The Fourth Estate CMS

Author: Seth J. Bokpe

  • Ghana records worst press freedom ranking in 17 years

    Ghana’s celebrated press freedom status has deteriorated, pushing the country down on the ladder of the league of countries with the freest media in the world.

    According to the 2022 Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, Ghana fell from its 30th position in the global ranking in 2021 to 60th in 2022.

    In Africa, the country nosedived from 3rd to 10th. This is Ghana’s worst performance in 17 years when it placed 66th in 2005.

    The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index measures pluralism, media independence, the robustness of legislative frameworks and the safety of journalists in 180 countries and five regions.

    The 2022 press freedom Index would not come as a surprise to many media watchers, who have expressed concerns over attacks and violations against journalists and media houses perceived to be aligned with the opposition.

    The slump makes Burkina Faso, a country governed by a military regime, better than Ghana in terms of press freedom.

    Ahead of Ghana in this year’s ranking is a list of other African countries such as Seychelles (13), Namibia (18), South Africa (35), Cape Verde (36), Cote dÍvoire (37), Burkina Faso (41), Sierra Leone (46), The Gambia (51) and Niger (59).

    Ghana’s ranking in ten years

    Year Ranking in Africa Ranking in the World
    2012 7th 41st
    2013 3rd 30th
    2014 3rd 27th
    2015 2nd 22nd
    2016 2nd 26th
    2017 2nd 26th
    2018 1st 23rd
    2019 3rd 27th
    2020 2nd 30th
    2021 3rd 30th
    2022 10th 60th

    Source: rsf.org

    In 2015, Ghana recorded its best performance when it ranked 22nd. In 2018 Ghana was ranked number one in Africa and 23rd in the world.

    The Akufo-Addo administration received plaudits for that, but from there on, the records began to go south.

    Press freedom violations in recent times

    In 2019, investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale was killed after a key member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kennedy Agyapong, displayed his pictures on Net 2 TV, inciting the public to attack him.

    Ahmed Suale was later shot and killed by unknown gunmen, but nobody has been held responsible for his killing to date.

    That year, the country dropped to 3rd position in Africa and 27th in the world.

    This year’s report comes amid growing concerns about attacks against media freedom and the use of the law of publishing false news to arrest and detain journalists.

    “Although the country is considered a regional leader in democratic stability, journalists have experienced growing pressures in recent years. To protect their jobs and their security, they increasingly resort to self-censorship, as the government shows itself intolerant of criticism,” Reporters Without Borders said.

    It also notes:

    “Journalists’ safety has deteriorated sharply in recent years. In 2020, reporters covering the effectiveness of anti-Covid-19 measures were attacked by security forces. And political leaders are again making death threats against investigative journalists. Nearly all cases of law enforcement officers attacking journalists are not pursued.”

    In 2019, operatives of the National Security raided and arrested two journalists of modernghana.com. They seized mobile phones, computers and other gadgets of the journalists and the media house. The journalists were detained and allegedly tortured and asked to disclose the source of negative reports they had written about the National Security Minister.

    To date, the state security institution has not disclosed what the journalists did wrong. As of 2021, the equipment of the journalists was yet to be returned to them.

    In 2021, Citi FM’s Caleb Kudah was also assaulted by operatives of National Security when he went to film abandoned state vehicles hidden in the National Security yard.

    In both instances, nobody was punished for the violations.

    The creeping back of the Criminal Libel Law

    Media freedom advocates and civil society organisations have raised concerns about the increasing hostilities against journalists in recent times. Some have condemned what appears to be the reintroduction of the Criminal Libel Law, under the guise of publishing false news.

    Eric Nana Gyentua, endured a blitz of kicks, slaps, and smashes with the butt of the gun

    In 2011, as the leader of the opposition NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo criticised the use of the law of publishing false news to target journalists and other public commentators.

    “This has become particularly apparent since the government of the National Democratic Congress once more assumed office in January 2009 after winning the 2008 general elections. Bereft of the convenient tools of criminal and seditious libel laws, the ruling government has had to comb through the Criminal Code and to seize upon the offence of offensive conduct conducive to breaches of the peace and the sister offence of publishing false news likely to cause fear and alarm to the public,” Mr. Akufo-Addo said.

    Under his watch as president, however, this law has resurfaced and is being used against journalists.

    In January 2022, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mensah Thompson, was arrested, detained and charged by the police for alleging on Facebook that the president’s family had used the presidential jet for shopping. This was after he apologised and retracted the comments.

    Kwabena Bobbie Ansah of Radio XYZ was also arrested, detained and put before the court by the police for making disparaging comments about the president’s wife, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo.

    “We are deeply troubled by the growing use of the prosecutorial and judicial power of the State to punish criminally speech that allegedly falsely injures or damages the reputation of other persons or of an institution of state. Instructively, during the heyday of the criminal libel law in the 1990s, the criminal law was used in precisely the way it is now being used: to prosecute and punish journalists and public speakers for allegedly false or defamatory statements against certain family members or associates of the President,” four civil society groups in Ghana said in a joint press statement.

    The four— the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), STAR-Ghana Foundation, IMANI Africa, and Africa Center for International Law & Accountability (ACILA)—said the law on publishing false news was being abused and should be repealed.

    “As a tool for regulating speech, the criminal law is fraught with the danger of politicization and selective prosecution, as it leaves it to a party-aligned attorney-general, an appointee who serves at the pleasure of the President, to determine which or whose allegedly false speech or publication to prosecute and which or whose speech to ignore,” they said.

    Some of the violations are also carried out by security agencies.On February 3, 2022, the police brutally assaulted Eric Nana Gyetuah, a radio presenter with Connect FM based in Takoradi in the Western for filming a police operation.

    In March this year, Michael Aiddo, an investigative journalist, was assaulted by military personnel at the Afari Military Hospital project site when he went to carry out investigations on abandoned projects.

    Akufo-Addo and press freedom

    Before his assumption of power, Nana Akufo-Addo was seen as a champion of press freedom. Although his critics say the president had been living a charade, his defenders point to his role in the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law in 2001, a legacy of the President John Kufuor era.

    Others also point to a policy on the mechanism for the protection of journalists, but media watchers say it is just another paper gathering dust while journalists continue to face violations in their line of work.

    In June 2017, six months after he was sworn in, the President described Ghana’s media environment as “loud and crowded” with some bouts of recklessness.

    “But I must say, I would much rather have the loud and reckless media than the meek and praise singing one that used to characterize our newspapers, radio and television,” he said.

    However, five years into his administration, press freedom advocates say his words and actions do not match.

    In February 2022, the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, wrote an open letter to President Akufo-Addo, detailing the deteriorating media environment.

