The Fourth Estate CMS

Author: Seth J. Bokpe

  • 30 years of deception: quack midwife’s shocking trail of deaths and malpractice exposed

    After 18 months of investigative reporting at a private health facility in Accra, The Fourth Estate’s Evans Aziamor-Mensah and Seth J. Bokpe have uncovered a frightening case of ‘Matron Gaga’, an unlicensed midwife whose 30-year track of malpractice has resulted in numerous medical accidents including the death of at least two newborn babies.

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    June 24, 2020: the case of Kate

    Inside the labour ward of New Generation Medical Centre, a private clinic in the South Odorkor Estates at Sakaman in Accra, Kate Tetteh (not her real name), a heavily pregnant beautician was writhing and groaning in pain from her first labour pangs. As her contractions peaked, her screaming grew louder.

    But the nurses on duty found that funny: they laughed out loud.

    “They were even teasing me,” Kate, 28, recalls in disgust.

    All she wanted at that point was professional assistance, as one would expect from a health facility. What she got at New Generation was derision. Her request for her fiancé and her mother to be allowed in to soothe her was summarily dismissed.

    The ordeal became even heavier than she anticipated.

    The beautician says she felt like she was between life and death, alone. She says the professionals who should have been her helpers became her tormentors.
    “When my baby’s head was visible, the midwife who was the one delivering me wasn’t around.”

    Francisca Quaye alias Lady Gaga, the quack midwife, whose unprofessionalism led to the death of at least two infants and the maiming of others at the New Generation Medical Centre.

    The ‘midwife’ in question is Francisca Quaye alias Matron Gaga. Matron Gaga had apparently taken some time off her busy cooking preoccupation to visit the nuisance of her patient who was admitted to the facility to deliver a baby. Kate says Matron Gaga walked into the labour ward to check on her holding a cooking utensil in one hand and vegetables in the other.

    “When she returned, she was holding a knife and an onion or something; I don’t remember. I didn’t see her again for like five minutes.”

    Kate’s ordeal and loss

    Kate, who lives in Accra, says she first visited the New Generation Medical Centre on June 24, 2020. According to her antenatal records, she had a normal pregnancy, with her baby kicking from time to time as expected. According to her scan, she could deliver any day between June 19 and 30,2020.

    And then a strange thing happened: even though Kate still had a week left within the expected delivery window, Matron Gaga, contrary to all established medical practice, decided to artificially induce labour by prescribing the oral medication Cytotec.

    And then she asked the confused expectant mother to go back home.

    Cytotec is used to induce labor in women. It works by softening the cervix to allow easier dilation and producing contractions. In most cases, Cytotec is a safe and reliable medication that can make labour easier for women in distress when administered correctly. The Reproductive Health Centre of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital however warned in 2011 that Cytotec abuse can cause infertility and even death.

    Kate recalls the ordeal that ensued after the unnecessary artificial induction.

    “I felt weak, [but Matron Gaga] asked me to go home, [and] roam until I felt pain, then I could come. I boarded a taxi and went home. But I couldn’t sleep. The pain was unbearable. I was feeling the pain and I called her and she said I should come when I felt more pain. I went through pain from 10 am to 6 pm”.

    Kate says she cried until her neigbour convinced her to return to the clinic. Then her nightmares began.

    “Initially, my baby was kicking. My baby was very strong. He used to kick me and I would even be crying. When [the midwives] started pressing my stomach, I didn’t feel him again. But it was my first time, so I thought it was normal,” she recalls.

    Kate remembers Matron Gaga using “something sharp” to cut her “down there and “pulling” her baby boy out.

    “When my baby came, I didn’t hear him cry. I expected the baby to cry because there were days I went to antenatal and would hear newborns cry. When I didn’t hear mine cry, I asked [Matron Gaga] why. She said the baby was tired and that he would eventually cry.”

    Mother-child bonding is essential for normal infant development. New mothers will hold their babies next to their bodies, rock them gently, strive for eye contact, sing or talk to them and begin to nurse. Often within just hours of birth, mothers report feelings of overwhelming love and attachment for their new baby. As a convention, newborn babies are handed over to their mothers as their first opportunities for bonding. In Kate’s case, this did not happen.

    “I forced [Matron Gaga] to put him on me. It didn’t even take a minute and they took him off me and placed him on a chair,” laments the horrified beautician.

