the Forensic Science Laboratory in 2011 to improve criminal investigation in Ghana. This, being progress, has its own challenges, especially in crime and forensic awareness of the police and the general public

    Data from the Ghana Police Service indicates that at least 200,000 complaints are reported annually since 2016. This means that on average, about 547 crimes are reported daily and 22 on an hourly basis

    It is important to increase education and awareness to the public on the dos and don’ts in order to avoid self-incrimination and obstruction of justice.

    Forensic awareness is thus important in preserving evidence that eventually leads to the proper delivery of justice.

    Types of crime scenes and how to recognize them

    Indoor types

    Indoor crime scenes are usually within an enclosed, covered or roofed area like a bedroom, enclosed garage, classroom, kitchen, cabinet among others. This can also be a place where a crime has been committed, which includes an indoor space which has evidence from a crime like a rubber bag containing a bloody knife stuck under a bed.

    One must note that the entire area of a crime scene might not be limited by what is seen by a victim or a witness of a crime or its scene. For instance, when a crime occurs in the master bedroom of a two-bedroom self-contained apartment, the entire apartment is considered a crime scene by the law enforcement agency in charge of the investigation.

    Sometimes, this might also extend to places beyond that apartment.  It is the job of law enforcement to establish the entire area of the crime scene. It is also important to note that if any suspicious object, instrument or mark such as a gun, a bloody knife, a blood-soaked towel or bedspread or towel, a bloody footprint or handprint, particularly one suspected of being part of a crime is found within an enclosed area, that place is to be considered a crime scene until otherwise confirmed.

     Some odd indoor scenes

    Trafficking

    Crime scenes are not always bloody red. Recently, attention has been called to the rise of kidnapping and human trafficking in Ghana. These types of crimes do not always present the types of crime scenes the ordinary citizen is used to. Extra vigilance is needed to spot these types of crimes to report them.

    Cyber fraud

    crime scenes: 7 Nigerian Sakawa kingpins grabbed; servers and laptops seized
    most cyber fraudsters operate in groups               Source: MyNewsGH

    Data from the Ghana Police Service’s cybercrime bureau suggests that the most prevalent cybercrime in Ghana is cyber fraud, which accounts for more than 45% of all cybercrime-related cases.

    It is important to look at it from an indoor crime scene perspective. Most cybercrimes are committed by actors from within a room. Besides this, most cyber fraudsters have been found to operate in groups. The public is encouraged to be vigilant when one sees a lot of people inhabiting a location and in possession of lots of computing devices such as laptops, webcams, routers and modems.

    Terrorism

    Because this form of crime hinges on publicity, its telltale signs are loud, just not before it is orchestrated. The variability in the way it is carried out makes it a bit challenging to spot especially in an indoor context. Here is something worth noting though: it is advisable for one to be suspicious when encountering a stockpile of unidentified crates in an indoor space. Large volumes of nitrate-based fertilizer (urea, ammonia, nitrates) in an indoor space especially one not owned by a farmer.

    Chart: The Impact of Terrorism Around the World | Statista

     

    Outdoor crime scenes

    Just like it sounds, an outdoor crime scene is an environmentally exposed location where a crime has been committed like a compound, on the road, a park, an exposed farm, a backyard garden, scenes of motor accidents, disasters, explosions and natural disasters.

    Because of the level of environmental exposure, evidence from outdoor is at the mercy of environmental conditions.

    Some odd outdoor scenes

    Clandestine labs

    Clandestine labs are used to produce illicit drugs. Because of the possible danger such actors might pose, it is unlikely that an outsider would find himself inside. Some of the signs of having a clandestine lab include having a high frequency of pungent emissions from an enclosed house, frequent generation and disposal of a lot of refuse and a consistently high level of security.

    The conveyance scene

     Crimes that occur on moving means of transportation are conveyance crimes. Examples could be vans (trotros), taxis, trains, planes, canoes, boats, ships etc. Basically, any crime which occurs aboard any form of vehicle is considered a conveyance crime. Car snatching and hijacking also form part of this category.

     Some other things worth discussing

    The electronic crime scene

    The advent of information technology in light of Covid-19 has increased our reliance on electronic devices and the internet. Because of their rising nature and the generally low rate of cybersecurity awareness, it is likely a greater part of the population has already interacted with an electronic crime scene.

    The commonest of such attacks are social engineering schemes in which victims or targets are called to give critical information that renders their digital security vulnerable. Other forms of attacks including the deployment of various malware to access information and hold a device or organization hostage all have one thing in common.