    “Under your first term of four years, there were over 55 individual incidents of violations of media rights in the country. The number exceeds what was witnessed over any four-year period since President John Kufuor’s government.  But what is even more significant is the gravity of the violations that occurred during your first four-year tenure,” Mr. Braimah wrote.

    You may also want to read:

    KILLED BY THE BULLET: Police,military fatal brutality victims since 2017 

  • Becoming the next generation investigative journalist

    Becoming the next generation investigative journalist

    Like the sound of any other healthy heartbeat, so did mine sound. Except that mine was louder and faster. And it came with discomfort in my gut. There were knots in my stomach. Knots I struggled to undo.

    The hall was slowly filling up with spectators. Lights danced on the walls. Tables and chairs were set. The podium was mounted. The atmosphere was growing with expectations, nerves and excitement.

    People from different backgrounds but with similar interests had gathered. They had all come to see the next generation of investigative journalists.

    Like a new bride bringing pride to their mother and family, so it was on that day.

    The ten investigators were the new brides. We shared a mother and had a big family. Our mother was Media Foundation for West Africa and our family was DW Akademie, The Fourth Estate and Fact Check Ghana.

    Now why the hurried heartbeat and knots in my gut? It wasn’t just the presence of the spectators or their glaring eyes.

    It was the beginning of the journey of ten investigative journalists in a world where they are loved and hated. A world where their safety is not guaranteed. We were going to face the world. Not as we came in our raw state but as the pride of our family.

    We have enjoyed all blessings that come with belonging to a family and now it was time to let us go into the world.

    Though we go into the world on our own, we carry our family’s name. We must behave out there in the world and like a good bride, bring honour and respect to our family name and be people of integrity. We must carry their legacy.

    Under the care and supervision of our family, we were being prepared to face the world. The world is broken. The world needs fixers. The ten investigators were going to be the fixers.

    We were going to be change makers. If not to restore balance, we were going to hold authorities accountable. And lobby for development. Reveal what is hidden for all far and near to witness.

    We were filled with knowledge for future tasks. We were armed with tools and gadgets to assist us on the road  to our purpose.

    We sought clarity from acquaintances of our family. We visited the Right To Information Commission and the National Media Commission.

    We were visited by people with similar tasks. The baton had been passed on to them. We engaged them and sought their expert advice.

    Armoured and trained, our voyage begins. Do not be swayed by those who want to keep your mouth shut, we’ve been told. It will be enticing. You may be at your lowest when they approach but accept not what they offer you. Do not sell your conscience nor the integrity you so wish to build. All the luxuries in the world may be offered to you but like a dainty lady, raise your nose in the air and walk away. A much more satisfying reward will seek you and your conscience will be white like the foam of the sea with no feeling of heaviness.

    This is my purpose. Among the ton I made a bold declaration.

    “Come for me if it comes to your knowledge that I have done otherwise.”

    A novice in the game, I’ve had the privilege to associate with the veterans. I shall not be subjected to society’s ridicule. I shall build a name for myself and make those who matter most proud of their investment.

    Like the classical words of Osibisa in Woyaya,

    ‘It will be hard we know

    And the road will be muddy and rough

    But we’ll get there

    Heaven knows how we will get there

    We know we will.’

  • Too Broke to Serve: The plight of unpaid National Service personnel 

    Abena Gyan is frustrated and tired of the excuses, tired of calling her mother or her brother for help.

    She’s tired of being afraid to eat more than twice a day because she is broke. Tired of the long walk from the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to the Ako-Adjei interchange, where her place of work is located.

    She lives in Dansoman, but she has had to deboard at the Nkrumah Circle and take a 4.3-kilometre walk to work on many occasions because she was too broke to continue on a vehicle.

    It is one of the many austerities she is taking to cope with the financial distress she is facing as a result of the failure of the National Service Secretariat to pay her allowance for five months.

    Abena is among thousands of new university and other tertiary graduates doing their mandatory National Service across the country. However, they have been paid only once in March 2022.

    Afraid of victimization, Abena and her colleagues spoke to The Fourth Estate on condition of anonymity.

    “The service, if not that it is compulsory, I wouldn’t do it anymore,” she said staring blankly into a canopy of trees.

    Some of the unpaid national service personnel have turned to anything; from borrowing from friends, asking for help from relatives or cut down on the number of their daily meals just to survive.

    In the case of Abena, her problem is compounded by her landlady’s stance on the time to lock the gate of the house.

    By 8pm, all tenants must be home or risk sleeping outside. This means, she has to spend money on taxi or similar means of transportation to get home early.

    On occasions that work demanded more time from her, she had to sleep at a guest house close to the house, she lamented. It costs money she cannot afford to part with.

    As she spoke about her dependency on her relatives, including a jobless mother, her face flashed with anger.

    Abena who spoke to The Fourth Estate on condition of anonymity wants the arrears of National Service personnel paid now

    “Sometimes, I have to call my mother or my younger brother to see if they can send me something. I don’t call them often because it looks as if you’re worrying them. You’re always coming for money. At this age, I don’t think I should be requesting money persistently,” she said.

    With prices of goods and services biting hard on almost every pocket in Ghana, Abena said the plight of national service personnel should attract the interest of the government.

    “The allowances they give us, GH₵ 559, can’t do much. Already things are expensive. Everybody can testify that when we entered this year within a short time, prices of things have increased. Even pure [sachet] water is now 40 pesewas.”

    The situation, she stated, was taking a toll on her mental health.

    “I rent. I take care of myself, and if, at the end of the day, they don’t pay the money, it is very stressful. When you realize that you don’t have money, it is a lot of mental stress.”

    Abena’s story shares the same pain, anger and frustration with Adjoa, who lives in Oyarifa but works in the heart of Accra.

    The journalist spends close to GHc 30 on transport and food daily.

    It is money from her parents. But it has a condition attached—she has to pay back when she is paid her allowance.

    But, like the others clutching on hope, she has been paid only once. That was for January. It was paid in March. Before then, she went October to February without her allowance.

    That amount, she said, went into settling debt. Not her parents’ but rather friends who lent her money to buy clothes.

    “My friends gave me the money, so that when the allowance came, I could pay them back. By the time the January allowance came, it was gone,” she said.

    When she started national service, Adjoa’s expectation was to save enough for short courses that would give her soft skills in preparation for the world of work after her National Service, which ends in August this year.

    But now, she said she felt defeated.

    “Upon all these, you still have to write stories because your creativity has to be on point,” she said, and pointed out that “the money is a motivation to cushion yourself for the most basic necessities of life.”

    Then there is Akua, the daughter of a single mother, who is on retirement. She has a degree in political science.

    She is worried about the pressure she is putting on her 67-year-old mother.