    The nightmare continued.

    “I raised my head and saw one nurse cleaning my baby’s nose. There was blood from the nose. I asked the nurse what she was cleaning. They didn’t want me to know what was happening.”

    Instead, Francisca Quaye and her team turned to congratulate her. They even poured powdered talc on her, a ritual to celebrate victory.

    “Someone went to call the doctor. But I didn’t hear what they were saying because I was in pain. I saw his facial expression, and it wasn’t good. What I heard was [the doctor asking]: ‘Why didn’t you come and call me?’”

    Matron Gaga then followed him outside. When they re-entered the labor ward, the doctor proceeded to “beat” the newborn baby.

    “[He] was beating [my] baby. I didn’t know what was happening. I thought it was [normal] so I kept quiet for them to do their work,” Kate recalls.

    Kate was then moved to a recovery ward where the horror continued.

    Kate’s mother suddenly came in crying. When asked why she was crying, no answer came. The Fourth Estate can confirm that the clinic’s poorly kept records show, however, that Kate had a stillbirth.

    She became suspicious when she saw her baby wrapped tightly, but Matron Gaga falsely assured her that her baby was being referred to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital because “it wasn’t breathing well”.

    That was Day One.

    The next day, she was discharged.

    “I was told I should go home for like three months before I could come for my baby,” Kate tells The Fourth Estate in disbelief.

    When she insisted that she wanted to be with her “sick baby”, Matron Gaga assured her that she would be assisted to visit her child at Korle-Bu that night.

    That night, the clueless mother held a vigil in pain and in anticipation. Needless to say, Matron Gaga’s call did not come. Instead, she lied to Kate that she tried to reach her during the night, but she was deep in sleep.

    “She said she came and called, and I didn’t mind her, so she went with the doctor and my baby to Korle-Bu and [that] they put him in a machine.”

    Soon, the reason for the baby’s referral changed from respiratory complications to the presence of a brain tumor. When she expressed confusion, Kate says Matron Gaga put her through to a “doctor” in Korle-Bu.

    “She put the phone on loudspeaker and the person was talking. [The person asked]: ‘Are you Kate? Your baby has a brain tumor, and a lot of issues,” narrates Kate, who believes a New Generation Medical Centre staff member conspired with Matron Gaga for that call.

    “They said my baby had a brain tumor so they would want to leave him in the machine so that he dies in the machine because if they brought my baby to me, it would become a burden on me,” Kate explains.

    On day three, Kate’s worst fears were confirmed: her mother confessed to her that she lost her baby at birth.

    Kate says almost two years after that fateful experience, New Generation Medical Centre is yet to officially communicate the death of her baby and its cause to her. Normally, each health centre in the district is required to submit monthly reports to its supervisory facility, the Ablekuma North Municipal Health Directorate. But these reports, The Fourth Estate has learned, are often “sanitised”, and do not reflect events at the private clinics.

    The phony matron, Francisca Quaye, said she sometimes delegated the preparation of the report to her junior staff. The head of New Generation, Dr. Ralph Obeng Owusu, admitted to The Fourth Estate that he does not pay attention to such records.

    According to Kate, “Even when I went for the dressing and asked [Matron Gaga] if my baby was dead, she asked me who told me my baby was dead, and that, I shouldn’t mind them.

    “It was later that I whatsapped her that I knew my baby was dead and that she should forget it.”

    “My baby would have brought me a lot of joy because my baby daddy said he would marry me after [I give] birth. Now, he couldn’t marry me. I don’t think I can give birth again. Maybe I’ll adopt or something like that.”

    Stitching gone bad

    Going through the ordeal and losing her son at birth was not the end of Kate’s suffering at the hands of the fraudulent midwife Francisca Quaye. The bereaved mother discovered that her perineum was very badly infected. The perineum, which is the area between the vagina and anus, is liable to tear during childbirth. After delivery, the doctor or midwife usually closes the perineal tear with stitches. The stitches usually dissolve in a week or two, so they will not need to be removed. In Kate’s case, the suturing was done so badly that the entire region was septic.

    “[Matron Gaga] told me to sit on hot water after 10 days. I did, but the thread tore, and it became sore and became big like a gutter. I took a picture and sent it to Dr Ralph Owusu. He got pissed and asked who did that to me. I told him it was Francisca [Quaye]. He told me to come so they could stitch it again.”