    They involve digital devices such as mobile phones, laptop and desktop computers, smart watches and emerging domestic Internet of Things devices that store data valuable to investigation.

    The human body

    Certain crimes, leave valuable evidence on the human body. Sexual crimes such as rape and defilement tend to leave valuable but transient forms of evidence on the bodies of the victim or perpetrator of the crime. In such cases, it is imperative to note the evidential value of the victim and take the necessary steps to not lose them.

    Despite the various forms of evidence mentioned, it is important to note that even the most organized crimes do not always go as planned and most often than not, a single crime may transcend two or more types of crime scenes.

    YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:

    The boy called ‘no one cares’: How police rescued nine trafficked children in Dambai 

    Torture on gallows:The gruesome ordeal of a Kassena-Nankana farmer   

    The writer of this report, Sedem Kwasigah, is a Fellow of the Next Generation Investigative Journalism Fellowship at the Media Foundation for West Africa.

  • CATALOGUE: Auditor-General’s Report on assemblies that unduly paid Zoomlion over GH¢40M

    CATALOGUE: Auditor-General’s Report on assemblies that unduly paid Zoomlion over GH¢40M

    “Zoomlion is also alleged to be involved with a bogus Malaria Control Programme with the NHIS and has a preferential payment treatment over suppliers of services to the scheme, such as private medical practitioners/clinics and pharmacies. This year alone, Zoomlion is alleged to have been paid GH¢35 million at the expense of providers of critical services to NHIS. No wonder the scheme has collapsed under John Mahama’s watch”.

    The above was the concern of the then-opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) at a press conference held on November 16, 2016, less than a month to the December 2016 Elections.

    The press conference, which was addressed by the party 2016 Campaign’s policy Advisor, Boakye Agyarko, was organized to expose the erstwhile Mahama government’s shady dealings with Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a waste management company.

    The NPP led, by its presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was worried about how the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government headed by John Dramani Mahama, continued to waste the country’s scarce resources through dubious contracts with companies such as Zoomlion and its sister companies.

    Zoomlion’s involvement in corruption scandals

    Zoomlion and its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Joseph Siaw Agyepong, who is also the Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies (parent company of Zoomlion), gained notoriety for their roles in most of the corruption scandals that hit the Mahama administration.

    The infamous Subah Scandal, which broke out in 2013, involved one of Mr. Siaw Agyepong’s companies, Subah Infosolutions Ghana Limited.

    Subah Infosolutions, an IT firm, was contracted by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in 2010 to provide telecom traffic monitoring services for the state agency.

    But investigations by Samuel Agyemang of Metro TV uncovered that even though the firm was paid a whopping GH¢144 million, it failed to render the services for which it received the payments. The journalist was stopped from publishing the investigations, so he posted it on YouTube and resigned from the station, which was later bought by the Jospong Group.

    The government at the time, however, disputed the figure, stating that it paid the firm GH¢75 million and not GH¢144 million as reported by the media. A committee, which the government subsequently set up to investigate the matter, said there was a valid contract, but it could not prove that the company had done the work to merit the payment.

    In 2013 the GYEEDA Scandal exposed by Manasseh Azure Awuni who was with Joy FM at the time, Zoomlion and other subsidiaries of the Jospong Group were implicated in various financial malfeasance and fraudulent deals.

    The Ministerial Committee, which was set up by the government to probe the scandal after the media reports, found Zoomlion and its sister companies to have received millions of cedis as payments for works they did not do and duping hard-working but poor Ghanaians who were engaged under various modules of the agency.

    The Committee recommended the abrogation of all the contracts under GYEEDA including those awarded to Zoomlion and its sister firms and the companies, as well as individuals involved sanctioned.

    The government took some actions on the committee’s recommendations, cancelling many of the contracts and prosecuting a businessman, Philip Assibit, who received GH¢4 million as payment for services he and his company did not render and also, a former National Coordinator of GYEEDA, Abuga Pele, for aiding Mr. Assibit to defraud the state.

    GYEEDA scandal: Abuga Pele, Assibit jailed 18 years for causing financial loss to the state - Graphic Online
    Abuga Pele (left) and Assibit jwere ailed 18 years for causing financial loss to the state

     

    However, it neither abrogated the contracts with Zoomlion nor took any action against the company and its CEO. What it did, instead, was to reward the company with more dubious contracts that allowed it to continue to milk the state.