    “She is still supporting me like I’m in school. It is stressing her. I live at Kaneshie and the fare keeps increasing. In my department, you have to come every day. How do we feed?” she asked a question whose answers lie in the bosom of the National Service Secretariat (NSS).

    But the answers are not forthcoming.

    From Tuesday to Friday last week, The Fourth Estate continuously reached out to the Director, Public Affairs of the NSS, Armstrong Essah, through phone calls and WhatsApp messages for him to speak to the issues of the arrears owed the national service personnel.

    His only response was that he was overwhelmed with a busy schedule.

    Amstrong Essah, Director of Corporate Affairs at NSS
    Director of Public Affairs, NSS,  Armstrong Essah                              Credit: The Independent

    The president of the Ghana Broadcasting Association branch of the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA), Emmanuel Dei Anarkwa, told The Fourth Estate that his colleagues continued to inundate him with complaints about food, transport, rent.

    He said,“Some even go to the extent of weeping. It is very sad.”

    “Anytime you send these complaints to the regional and national executives, the feedback is that we’re working on it. We should exercise self-reliance; we should be patience and so on.”

    With little or no financial support to push them, Mr Anarkwa said some of his peers had stopped coming to work.

    “I know someone who has not been coming for a month now. She’s keen on it that until payments are made,” he disclosed. “She can’t come anymore because she has made sacrifices from October to December. But still she hasn’t still received anything.”

    Others The Fourth Estate spoke to also said if push came to shove, they would quit the National Service and probably do it next year.

    While his colleagues lament over their financial difficulties, the National President of NASPA, Emmanuel Brimpong Akosa, in a statement dated April 5, 2022 gave some assurances.

    According to the statement, NASPA could confirm that payment of allowances for February was to be made by April 6, 2022.

    Nothing happened.

    His colleagues were left angry and disappointed, but they had one plea to the NSS Secretariat.

     “Pay us, we are suffering,” Abena said.

  • SONA 2022: Contradictions in the number of trees planted during 2021 Green Ghana Day

    President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, March 30, 2022, delivered his seventh State of the Nation address (SONA).

    It was a report card that covered the social, economic, and financial state of the country in conformity with Article 67 of the 1992 constitution.

    The State of the Nation address also catalogued the challenges and achievements of the second year of his final term in office.

    Trumpeting the success story of last year’s Green Ghana Day, which was aimed at tackling the threats of deforestation, the President claimed that last year’s tree planting exercise exceeded the event’s five million target.

    Fact-Check Ghana has verified the claim and presents the report below.

    Green Ghana Day initiative won't be a one-off event – Akufo-Addo - South Dayi District Assembly
    President Akufo-Addo at the 2021 Green Ghana Day event Credit: Jubilee House

    Claim: “Mr. Speaker, the Green Ghana Day, last year, was a great success, as many people turned out to join in the exercise to plant trees. I urge all of us to continue to take care of what we planted to make sure that the seven million seedlings we planted, i.e., two million more than the original target of five million, become fully grown trees.”

    Verdict: Contradictory

    Explanation: As part of efforts to arrest Ghana’s alarming forest cover loss, the government in June last year introduced the Green Ghana Day Campaign.

    The government, through the Forestry Commission, provided free seedlings to all institutions and individuals willing to plant trees on June 11, 2021.

     Fact-Check Ghana has spotted an inconsistency in the data captured as the total number of seedlings planted and the verified number of trees.  The team has noted contradictions in the data presented by the President, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Jinapor; his Deputy, Mr Benito Owusu-Bio; and the Forestry Commission.

    On June 23, 2021, Graphic Online reported that the Forestry Commission (FC) distributed more than seven million assorted tree seedlings across the country during the Green Ghana tree planting exercise last year.

    “Even though planting figures are still being collated across the 16 regions, provisional figures from the FC [Forestry Commission] clearly show that we exceeded the five million targets. This is remarkable and historic,” the publication quoted Mr. Jinapor’s figures to Parliament on June 22, 2021.

    Mr Jinapor’s Deputy, Mr Owusu-Bio repeated similar lines on December 16, 2021, during a press briefing.

    Provide support to Oti Region- Benito Owusu-Bio to Volta Regional Lands Commission
    Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural resource, Benito-Owusu Bio        Credit: Vaultz News

    Mr Owusu-Bio, who heads the Green Ghana Day Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, said:

    “Overall, 7 million seedlings were distributed and we have the list of the regional distribution that was done and we can attest to the fact that almost everything was planted. In fact, there was very high demand to the extent that at a point in time we even ran out of the seedlings.”

    Green Ghana Project was successful, over 7 million trees were planted - Lands Ministry - MyJoyOnline.com
    Source: Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources

    This is consistent with what Mr Jinapor told Parliament on March 3, 2022 when he appeared before the House.

    He told the lawmakers that “the Forestry Commission procured 4,897,247 seedlings, out of the 7,193,424 seedlings distributed for planting during the maiden edition of the Green Ghana Day, on June 11, 2021.”

    Fact-Check Ghana leant from the Forestry Commission and Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources that the remaining close to three million seedlings were donations from plantation developers and individuals, including Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi ll, President of the National House of Chiefs.

    However, statistics Fact-Check Ghana obtained from the Forestry Commission through a Right to Information (RTI) request dated March 10,2022, shows that although 7,193,424 seedlings were distributed, 6,603,298 were verified as planted.

    This leaves a shortfall of 590,126 seedlings.

    The Forestry Commission’s data of the seedlings verified as planted is inconsistent with the figure the President presented at the State of the Nation.

    From the above therefore, Fact-Check Ghana can conclude that the figures the president provided to Parliament and that of his ministers are contradictory.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • How Safo Kantanka’s church secretary sat on PPA Board that approved GH₵ 27m Kantanka vehicles deal

    How Safo Kantanka’s church secretary sat on PPA Board that approved GH₵ 27m Kantanka vehicles deal

    When the Ministry of Education in 2019 decided to purchase pickup trucks, it opted for a single-source procurement and chose the Kantanka brand produced by Kantanka Automobile Ltd.

    The company was founded by Apostle Kwadwo Safo Kantanka of the Kristo Asafo Church and Group of Companies.

    The procurement process fell on the laps of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA). However, on the board of the authority was a Deputy Secretary of the Kristo Asafo Church, Dr Emmanuel Yaw Boakye.

    It should have raised red flags.

    It didn’t.

    Again, Dr Boakye was the Technical Director of the Ministry for Procurement (MoP)  and Sarah Adwoa Safo, the daughter of Apostle Safo, was the Minister of State at that ministry.

    Another red flag. Ignored.

    The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has revealed that Dr Boakye took part in Board Technical Committee meeting which considered and approved the MoE’s application for the procurement of the vehicles worth GH¢27 million from Kantanka Automobile Company Ltd, a subsidiary of the Kristo Asafo Group of Companies.