    When Kate arrived at the clinic, she met an angry Matron Gaga who demanded to know why she sent the picture to her boss when it was, she who did the stitching.

    “She got pissed… said I wanted to get her sacked. She said the doctor insulted her that she didn’t [close the perineal tear] well. They had to re-stitch it,” remembers Kate.

    For the next three months, Kate couldn’t walk.

    “Since then, I deleted all their numbers. I don’t [want to] have anything to do with them,” she told The Fourth Estate in July 2021.

    That series of painful episodes at the New Generation Medical Centre has destroyed many things in Kate’s life — her baby, her relationship, and the idea of ever-carrying a baby. The trauma has left a scar in her life.

    “My baby would have brought me a lot of joy because my baby daddy said he would marry me after [I give] birth. Now, he couldn’t marry me. I don’t think I can give birth again. Maybe I’ll adopt or something like that.”

    “A midwife cannot do induction on her own”

    Unconventional midwifery

    President of the Midwives Association of Ghana, Mary Ofosu says a midwife cannot do induction on her own.

    When Kate’s induction ordeal was reported to the Midwives Association of Ghana, the President of the group, Mary Ofosu, described Francisca Quaye’s action as unconventional and inconsistent with midwifery practice.

    “A midwife cannot do induction on her own,” she said of Matron Gaga’s Cytotec procedure. “There must be a medical officer or specialist around. You should also have a theatre around because induction can fail. So, when you induce and it fails, we need to take the client to the theatre. So, before you do induction, you need to get all those things around.”

    She was not done yet.

    “You can do induction of labour when the client is post-date. That’s when the doctor can prescribe induction of labour or when there is maybe some medical condition like pregnancy-induced hypertension,” the professional midwife with 16 years’ experience explained.

    In addition, regarding the secrecy around Kate’s stillbirth, Mary Ofosu made it clear that a mother who loses her child at birth must be told before she leaves the health facility.

    July 6, 2021: the case of Esther

    On Tuesday, July 6, 2021, Esther Baker, 31, delivered her first baby. For a period of four hours, she suffered the most excruciating pain in her life. This was the longest four hours of her life.

    She nearly bled to death. Medical practitioners call it post-partum haemorrhage, which research says accounts for 24% of all maternal deaths in Ghana. Experts say it happens within the first 24 hours after a baby is born. The most critical time for post-partum hemorrhage is the period from the birth of the infant until the placenta is delivered.

    The night before she went into labour, Esther, a worker at a savings and loans company, said a part-time midwife who ran the night shift at the New Generation Medical Centre wondered why she had not been referred to a bigger hospital. She recalls:

    “She said my age and [my] past record [with] miscarriage could cause some problems. She was like, immediately, they had to give me a transfer and that I shouldn’t deliver there.”

    Given her history, Esther was very concerned, but she put her trust in prayer for divine intervention.

    But that night, a midwife, whose name Esther remembers as Abigail, assured her that all was well. With that assurance, Esther prayed silently that Abigail would be the one to deliver her first bundle of joy, four years into her marriage.

    Alas, this was not to be.

    New Generation Medical Centre at South Odorkor, Dansoman,Accra, where Francisca Quaye worked as a midwife for nearly 30 years without a license.

    The night passed at the New Generation Medical Centre without any incident. The clinic is popular for affordable care. The icing on the cake for its poorer patients is that it accepts National Health Insurance. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was one of the vaccination centres.

    And then morning came. At the point when Esther was fully dilated, her body became the grounds for a turf war between midwife Abigail and the clinic’s matron, Francisca Quaye.  Matron Gaga, disagreed with her staff’s professional assessment of the situation and proposed a rather bizarre remedial action. The two argued: in the end, Abigail had her say, and Matron Quaye her way.

    “Abigail is a professional midwife,” observes Esther. “It’s like a ‘by force’ something that [Matron Gaga] was doing. She doesn’t take her time attending to the person in pain. Hers is to just rush you and that you shouldn’t be that soft.”

    From janitor to midwife

    The Fourth Estate’s investigations have revealed that Francisca Quaye has never been to any nursing or midwifery training school.