     What the NPP said about the scandals involving Zoomlion while in opposition

    The NPP, at its press conference, concluded that the government could not apply any punitive measure against Zoomlion and its CEO because the president, John Dramani Mahama was neck-deep in their fraudulent activities.

    For Nana Akufo-Addo, the GYEEDA and Subah scandals were proof of the president and his government’s involvement in grand acts of corruption.

    He described the actions taken by the Mahama administration as a “sham” and promised to jealously protect the public purse and retrieve every single penny the government and its friends had stolen as well as prosecute them if Ghanaians voted him in the elections.

    NPP in Government

    When Akufo-Addo came into office in 2017, he visited some of Mr. Siaw Agyepong’s businesses and showered praises on him.

    The president, during the visit, described the allegations of corruption against the businessman and his companies, which he used to campaign for his election, as controversies which “come with being at the forefront of doing businesses”, and went ahead to express his confidence in him.

    Anti-graft crusaders condemned the president’s comments, arguing that his utterances were not only a betrayal of the trust Ghanaians reposed in him but an endorsement of corruption.

    The president and his government in subsequent actions reinforced the sentiments of the crusaders.

    In 2017, under President Akufo-Addo’s watch, an investigative report by JoyNews’ Manasseh Azure Awuni unearthed fresh allegations of corruption against the Jospong Group.

    The report revealed that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development had signed contracts worth GH¢98 million with 11 subsidiaries of the Jospong Group of Companies to undertake fumigation exercise across the country when Zoomlion Ghana Limited had already been paid by the district assemblies and the Ministry of Health to do the same job through multiple contracts.

    It further exposed how the Jospong Group of Companies inflated a waste bin contract awarded to it through sole-sourcing by at least GH¢130 million.

    Zoomlion contract With Gov't To Provide Waste Bins Canceled
    Hundreds of waste bins did not get to the intended beneficiaries      Credit: Myjoyonline

    Following the exposé, the police launched an investigation into the matter and subsequently submitted a docket to the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General.

    But Nana Akufo- Addo, just like former president Mahama, has turned a blind eye to the sins Mr. Siaw Agyepong and his Jospong Group of Companies have committed. Rather, he has led his government to reward the business for, probably, defrauding the state with impunity, by renewing most of the shady contracts.

    A Finance Ministry’s response to an RTI request by The Fourth Estate also revealed that the Akufo-Addo government has disbursed all GH¢156 million of the over GH¢264 million realized from the Sanitation and Pollution Levy imposed on Ghanaians to Sewerage Systems GH. Ltd, another company of Mr. Agyepong.

    Zoomlion’s ongoing contract with government

    Zoomlion GH. Ltd has 2 major contracts – Sanitation Improvement Package (SIP) and Fumigation – aside the Youth in Sanitation contract, with the various MMDAs across the country, currently running.

    These contracts were first signed under John Agyekum Kufuor administration and have been renewed under the current government.

    The Auditor-General (A-G), in its annual report on the management and utilization of the District Assemblies Common Fund and other Statutory Funds, has, on countless occasions, cited the waste management company for various contract breaches.

    In most cases, the A-G recommended stoppage of payments to the company and refund of monies it unduly received. And in some cases, an abrogation of the contracts.

    However, the administrator of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund (DACF) continues to deduct from the Assemblies’ share of the DACF at source and pay to Zoomlion GH. Ltd without even ascertaining, in almost all cases, whether the company has rendered services to or has valid contracts with the assemblies to merit the payments.

    This has resulted in payments made to the company for absolutely no work done or in a number of cases, without contractual agreements.

    Zoomlion receives undue payments to the tune of GH¢40.4 million between 2017 and 2020

    In its report on the 2020 Management and Utilization of the District Assemblies Common Fund and other Statutory Funds, the Auditor General said the payments were illegal and unconstitutional

    The Fourth Estate’s analysis of the A-G’s report for the years; 2018, 2019 and 2020 indicates that the state lost, at least, GH¢40.5 million to Zoomlion GH. Ltd in payments unduly made to the company.

    This includes an amount of GH¢30,590,415.58 the company received as payments for works it failed to execute and another, GH¢9,871,090.00 paid to it without any contractual agreement.

    In a related development in 2020, the Auditor-General asked Zoomlion to cough up GHc 95 million, which one of its waste management subsidiaries, Sewerage Systems Ghana Limited, received from the DACF.

    The state’s chief auditor ordered the Administrator of the DACF, Irene Naa Torshie Addo, to recover the fund which went into waste treatment plant construction by the Sewerage Systems Ghana Limited (SSGL).