    Sitting on the committee that approved the procurement of the vehicles put Dr Boakye in a conflict of interest position, CHRAJ has said.

    Before his appointment to the now-defunct Ministry for Procurement, Dr Boakye was the Project Director of the Kristo Asafo Group of Companies and a Board Member of Kristo Asafo Schools. He had been the Deputy Church Secretary for over two decades.

     He told CHARAJ that he had resigned as Board Member of the Kristo Asafo Schools in 2017 when his party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), came to power. He was appointed to various positions.

    The revelations are contained in the latest CHRAJ report of the investigations into the activities of the dismissed CEO of the Public Procurement Authority, Mr Adjenim Boateng (A.B.) Adjei and member of the PPA Board.

    This investigative report is the second from CHRAJ on the PPA and its CEO since The Fourth Estate’s Editor, Manasseh Azure Awuni, released his “Contracts for Sale” investigative documentary. The documentary revealed that companies owned by Mr A.B. Adjei were winning government contracts and selling the contracts to prospective buyers.

    This latest report is in response to a separate complaint that the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Ghana’s chapter of Transparency International, filed with the anti-graft body to conduct a broader scope of investigations into the activities of the PPA CEO and the board.

    This report goes beyond A.B. Adjei and his companies to cover the board of the PPA such as Dr Boakye.

    “On his relationship with the founder of the Kristo Asafo Church and Kantanka Group of Companies, Dr Boakye said that he is a member of the Kristo Asafo Church and that the founder, Apostle Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, took care of him. He also said that he considers Apostle Kwadwo Safo as his father and Apostle Kwadwo Safo’s children as siblings.

     “He also admitted that he participated in the 25th Meeting of the BTC in 2019 that discussed and approved the request made to the PPA Board by the MoE for approval to use single-source procurement to engage Kantanka Automobile Ltd…,” he said.

    Asked why he failed to recuse himself from the meeting that approved the deal although he had a close relationship with Kantanka Automobile Ltd, he had a rather interesting explanation.

    “He said that the fact that he did not disclose that fact that the founder of Kristo Asafo Group of Companies had helped him before or took care of him, does not totally amount to having a relationship with him. He also said that he has no interest in the companies, and is not also a Board Member of the companies.

    “More so, per the records of proceedings at the meeting, he did not influence the decision of the Board. He further argued that there is no evidence to show that somebody was going to make money out of it. Moreover, the companies now belong to one of the founder’s sons,” he told CHRAJ.

    Banned

    But the Commission disagreed as it found the explanation unsatisfactory.

    For his sins, Dr Boakye has been barred from holding public office for three years. His disqualification is, however, limited to only public boards, councils and
    commissions, and not to extend to public office generally.

    Code of conduct

    Code of conduct for PPA officials required Dr Boakye to recuse himself in the procurement process since he had a personal relationship with the supplier of the vehicles.

    “Where any member of the Tender Evaluation Panel has a conflict of interest in any tender evaluation, he/she shall declare his interest in the tender, leave the meeting while the matter is considered and shall not participate in the deliberations or decision-making process of the Panel in relation to that submission,” the PPA’s Manuals – Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) advises.

    According to the Commission’s Guideline on Conflict of Interest (COI), “when the promotion of private interest of a public official result or is intended to result in or appears to be or the potential to result in an interference with the objective exercise of the person’s duty and an improper benefit or an advantage by virtue of his/her position, then it constitutes a COI.”

    The CHRAJ defines a Public Officer as a person nominated, elected or appointed to serve in a public office.

    The document notes that private interest could be financial or other interest, such as family members, relations, clubs and associations, among others.

    Asset declaration

    Article 286 of the 1992 constitution requires that “(1) 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 (c) at the end of his term of office”

    But Dr Boakye never did.

    He, however, told CHRAJ in a letter dated August 18, 2020, that he was ready to right the wrong “if it is the view of the Commission that he is required to declare his assets and liabilities, he was prepared to do so.”

    CORRECTION: In the earlier version of this report, we quoted GHc270 million as the cost of the vehicles, which was contained in the CHRAJ report. Our attention has however been drawn to the fact that the correct figure was GHc27 million, as contained in an attachment in the CHRAJ report. The error is deeply regretted.

  • Meeting with Tony Blair: Agric Minister’s food production figures fact-checked

    The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, on February 3, 2022, engaged with potential investors at a breakfast meeting in Accra. The one-day event, organised by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, was meant to woo investors into Ghana’s agriculture sector.

    The event was attended by the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Ghana’s Agric minister claimed in his speech that, over the last five years, the agriculture sector had tremendously improved.

    He attributed the achievement to the rollout of the government’s flagship agriculture policy, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ).

    Referring to the vast investment opportunities in the country’s agriculture value chain, the minister rallied the country’s domestic and foreign investors to take advantage of what he described as a booming agriculture sector.

    The minister, who oversaw the Planting for Food and Jobs policy, had a lot more to say about it.  He compared the production figures of some major food crops before the Akufo-Addo administration took office with figures the PFJ had recorded.

    Former British Minister, Tony Blair (left) and Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto (left)

    “Take soybean for example, before 2017 we were producing less than 100,000 tonnes but, today we are more than quarter of a million. We have quadrupled our rice production and we are a net exporter of maize to neighbouring countries,” he said.

    Fact-Check Ghana has verified some of the claims Dr Akoto made and presents the facts below.

    Claim: “Take soybean, for example, before 2017 we were producing less than 100,000 tonnes but, today we are more than a quarter of a million.”

    Verdict: Completely false

    Explanation:

    Figures from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s (MOFA) Statistics, Research and Information Directorate (SRID) showed that the country has produced more than 100,000 tonnes of soya bean since 2009, that is 13 years ago.

    Fact-Check Ghana obtained the data from the ministry using the Right to Information law.  Below is a table showing the annual production figures of soybean since 2008.

    From the table above, Ghana crossed 100,000 metric tonnes of production of soya bean in 2009. The production has since increased gradually over the period.

    It is therefore completely false that before 2017, Ghana was producing less than 100,00 metric tonnes of soya beans.

    The minister also said that Ghana was now producing more than a quarter of a million (250,000) metric tonnes of soya bean following the implementation of the PFJ.

    However, the data from his own ministry MOFA as presented in the table indicates does not support the claim. In 2020, the country recorded 202,243mt. The ministry has forecasted 221,249mt for the 2021 cropping season. The country’s production is not even up to 250,000 mt let alone more than that.

    It is therefore completely false that the country’s soya bean figures now stand at more than half a million tonnes.