    To be recognised as a midwife in Ghana, one has to complete an accredited nursing/midwifery training institution and pass a licensing exam conducted by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (N&MC) renewable annually. Any exemptions to this rule may only be granted by the board of the N&MC.

    Francisca Quaye has neither a license nor an exemption.

    Eventually, Francisca Quaye delivered babies, undertook incisions (episiotomy, which allowed the birth canal to open for childbirth), and stitched afterward. When the doctor got too busy with patients, she handled consultations for outpatient cases too.

    In the last 18 months that The Fourth Estate has been digging into malpractice at New Generation Medical Centre, a long list of frightening medical accidents has been uncovered.

    Our investigations found at least two deaths under disturbing circumstances while she was in charge.  A new mother nearly bled to death. Two other new mothers needed urgently to have perineal tears re-stitched due to unprofessional sutures and infection and a newborn had her arm dislocated.

    Francisca Quaye allegedly also charged National Health Insurance cardholders unapproved fees.

    Who is Francisca Quaye alias Matron Gaga?

    An ‘O’ level-holder from Ebenezer Secondary School, Matron Gaga claims she cut her teeth in midwifery under the tutelage of her mother at the Dora Quaye Maternity Home at Takoradi in the Western Region. After school in the 1980s, she got a job at the Susan Clinic, where she multitasked— mopping, manning the front desk, and filing forms.

    This was where Francisca Quaye met Dr Ralph Obeng Owusu who had returned to Ghana in 1988 after a seven-year stint in Nigeria. For five years, Dr. Owusu ran the Susan Clinic, and when the time was ripe, he poached Francisca Quaye. The two started the New Generation Medical Centre in 1993.

    Her multi-tasking became handy at the new facility. With time, she shifted from administrative work to helping as a medical hand—attending to pregnant women on antenatal visits and assisting during deliveries. Eventually, she delivered babies, undertook incisions (episiotomy, which allowed the birth canal to open for childbirth), and stitched afterward. When the doctor got too busy with patients, she handled consultations for outpatient cases too.

    “There were times her procedures [were off], and you would prompt her, and she’d tell you that she knew better.”

    For the past 30 years, therefore, she has been Dr. Owusu’s sidekick in all respects of the term.

    Still, in her early 50s, not everyone views Francisca Quaye as a villain. Some past New Generation patients swear by her care and kindness. They say she lends her ear even to their domestic problems.

    “When it comes to marriage, relationships, and life in general, she was very lively. When it comes to communication, she is nice,” a midwife who worked briefly at the New Generation Medical Centre in 2020 remembers.

    “She has no limits to love. She pampered and even fed me before,” Kate recalled the days before Matron Gaga’s professional incompetence got in the way of their patient-nurse relationship.

    On occasion, Francisca Quaye would offer freely unconventional remedies for medical problems. One former patient recalls her recommending residual water from a washed fufu mortar to treat sores.

    Science and superstition mixed freely in her practice—one that has a lot of question marks, The Fourth Estate has learned.

    Even many junior midwives doubted her competence.

    “I didn’t really know if she was a professional midwife. I still can’t figure it out. There were times her procedures [were off], and you would prompt her, and she’d tell you that she knew better,” a midwife who wants to remain anonymous told The Fourth Estate.

    “There was a time I received a baby [Matron Gaga had delivered]. There is this creamy thing on newborns. To keep them warm, you don’t have to clean all of them. She told me what I had learned in school was not what was [done] on the field…She undressed the baby and cleaned everything,” the midwife said.

    The midwife is referring to the vernix on newborn babies. The World Health Organization also recommends not wiping off the vernix at birth. The main reasons to wait with your baby’s first bath include keeping them warm and stabilizing blood sugar levels. Babies who are bathed too soon after birth are more likely to become cold and could develop hypothermia.

    The trained midwife said she left the facility because she was afraid of losing her license working in a facility where her boss opposed best practices.

    What Francisca Quaye lacks in an imposing figure, she makes up for in assertiveness and aggression. Some of her former co-workers describe her as bossy, domineering, and sometimes, insensitive. She is not averse to verbally sparring in the presence of patients.

    Some patients find her brutish. With a laissez-faire Dr. Ralph Owusu as her supervisor, her influence has grown to the extent that she can override the decisions of even qualified midwives, earning her the nickname ‘Matron Gaga’.