    SSGL has been receiving the funds since 2016 without any legal backing, the Auditor-General said. However, the payment of GHc 19 million in 2020, being an outstanding amount for the GHc 95 million, triggered an enquiry by the Auditor-General.

    Most of these payments were made between 2017 and 2020.

    However, there are many instances in the reports that the A-G could not determine the value of payments unduly made to the company.

    This means the total amount of money the state has lost to Zoomlion Gh. Ltd within the period could be way more than this figure.

    For the year 2021, even though the company committed similar contractual breaches, resulting in financial losses to the state, the A-G, in all instances of such infractions, failed to quantify the value of the losses.

    The Fourth Estate, in this report, details specific instances Mr. Siaw Agyepong’s Zoomlion. Ltd received payments for no work done and other instances, without contractual agreements, resulting in financial losses to the state and depriving the assemblies, whose shares of the Common Fund are deducted at source paid to Zoomlion.

    Undue payments to Zoomlion cited in A-G’s report for 2018

    The A-G’s report for 2018 indicates that unwarranted payments to Zoomlion Gh. Ltd amounted to GH¢16,073,430.41.

    Of this amount, GH¢14,988,980.41 was dished out to the company for absolutely no work done whiles GH¢1,084,450.00 was paid to it when it had no contractual agreements with those assemblies it took the payments from.

    The table summarizes undue payments the company received as cited in the 2018 A-G’s report.

    Number Assembly No work done (GH¢) No contract

    (GH¢)
    1. Kumasi

    Metropolitan

    		 281,750.00  
    2. Asokore Mampong

    Municipal

    		 207,000.00  
    3. Offinso North

    District

    		 82,800.00  
    4. Asokwa Municipal 207,000.00  
    5. Kwadaso Municipal 103,500.00  
    6. Adansi Asokwa

    District

    		 165,600.00  
    7. Afigya Kwabre

    North District

    		 165,600.00  
    8. Akrofuom District 165,600.00  
    9. Atwima Nwabiagya

    North District

    		 82,800.00  
    10. Obuasi East District 165,600.00  
    11. Tafo Municipal 207,000.00  
    12. Suame Municipal 207,000.00  
    13. Oforikrom

    Municipal

    		 207,000.00  
    14. Mampong Municipal 84,000.00  
    15. Techiman Municipal 557,600.00 46,000.00
    16. Asikuma

    Odoben

    Brakwa

    		 27,800.00  
    17. Abura Asebe

    Kwamankese

    		 740,600.00  
    18. KEEA 144,000.00  
    19. Twifo Atti Morkwa   *946,450.00
    20. Awutu Senya East Municipal 20,440.00  
    21. Cape Coast Metropolitan, Assin Foso Municipal and Assin South District

     

    		 336,907.41  
    22. Atiwa west District 241,500.00  
    23. Birim North Municipal 483,000.00  
    24. Akyemansa District 322,000.00  
    25. Abuakwa North Municipal 165,600.00  
    26. Fanteakwa North District 402,500.00  
    27. Atiwa East District 84,533.00  
    28. Denkyenbour District 579,350.00  
    29. Kwaebibirem District 993,600.00  
    30. Upper West Akim Municipal 869,400.00  
    31. West Akim Municipal 414,000.00  
    32. Birim South District 1,314,000.00  
    33. Fanteakwa South District 165,600.00  
    34. Ayawaso West Municipal   92,000
    35. Mion District 80,500.00  
    36. Tolon District 638,250.00  
    37. Savelugu Municipal 414.000.00  
    38. Tamale Metropolitan 16,300.00  
    39. Sawla Tuna Kalba District 1,242,000.00  
    40. Gushegu District 402,500.00  
    41. Chereponi District 402,500.00  
    42. Karaga District 362,250.00  
    43. Saboba District 362,250.00  
    44. Sagnarigu Municipal 828,000.00  
    45. Ketu South Municipal 45,750.00  
      Total  

    14,988,980.41

     

    		  

       1,084,450
      Grand total  

    16,073,430.41

     

    Undue payments to Zoomlion cited in 2019 A-G’s report

    The 2019 A-G’s report indicates that about GH¢17,008,310.67 of state funds was lost to Zoomlion Ghana Ltd. in payments unjustifiably made to the company.

    GH¢8,821,971.67 of this amount were payments made to the company for absolutely no work done and the remainder, GH¢8,186,339.00 was paid to it without contractual agreements.

    Below is a tabular representation of instances of undue payments made to Zoomlion as cited in the report for 2019.