    “We have quadrupled our rice production”

    Verdict: Completely false

    Explanation:

    Data from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s (MOFA) Statistics, Research and Information Directorate (SRID) indicates that even though the annual production of rice has increased since 2017, the figure has not quadrupled. Below is a table showing the annual production figures of rice since 2016.

    When the sun set on Mahama’s administration in 2016, the country recorded 687,679mt of rice. Quadrupling the production of rice would mean recording 2,750, 716 mt.  In 2020, Ghana recorded 986,905mt. The ministry has forecasted that the country would record 1,072,682 mt of rice in 2021. The figure is not even up to double the production data in 2016.

    The minister claim is, therefore, completely false.

  • Sulemana Braimah writes: Ghana’s journalism and media freedom crisis (Part 1)

    Sulemana Braimah writes: Ghana’s journalism and media freedom crisis (Part 1)

    In the last two weeks, there have been major developments in Ghana’s media and freedom of expression landscape. A number of radio presenters and civic actors have been arrested and put before the law courts mainly for publishing what is said to be false information or information with the potential to breach the peace of the country.

    One radio presenter has been jailed for contempt of court. During the same period, a journalist has been mercilessly beaten up by police officers in the Western Region of Ghana.

    The recent developments are not unique. They only represent an amplification of Ghana’s gradual but rapid slide into a crisis in journalistic practice, oppression of media freedom and the muzzling of free speech.

    The apparent crisis at hand represents a toxic mix that has the potential to undermine media freedom and freedom of expression in Ghana.  It also has the potential to reverse Ghana’s modest gains towards democratic consolidation, peace and security. This is because, while reckless speech can undermine the peace of the country, attempts at dealing with such acts through the powers of the state, when not well managed, can result in undue tension and rancour that could equally undermine the peace of the country.

    The situation that confronts the country, therefore, needs to be urgently addressed in order to fully restore the role and value of the media and free speech in Ghana’s democratic enterprise.

    Undoubtedly, what is being witnessed is the consequence of the combination of the following three critical and broad factors in the political economy of the Ghanaian media and freedom of expression environment:

    1. A wave of reckless, unprofessional practices in the media and by the media;
    2. The absence of effective regulatory institutions and mechanisms;
    3. A phenomenal surge in repression, oppression and intimidation by a government that is increasingly becoming despotic rather than democratic.

    In this first part of what is to be a series of analysis, I will be looking at the first point – the phenomenon of reckless, unprofessional practices in the media and by the media.

    Recklessness in the Media and by the Media

     Just as elsewhere, journalism or media practice in Ghana has never been perfect. Being a human endeavour, there will always be slips and imperfections. However, over time, there appears to be a free fall in adherence to standards and ethics by media practitioners and media organisations.

    In the name of media freedoms, it has become very common to hear or see people baselessly abuse others on radio, TV or online. Pure fabrications, outright lies and unsubstantiated allegations in sections of the media are perpetrated with disdain. It is sometimes done as if to suggest that the laws of Ghana guarantee both media freedom and media recklessness.

    Indeed, nearly all the reckless conduct in the media and by the media happens on certain types of media platforms – the ones that are openly partisan with partisan owners. Such media outlets often exist, not for the business of journalism, but to serve the interest of either the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) or the main opposition national Democratic Congress (NDC). What matters to such outlets is partisan interest, not journalistic ethics.

    For the NPP, such abusive media outlets have included Oman FM, Womtumi Radio and their affiliate TV stations (NET2 TV and Wontumi TV respectively), among many others across the country. For the NDC, such outlets have included Power FM and Accra FM (and before the Akufo-Addo government’s decision to selectively shut down opposition radio stations ahead of the last elections, it would have included Radio Gold and Radio XYZ), and several others in the country.

    For many of these partisan media organisations, the situation has literally become ‘anything goes,’ so long as what goes is in the interest of the political party of the owners. Professionalism doesn’t matter.  Presenters on many of these stations act as if the assessment of their performance is based on how abusive they are against members of their opposing political party.

    Leaders and members of the governing NPP, including the President of the Republic have expressed concerns about media unprofessionalism and reckless media conduct. But it appears they are concerned only when such unprofessional conduct happens on opposition media platforms. When their allied media organisations such as Oman FM or Wontumi Radio do the same things it appears okay. They loathe unprofessionalism on opposition media outlets but love same on their allied partisan outlets.

    The situation was not different when the main opposition NDC was in power, except that the then John Mahama government was admittedly more tolerant of dissent.

    Some Illustrations

     From June 2020 to May 2021 for example, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) monitored incidents of ethical violations on 10 Accra-based local language radio stations. During the period, a total of 1,754 incidents of ethical violations were recorded on the 10 radio stations.

    As highlighted in the graph below, just three stations, namely Power FM, Oman FM and Accra FM, accounted for 1,463 of the violations representing 83.4% of the ethical violations.

    Monthly reports were issued spotlighting the high frequency of ethical abuses especially on the three radio stations. Recommendations were also made each month on what could be done to correct or address the situation. But no one heeded. Managers of the stations couldn’t be bothered. Regulatory agencies showed no concern.  The ethical violations continued unabated.

    Again, ahead of the 2020 elections, the MFWA monitored incidents of abusive content on 60 radio stations across the country. A total of 582 incidents of abusive or indecent expressions were tracked and documented. The main types of abuse were insulting and offensive comments; and unsubstantiated allegations.  See the graph below for the trend on types of violations.

    Once again, the leading perpetrators of abusive content were the same partisan radio stations. In fact, just five out of the 60 radio stations monitored—namely Oman FM, Wontumi Radio, Ash FM, Power FM and Accra FM—accounted for 432 (74%) of the 582 of the incidents of violations. The table below indicates the number of violations recorded on each of the five partisan radio stations.

    Oman FM Wontumi Radio Ash FM Power FM Accra FM
    126 99 87 85 32

    At the time, the MFWA also highlighted the personalities who were the leading perpetrators of abusive language on the networks. Those persons included the owners of the two topmost abusive radio stations (Oman FM and Wontumi Radio). As a country, we looked on despite the monthly presentation of facts and evidence from the media monitoring work.

    The top three most abusive stations belonged to leading members of the ruling NPP. But leadership and members of the party and government were not perturbed. Presumably, they loved the reckless effusions, the false claims and the abuse because the victims of those abuses were members of the NDC.

    At the time, the leadership and members of the NDC loved the reckless conduct on their allied radio stations too. The most abusive presenters including Mugabe Maase and Oheneba Boamah Bennie were among the most popular and loved folks among NDC party loyalists and fanatics.

    As a country, we looked on while all these acts of unprofessionalism and abuses were going on as if such conduct did not matter for our democracy, for our peace and security, and for the morals of our society.