    June 14, 2021: the case of Bernice

    As was the case of Kate Tetteh, qualified midwives at New Generation Medical Centre identified that Bernice Owusu’s (not her real name) cervix needed a little expansion to make way for her baby to be delivered.

    The 28-year-old delivered her first baby, safe and sound.  Her birth experience with Matron Gaga was however far from smooth.

    “When you’re in labour, you’d need someone who is patient with you. For me, I won’t lie, she wasn’t [patient] with me at all. She did everything as though she was in a hurry to attend to something else,” Bernice says, in reference to Francisca Quaye.

    Pad left in the vagina

    Before long, she felt something was not quite right with her—it was another case of botched stitching after crude episiotomy. The needle and sutures were worked by none other than Matron Gaga.

    Bernice says despite the anaesthesia, she felt the pain while the needle went through her flesh.

    “She injected the place, but I don’t know how she injected it. When she was stitching and I was screaming, she didn’t want me to scream. The pain was unbearable.”

    Bernice took home medications and adhered to the dosages and instructions from Matron Gaga, but the pain in her perineum region was like a vortex. She was caught in a deep pain that gnawed at her sanity.

    In about a week, her vagina area started smelling foul. Bernice says she has always prided herself on taking good care of her personal hygiene. Upon some scrutiny, however, she says she was mortified by what she saw.

    “I noticed there was something left in my vagina. The Faytex pad they used in draining the blood. It was left there. I had not given birth before. No one told me that I had to take it out when I get home. The thing was there for about a week and started smelling.

    “My mom had to check before she realised that the Faytex pad was there and … [the stitches were] torn and my cervix open.”

    She quickly reached out to Abigail, the professional night-shift midwife, who advised her to rush to the clinic.

    “When [Abigail] took out the thing, the whole room was smelling. She treated me very well and re-stitched the thing. I don’t know how she injected me but when she was sewing, I didn’t feel anything until she was done. I didn’t feel any pain like the first time and she did it very nicely,” Bernice says.

    Bernice said she is psychologically scarred following what she went through at the hospital.

    Unlike Kate, like Bernice, Esther Baker gave birth to a healthy baby. But it nearly cost her, her life.

    The 35-year-old first-time mother switched from Barnor Hospital in Laterbiokoshie to New Generation Medical Centre about five kilometres North West. She was in her fifth month of pregnancy, but the switch was needed for financial reasons.

    Each time she visited; she saw red flags. But when poverty conducts an orchestra, it is the poor who nod to the melodies, so she closed her eyes to the flaws.

    On July 6, 2021, Esther delivered but there was trouble. Her baby weighed 3.7 kilogrammes.

    Nearly fatal

    At the Ridge Hospital [Greater Accra Regional Hospital], the New Generation nurses who accompanied Esther were unable to answer basic vital questions posed by their fellow nurses at the referral facility.

    Despite the excruciating pain she suffered, Esther says the resident doctor, Dr. Ralph Owusu made light of her situation and left her to attend to “other” things.

    “About five hours after delivery, I started bleeding profusely. I fell unconscious. I don’t know what went wrong.”

    Dr. Ralph Obeng Owusu Snr, the Chief Executive Officer of the New Generation Medical Centre, panicked when he saw the unconscious Esther Baker and asked why he was not called earlier to attend to her.

    According to her husband’s account, Matron Gaga panicked and called for Dr Owusu’s attention. He said she screamed Esther’s name a couple of times before giving the unconscious woman a bottle of malt in an attempt to revive her. A call to Korle-Bu for a possible referral did not yield any results. As luck would have it, Esther’s sister-in-law, who’s a nurse, intervened and got her transferred promptly to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (also known as Ridge), even as efforts were being made to resuscitate her.

    At Ridge Hospital, the New Generation nurses who accompanied Esther were unable to answer basic vital questions posed by their fellow nurses at the referral facility.

    “No record was taken of me. Even the quantum of blood I had before delivery. They were just fumbling,” Esther recalls being told by the nurses when she gained consciousness at the Ridge Hospital. This raised curiosity among the Ridge Hospital professionals. Before they could make sense of the cause of the emergency, their counterparts from the New Generation Medical Centre had resorted to a solution to the embarrassment – they bolted.

    Fortunately, Esther’s condition stabilised the following day. Apparently, the medical team detected and immediately discontinued a medication that was wrongly administered.