    Number Assembly No work done

    (GH¢)

    		 No contract

    (GH¢)
    1. Afigya Kwabre North

     

    		 80,500.00  
    2. Asokwa

     

    		 206,000.00  
    3. Atwima Nwabiagya

     

    		 80,500.00  
    4. Kumasi Metropolitan

     

    		 299,000.00  
    5. Bosome Freho District

     

    		 157,780.00  
    6. Bekwai Municipal

     

    		 38,125.00  
    7. Sekyere Central District 201,250.000  
    8. Berekum West District   414,000
    9. Atebubu-Amantin 414,000.00  
    10. Pru East 414,000.00  
    11. Pru West 414,000.00  
    12. Kintampo North 517,500.00  
    13. Nkoranza South 310,500.00  
    14. Assin North District   82,800.00
    15. Gomoa West District Assembly 237,300  
    16. Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem Municipal 172,500.00  
    17. Effutu Municipal 22,500.00  
    18. Upper Denkyira East Municipal   138,000.00
    19. Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira District   248,400.00
    20. New Juaben North Municipal 201,250.00  
    21. Akuapem North Municipal 191,666.67  
    22. Weija-Gbawe Municipal   517,500.00
    23. Ayawaso West Municipal 517,500.00  
    24. Ayawaso North Municipal 230,000.00  
    25. Mamprugu Maogduri District   161,000.00
    26. Yoyoo Nansuan 414,000.00  
    27. Bunkprugu Nakpanduri 165,600.00  
    28. Karaga District   505,310.00
    29. Tatali/Sanguli District   161,000.00
    30. Zabzugu District   161,000.00
    31. Kunbungu District   414,000.00
    32. East Gonja Municipal   510,600.00
    33. North East Gonja District 55,200.00  
    34. Pusiga 165,600.00  
    35. Bongo 165,600.00  
    36. Binduri 165,600.00  
    37. Builsa North 414,000.00  
    38. Kassena Nankana West 331,200.00  
    39. Tempane District 496,800.00  
    40. Bolgatanga East 203,550.00  
    41. Bawku West District and Bawku Municipal 266,000  
    42. Wa West District 170,200.00 161,000.00
    43. Nadowli/Kaleo District 85,100.00  
    44. Wa East District 127,650.00  
    45. Adaklu   424,529.00
    46. Ho Municipal   517,500.00
    47. Ketu North   414,000.00
    48. Hohoe Municipal   517,500.00
    49. Nzema East   517,500.00

     
    50. Sekondi Takoradi

     

    		   506,000.00

     
    51. Amenfi Central

     

    		   414,000.00

     
    52. Amenfi West   414,000.00
    53. Jomoro 201,250.00  
    54. Mpohor 40,250.00  
    55. Tarkwa Nsuaem 46,000.00  
    56. Nzema East

     

    		 200,000.00  
    57. Bia East   201,250.00
    58. Bia West   414,000.00
    59. Bibiani   371,450.00
    60. Sefwi Akontombra District 201,250.00  
    61. Asutifi South District 201,250.00  
      Total 8,821,971.67 8,186,339.00
      Grand total  

    17,008,310.67

     

    Undue payments to Zoomlion cited A-G’s report for2020

    The A-G’s report for 2020 reveals that a total amount of GH¢7,379,764.50 was unduly paid to Zoomlion Ghana.

    Of this amount, GH¢6,779,463.50 was paid to the company for no work done while the remaining GH¢600,301.00 was paid to it when there was no existing contract to warrant the payment.

    Below is a tabular representation of instances of undue payments made to Zoomlion as cited in the report for 2020.

    Number  Assembly No work done

    (GH¢)

    		 No contract

    (GH¢)
    1. 38 Assemblies 3,801,530.00  
    2. Asutifi North District 393,300.00  
    3. Sekyere Central District 30,501.00  
    4. Jaman North District 201,250.00 414,000.00
    5. Ekumfi District 191,187.50  
    6. Gomoa Central District 170,937.50  
    7. Awutu Senya East Municipal 310,500.00  
    8. Cape Coast Metro 258,750.00  
    9. Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem (KEEA) 491,625  
    10. Ablekuma West Municipal 42,945.00  
    11. Ashaiman Municipal 103,500.00  
    12. Nantong District   186,301.00
    13. Gushegu Municipal 265,937.50  
    14. Wa Municipal 517,500.00  
      Total 6,779,463.5 600,301
    15. Grand Total                                 7,379,764.5