    But how and whose actions got us into where we are? Who can and should be acting to help correct the situation? An attempt to respond to these important questions will be the subject matter of part two of this series while part three will focus on the intolerance and despotic tendencies of the government as far as media freedom is concerned.

    The writer, Sulemana Braimah, is the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa.  

     

  • Opinion: Akufo-Addo and the dance of the chameleons

    Opinion: Akufo-Addo and the dance of the chameleons

    On October 9, 2016, a voice rang, clear and loud like an ancient church bell, in the wilderness of Ghana’s political opposition:

    “We need a leader who is sensitive to the needs of his people. We need a leader who is going to move Ghana forward. I’m inspired by our leader, I’m inspired by his integrity, and I’m inspired by his honesty. I’m inspired by his incorruptibility, I’m inspired by his courage, I’m inspired by his tenacity. Let’s rise for change.”

    That voice belonged to Samira Bawumia, the wife of the New Patriotic Party (NPP’s) vice presidential candidate, who had become a favourite speaker at NPP rallies in 2016.

    During the rally to crown the NPP manifesto outdooring in 2016, female speakers, including Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West; the then Women Organiser of the NPP, Ms Otiko Djaba; the wife of the NPP presidential candidate, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo dazzled the crowd.

    That day, the NPP sold its Free Senior High School policy, the One Constituency, $1 million; One village, One dam; and the One District, One Factory among other policies that dazed the NDC and left the then ruling party’s communication team clueless about counter-campaign promises.

    In the midst of the sea of red, white and blue flags, the speeches were sometimes sentimental, particularly when Mrs Akufo-Addo said she knew her husband would do exactly what he promised.

    Carnival mood at NPP manifesto rally (photos) - Graphic Online
    On October 9, 2016, thousands of NPP supporters gathered at the Trade Fair Centre in Accra as the party sold its manifesto promises to Ghanaians

    “I know my husband and he would do all he said or promised,” the significant half of the NPP presidential candidate said in Ga.

    To drum home their message of change, many in the thick crowd carried bells, which they rang with the mantra, “The time is up” a slogan picked from a Tigo advert in the heat of the country’s energy crisis. The NPP turned it into a slogan ostensibly to tell President John Dramani Mahama that his time was up.

    By December 10, 2016, Mahama’s time was up.

    The man, who broke the jinx of the Johns and became the first Ghanaian without the first name John to occupy the Office of the President since 1992, immediately got to work.

    He froze the procurement of new cars. To put the icing on the directive, we were told he was even using his personal old Mercedez Benz. How nice, a president who understood austerity.

    The president’s hype men would spin that gesture, often taking a jab at former President Mahama who, against better judgement, asked to be given the official bungalow he was occupying as part of his benefits.

    The problem with propaganda is that after the crafty advertising is done, people want to see the performance of the advertised actor himself, not the work of gifted praise-singers.

    That is exactly where President Akufo-Addo has left us scratching our heads.

    Sleeping on the job

    The months that followed made it obvious that the president’s attempt at austerity was more about populism than protecting the public purpose. In all, 110 ministers and their deputies formed the government of the country that was receiving economic balms from the World Bank. That number would jump to more than 120 later when the regional ministers of the newly created regions were appointed.

    The justification was that there was so much work and that the end would justify the numbers. Time obviously hasn’t vindicated the president.

    After cutting down his elephant-sized administration in his second term, one would have thought the president would keep his appointees on their toes. Instead, he has provided them with a mattress and pillow, often deflecting public criticism of their performance.

    In other jurisdictions where citizens are taken seriously by their leaders, the likes of the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang Manu, and the Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, will not even allow the shadows of the Jubilee House to fall on them.

    Mr Agyeman-Manu supervised the procurement of Sputnik-V vaccines, which was later found to be fraught with procurement breaches. No apologies came from him. He rather took time off time to cool off. The former Senior Minister’s sin was the role he played in the procurement of a service that was disallowed and surcharged by the Auditor-General. The fallout of this was the tossing of Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo, out of office.

    With all their deficiencies as leaders, under Rawlings, Kufuor, and even Mills, ministers went to bed with an eye open, hoping not to be surprised in reshuffles.

    Today, the man who told us in 2016 that “God did not put us on this rich land to be poor. It is bad leadership that makes us poor,” appears to have lost his zest for inspiring leadership.

    Kumi preko, #Fixthecountry and e-levy

    Our president prides himself in activism. Ghanaians remember him for being a forerunner in the Kumi Preko (kill me now) protests that hit the Rawlings administration when it introduced the value-added tax (VAT).

    It worked. Temporarily, the Rawlings government suspended the implementation of the tax meant to replace the sales tax.

    Today in History: The 1995 'Kume Preko' protest that rocked Ghana
    Akufo-Addo( front, second right) was among the leaders of the Kumi Preko demonstrations Credit: myjoyonline

    But it came at a cost—at least two people died.

    Ironically, when #Fixthecountry demanded accountability from the champion ‘Atta’ of protests, almost everything was done to gag them but for a Supreme Court intervention.

    With hindsight, one would have thought that the man who led demonstrations that resulted in the death of his compatriots would prioritise broad consultations when introducing a new tax. To his credit, the pugilists we discovered in parliament should make up for the shortfall of boxing champions. Now we know where to find boxers and wrestlers for our national teams.

    The hardships of 1995—including the rising cost of living, cut-throat fuel price and youth unemployment—are worse today.

    Ghanaians are not on the street in protest against the e-levy, but it is shocking the public anger against this tax is lost on the president and his team.

    Instead of learning from the past, the President and his men are trying hard to bully their way through parliament with a shoe-string majority, if any at all.

    Fighting corruption

    If, in 2016, any soothsayer had told me that the Mahama administration’s worst ranking on the Corruption Perception Index would be Akufo-Addo’s best, I would have told him or her to throw his or her cowries away and become the eyes of bats during the day.

    But, alas, the president’s actions since 2017 portray a man who is more interested in keeping his party’s image intact than pushing his chief legal advisor, the Attorney-General, to deal decisively with corrupt appointees.

    We sang choruses against the corrupt deals under the Mahama administration. In 2016, we had a choice. A choice between an obviously corrupt administration and a man sold to us as a saint.

    But comparing the two today, Mahama would qualify for sainthood when we are marking the scripts of effort to deal with corruption.

    At least, that administration initiated the prosecution of Abuga Pele, a former National Coordinator of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) and Alhassan Imoro, a former National Service Secretariat Executive Director on allegations of corruption. These were Mahama’s appointees.

    Abuga Pele was jailed, and the case against Mr. Imoro is still travelling through the legal mill.

    How has his administration dealt with his appointees? What has happened to those who supervised the disappearance of excavators seized from illegal miners and tricycles belonging to the Northern Development Authority?