    Again, prior to delivery, Esther recalls that the team at New Generation Medical Centre had administered Cytotec “when I went to antenatal in the morning and when I dilated, one [Cytotec] came out.” The doctors at Ridge “suspected that to be the cause of the excessive bleeding”.

    More horrifying tales from New Generation Medical Centre exist.

    May 7, 2021: the case of Selasie

    Selasie's baby died a stillbirth at the New Generation Medical Centre.Selasie Awaworyie went into labour at 7.45pm on May 21, 2021. But there was a complication: the baby which weighed 4kg got stuck in the birth canal for almost 30 minutes.

    The 4kg weight should have alarmed the clinic to refer Selasie to a specialist facility, Dr. Ralph Owusu would later admit to The Fourth Estate.

    …And then  Zekiya

    What happened to Kate, Esther, Bernice, and Selasie were more than isolated accidents by a midwife. Malpractice at New Generation Medical Centre is more the norm.

    Zekiya Abubakari commuted 19 kilometres from Tuba, a dusty community near Kasoa in the Central Region, to the New Generation Medical Centre for antenatal care until she delivered.

    Zekiya, whose baby, little Afua, suffered from Erb palsy at the New Generation Medical Centre due to Francisca Quaye’s unprofessionalism was asked to go home without any remedy when she complained.

    Her first three children had everything intact at birth, but the fourth gave her heartache. Her experiences in delivering two children in a public hospital weren’t worth repeating so she opted for private healthcare for her third and fourth.

    Within two hours of arriving at the New Generation Medical Centre, Zekiya gave birth. Matron Gaga was on duty. It was a few minutes after noon.

    Baby’s arm broken at birth

    “When I was delivering the child, I had difficulties and was told that the child had opened her arms while coming. It blocked her safe delivery. It took the intervention of the resident doctor to help deliver the child.”

    When the baby’s father took her into his arms on the first day, she was screaming. The family took it for her reaction to a new environment.

    But on day three, the baby’s aunt noticed that the baby’s right hand had gone limp. Her elbow had also twisted. When the sponge touches her right arm during bath time, the little girl screamed.

    “I suspected that it was the process of delivery that got my child’s right hand dislocated.”

    When Zekiya called Matron Gaga to report the state of her daughter’s health, her response was that there was nothing wrong and that her daughter’s arm was normal. She told the anxious mother that many children were born with such defects and that the mother should let the hand be. She said it would heal.

    The bonesetter

    The bone setter, Issah Tetteh, confirmed to The Fourth Estate that little Afua’s shoulder joint had dislodged, and her elbow twisted when she was brought.

    But the little girl was restless. She couldn’t sleep. She was suffering what is known as Erb palsy, a condition characterized by arm weakness and loss of motion. It can occur in both infants and adults. Experts say it’s typically caused by a physical injury during delivery or by traumatic force downward on the upper arm and shoulder, damaging the network of nerves near the neck that provides movement and feeling to the shoulder, arm, hand, and fingers.

    Furious, Zekiya contested Matron Gaga’s false assurance, saying that she was experienced enough to know that there was a problem.

    For a second opinion and on the advice of elders in the family, the baby’s parents took her to a traditional bonesetter famous for resetting the bones of accident victims.

    The bonesetter, Issah Tetteh, confirmed to The Fourth Estate that little Afua’s shoulder joint had dislodged, and her elbow twisted when she was brought to him.

    He took to massaging her and bandaged the arm in a manner that breathed life into it.

    “My child is getting better,” Zekiya says.

    Mr Tetteh said it was likely there was still some pain left in the arm and it needed some extra work.

    While the investigation was ongoing, Dr. Owusu sacked his sidekick “midwife” Matron Gaga, but she [Francisca Quaye] got a new job at another health facility just about three kilometres from the New Generation Medical Centre.

    The Fourth Estate tracked her there…
    Part two of this story will be published on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

    EDITOR’S NOTE:  The family of Dora Quaye, a renowned midwife who operated a maternity home in Takoradi, has reached out to The Fourth Estate and denied Francisca Quaye’s claim that she was the daughter of the popular midwife and picked her midwifery knowledge from her. They say she was a distant relative who lived in the Quayes household. 