    The President’s worst record in the fight against corruption came in sacking Daniel Domelevo, who is considered the most effective Auditor-General in the Fourth Republic and, perhaps, in the history of Ghana. No matter how hard President Akufo-Addo tries to explain it away, it’s still a blot on the president’s already questionable credentials.

    Luxurious jet vs no accountability

    It is shocking that the man who campaigned against wastage in past administrations now flies in luxurious private jets and finds it convenient to hide behind national security to refuse to account to the people. While the president travels in rented jets, some presidents in West Africa travel in Ghana’s presidential jet.

    No one is demanding the President’s itinerary. But his ministers have been ducking the questions of transparency and accountability so much that one begins to wonder if we’re not dealing with a mistaken identity.

    Interestingly, the president as a member of parliament had in the past dug holes into the proposal for a new presidential jet. Then, as the MP for Abuakwa, Nana Akufo-Addo expressed horror at the thought of Rawlings buying a presidential jet in 1998 at a time the economy was on its knees and Ghanaians were struggling to keep their head above the tide.

    So, what exactly has changed? Are we better off today? Are we able to afford fuel cheaper than before?  Is our healthcare system more sophisticated?

    Indeed, our elders were right when they said a chameleon can only change its colour but not its skin.

     You can reach the writer via email at [email protected]. You can follow him on twitter @thekekeli

  • Corruption Index: Mahama’s worst still remains Akufo-Addo’s best

    Corruption Index: Mahama’s worst still remains Akufo-Addo’s best

    In 2016, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) campaigned on corruption and promised to wage a meaningful war against the menace if he was voted into office. His message resonated with many Ghanaian voters because of the many corruption scandals in the John Mahama administration.

    But five years into Akufo-Addo’s presidency, Ghana’s best score in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is 43 out of 100. This is the worst score Ghana recorded in the John Mahama era.

    Ghana’s best CPI score in the past 10 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 in 2020 and 2021.

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

    “Ghana’s current performance is still below 50, which is the expected average and thus leaves much to be desired,” a statement issued by the Ghana Integrity Initiative, the local chapter of Transparency International, said.

    With most African countries among the worst performers on the corruption index, Ghana’s score of 43 placed her 9th along with Senegal out of 49 Sub-Saharan African countries in 2021.

    The 2021 CPI, according to Transparency International, focused on corruption, democracy and human rights.

    “TI’s research shows a strong correlation between anti-corruption and respect for human rights, and that very few countries have managed to establish effective control of corruption without also respecting human rights. Of the 23 countries that have significantly declined on the CPI since 2012, 19 also declined on their civil liberties score,” it explained.

    Ghana’s performance on the Democracy Index has seen a decline between 2015 and 2020 from 6.86 to 6.501 (out of a possible score of 10), the CPI figures indicated.

     

    Ghana’s score on the CPI remained stagnant two years in a row. Source: Ghana Integrity Initiative

    Akufo-Addo’s anti-corruption rhetoric and the corruption reality index of his presidency

    Even though the country’s performance has generally been unimpressive, it appears to be worse under the tenure of President Akufo-Addo.

    Ghana’s CPI scores from 2012 to 2019 indicate that the worst performance within the period was recorded in the last five years.

    Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo rode on the moral high horse of incorruptibility to the presidency. In the 2016 election, he promised to fight corruption and restore integrity in the public sector if voted into office. After winning the election, however, his critics say that fight has been done with only his lips.

    The administration’s fight against corruption has largely been touted under claims that it had over the years resourced anti-graft institutions including Parliament, the Audit Service and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice.

    It used to be the claim that the Public Procurement Authority had saved billions of cedis from scrutinising public contracts until the “Contracts for Sale” investigation by Manasseh Azure Awuni challenged those figures and the government could not release any evidence to back it. The head of the public procurement authority, Adjenim Boateng Adjei was also found to own companies that sold government contracts to prospective buyers.

    The government has, since that investigation, stopped using the PPA as an example of how it has fought corruption.

    Anti-corruption campaigners say the Akufo-Addo administration’s actions, including hounding Auditor-General Daniel Yaw Domelevo out of office while closing his eyes on alleged acts of corruption in the government, have undermined his anti-corruption rhetoric.

    In the CPI press release, the Ghana Integrity Initiative acknowledged the government’s efforts but noted that it was not making much of a difference.

    “Although the government is known to have taken some measures to address the canker and abuse of public office, impunity remains a problem,” it said.

    In 2021, The Fourth Estate reported that when President Akufo-Addo delivered the over 9,400-word State of the Nation Address (SONA) in parliament, the words “corruption”, “corrupt”, “anti-graft” or “graft” were absolutely absent.

    Two months earlier, on January 5, 2021, when he visited Parliament to deliver the last SONA in his first term as president, his over 3,500-word speech also failed to address corruption or even mention the word.

    It was the first time in 13 years that a president of Ghana had failed to mention the word corruption while giving the State of the Nation Address.

    President Akufo-Addo failed to mention “corruption” or “corrupt” in his 2021 SONA, the first time in 13 years.

    No commitment to the fight against corruption

    There has not been closure on the many alleged cases of corruption in the Akufo-Addo era. These scandals include the “Contract for Sale Scandal involving the Public Procurement Authority CEO, the “galamsey” bribery scandal involving a presidential staffer; the Kelni GVG, PDS sales, BOST oil adulteration scandals as well as the missing excavators and the disappearance of  400 motor tricycles at the Northern Development Authority (NDA).  Not a single appointee in his government was prosecuted for corruption.

    The prosecutions, however, are focused on former appointees of the Mahama administration.

    Although many had expected that the appointment of Martin Amidu in 2018 as the country’s first Special Prosecutor would give the fight against corruption the needed shot in the arm, it ended up eroding public confidence in the corruption fight. Mr. Amidu resigned in 2020 and accused the president of interfering in his work.

    According to his critics, the body language of President Akufo-Addo has not given an indication that he hates corruption and is prepared to tackle the monstrous canker head-on.

    When the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu was implicated in COVID-19 vaccine procurement irregularities, President Akufo-Addo joked about the scandal despite enormous pressure on him to fire and prosecute the minister.

     

    Civil Society Groups criticizes President Akufo-Addo when he praised the CEO of Jospong Group of Companies in 2017.

    In 2020, under the guise of COVID-19, the presidency cooked a fumigation contract that allowed Zoomlion to milk the system of millions of cedis. Although schools were closed for more than three months, Zoomlion was given a contract to fumigate schools against the virus. This together with market fumigations cost Ghana about 500 million Ghana cedis, according to The Fourth Estate’s estimates from government figures.

    This was despite the fact that the World Health Organisation had indicated that such exercises were not effective in containing the virus. The Fourth Estate’s investigations further revealed that the scandalous fumigations had been an annual ritual fraught with corruption and had become a subject of police investigations.

    TI’s recommendations on tackling corruption

    Transparency International has recommended that governments around the world should lend themselves to accountability, restore and strengthen institutional checks on power as well as uphold the right to information on government spending. In the case of Ghana, its local chapter, the GII, has recommended the following:

    1. Enhance institutional checks on power

    Public oversight bodies including anti-corruption agencies and the supreme audit institution must operate fully independent from the executive as their mandates stipulate. They should continuously be well-resourced with budgets allocated to them fully disbursed and empowered to effectively investigate and sanction corruption timeously.

    1. Empower citizens to hold power to account

    Agencies of state responsible for guarding the rights of citizens should take active roles in ensuring expeditious investigations into violations of the rights of civil society and media activists as well as human rights defenders and facilitate justice for crimes against all. Parliament and the courts should also be vigilant in preventing executive overreach.

    1. Sanction the corrupt to serve as a deterrent

    Ghana is touted to have considerable anti-corruption frameworks including sanctioning laws. However, not enough commitment on sanctioning corruption, particularly, political corruption has been demonstrated in recent years. Government and state anti-corruption institutions must effectively work towards making corruption a high risk and a low gain venture in order to reduce the incidences of abuse of power, impunity and corruption.

    1. Improve transparency and accountability in political party and campaign financing

    The Electoral Commission should be held accountable to ensure the enforcement of the Political Parties Act, 2000 (Act 574), particularly Section 21 which relates to the disclosure of funding sources by political parties. Parliament should also amend Act 574 to include disclosure on funding sources for candidates contesting Presidential and Parliamentary elections. There should also be a ceiling on how much can be raised and spent by candidates contesting these elections.

    1. Promote efficient public service delivery and anti-corruption through digitization

    Evidence from the ongoing digitization projects of government suggests that automated processes within relevant public institutions (GRA) have reduced human 5 contacts and also have the potential to help reduce corruption. Government should, therefore, expedite its digitization programme and extend electronic services to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and digitization of services that are in high demand by citizens must be prioritized

     

  • HeFRA fined GH₵30,000 for snubbing RTI Commission, The Fourth Estate

    HeFRA fined GH₵30,000 for snubbing RTI Commission, The Fourth Estate

    The Fourth Estate had requested information, but the request was ignored. The Right to Information (RTI) Commission wanted an explanation from the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA) on why it refused to grant the information.

    But the health regulator, again, did not respond.

    For its intransigence, the RTI Commission has penalised HeFRA with a GH₵30,000 fine. The institution mandated to license health facilities in the country will have to cough out the amount within 14 days.

    This isn’t the Commission’s first punitive measure against a state institution for failing to release information to an applicant and cold-shouldering the commission. For committing a mirror-image of HeFRA’s offence, the commission recently slapped the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) with a GH₵50,000 penalty.

    Should HeFRA default in the payment of the penalty, it faces an additional 10% penalty on the principal every14 days.

    In a ruling dated January 5, 2022, the RTI Commission also ordered the Registrar of HeFRA, Dr Philip Bannor, to ensure that the information was released to The Fourth Estate within 14 days.

    On March 29, 2021, The Fourth Estate’s Kwaku Krobea Asante wrote to HeFRA requesting the following information:

    1. The date Frontiers Healthcare Services Limited applied for the HeFRA license and the date the licence was issued to the company to undertake COVID-19 tests at the airport.
    2. The license status of some listed health facilities in Accra and Kumasi as of March 2021.

    HeFRA did not respond.

    Per Section 23 (1)-(2) of the RTI law, HeFRA had 14 days to determine whether it had the information or not.

    “Where an application for access is received by a public institution, the Information Officer shall take a decision on the application and send a written notice to the applicant within fourteen days from the date of receipt of the application.

    “The notice shall state (a) whether or not access the information will be given, and (b) whether access to only a part of the information can be given and the reason for giving only a part.”

    Guide Book on Ghana’s Right to Information Law (Act 989)

    Since HeFRA’s information officer failed to fulfil his or her obligation, Mr. Asante took the next step in the RTI law which is stipulated in Section 23(5):

    “Where the information officer fails to determine an application within fourteen days after the application is received by public institutions, the applicant is deemed to have been refused and the applicant has the right to seek redress under Section 31 to 39.”

    That redress required Mr. Asante to petition the Registrar, who is the head of the institution, for an internal review of the decision not to release the information.

    He did that on May 27, 2021. The Registrar had 15 days to communicate his decision to the applicant.

    But again, HeFRA did not bother to respond as required by Section 33(1) of the RTI law.

    Left with no options. Mr. Asante petitioned the RTI Commission on July 8, 2021, in compliance with Section 65(1) of the law which states:

    “A person who is not satisfied with a decision of a public institution or relevant private body may apply to the commission for a review of the decision.”

    In the ruling signed by its Executive Director, Yaw Sarpong Boateng, the RTI Commission had no kind words for HeFRA.

    “The Commission deplores the posture of the Respondent [HeFRA] in the instant case and hereby makes it clear under Act 989 [RTI law], there is no public institution that is exempt from being called upon to disclose or release information; it is certain categories of information that are exempted exempt from disclosure.

    It insisted there was no blanket exemption for any state institution.

    “Even with those categories of information, the exemption may not be absolute, where it in the interest of the public or the Harm’s test prevails,” the Executive Director explained.

    In backing The Fourth Estate’s request, the commission said it did not find the information sought, which HeFRA denied, as “falling into the range of exempt information under Act 989.”

    The commission maintained that it was clothed with the power to “make any determination as the Commission considers just and equitable, including issuing recommendations or penalties in matters before the Commission.”

    When Parliament passed the RTI law in 2019, its main advocates—the media, civil society groups and anti-corruption campaigners—touted it as a potent weapon in the fight against corruption. They said it would increase transparency in the government, ensure proactive disclosure of information and set rules for requests and responses.

    The passage and assenting of the RTI law (Right to Information Act, 2019, Act 989) drew commendations from many local and international stakeholders and civil society organisations.

    The law, which took effect on January 2, 2020, is expected to make it easier for the public to request and receive information from public institutions in Ghana.

    But it is beginning to dawn on civil society and the media that the celebrations were premature because The Fourth Estate has established that very few institutions are willing to comply with the law and release information.

    Meanwhile, HeFRA has released the information requested to The Fourth Estate but is yet to pay the fine.

    YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN:

    The RTI Law in Ghana: 5 Key Facts You Need to Know About Your Right to Information

    RTI Commission orders Scholarship Secretariat to release beneficiaries list