    You can reach the writers via email at [email protected]/[email protected], or on Twitter: @thekekeli/@evansdelasie 

     This story shall not be republished or broadcast, in part or in full, in any shape or form without the express permission of the Editor-in-Chief.

  • Ex-PPA board chair slips through CHRAJ ban: chairs Minerals Fund almost two years

    Ex-PPA board chair slips through CHRAJ ban: chairs Minerals Fund almost two years

    The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in February 2022, banned a former Board Chair of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Prof. Douglas Boateng, from holding public office for two years for failing to declare his assets and liabilities.

    The ban was from February 2022 to February 2024.

    However, The Fourth Estate can reveal that Prof Boateng did not serve a single day of the two-year penalty. Instead, he has been serving as the board chairman of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), the fund that was to manage the controversial Agyapa deal which sought to trade off 49% of the country’s mineral royalties for $500 million from the London and Ghana stock exchanges.

    CHRAJ’s decision was as a result of investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni’s exposé, Contract for Sale, which revealed that the then PPA Chief Executive, A.B Adjei, had used his office to help the company he co-owned, Talent Discovery Ltd (TDL), win high-value government contracts which were then sold to the highest bidder.

    Antigraft civil society organization, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), then filed a complaint against the nine-member board of the PPA, which was at the time chaired by Prof. Boateng. The GII said it suspected collusion between the disgraced CEO of the PPA and his board. GII, therefore, asked CHRAJ to investigate all the board members, the board chair, and officials of TDL.

    After its investigation, CHRAJ exonerated all members of the board but two: Prof Douglas Boateng and Mr Adjei. While Prof Boateng was banned for two years, the PPA CEO, Adjenim Boateng Adjei, was barred for 10 years.

    Documents available to The Fourth Estate show that CHRAJ had on two occasions (in two letters dated August 6, 2020, and September 4, 2020) invited Prof. Boateng to react to the GII’s accusations against him regarding his alleged failure to comply with Article 286(1) of the Constitution and Section 1 (1) of Act 550.

    Article 268 (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 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, 550 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.

    It took Prof. Boateng two months to respond to the letters: on October 9, 2020, he said in his defence that he had started the asset declaration process but had not completed it. He cited a misunderstanding of the relevant laws and COVID-19-related disruptions, particularly with international travel, as reasons for the delay. Prof. Boateng was appointed board chairman of the PPA in 2017.

    CHRAJ bans Prof. Boateng

    Needless to say, CHRAJ disagreed with Prof Boateng’s excuse in its ruling dated February 11, 2022.

    “The Commission finds his excuse for not declaring his assets and liabilities not reasonable, and hereby disqualifies him from appointment as Chair or member of any public Board, Council or Commission for a period not less than 2 years from the date of this decision,” the CHRAJ decision stated.

    However, there was a qualification.

    “The Commission is of the considered view that the disqualification should be limited to public boards, councils and commissions, and not to extend to Public Office generally, except however, that he must comply with the mandatory exit requirement under Article 286(1)(c) to declare his assets and liabilities as a condition for consideration for future appointment to public office. He has 3 months from the date of this decision within which to provide evidence before the Commission that he has complied with Article 286(1) (c).”

    Prof. Boateng challenges CHRAJ decision

    When The Fourth Estate asked Prof. Boateng why he is still in office as the board chairman of the MIIF when he has been banned from occupying any such position, he said CHRAJ erred.

    “I’ve not done anything wrong. CHRAJ got it wrong,” he explained.

    He told The Fourth Estate he had instructed his lawyer Andrew Nii Adjei Khartey to write to the commission to review its decision. In evidence, Mr Khartey provided a letter to CHRAJ dated February 24, 2022, in which he asked the commission to review its decision because it believed it had made a mistake in banning his client.

    The letter accused CHRAJ of failing to give Prof. Boateng a hearing after it established adverse findings against him in respect of his declaration of assets, which, according to the letter, he did on October 14, 2020.

    The letter continued that Prof. Boateng, among other things, believed that the provisions of Article 286 and Section 3, Schedule 1 of Act 550 were misconstrued and unfairly applied to him. Further, it believed the decision did not take into account the full scope of the law regarding asset declaration by public officials.

    “Assuming arguendo that the aforementioned provisions are applicable to our client, we respectfully submit that the conclusion arrived at by the Commission suggesting that only the Chairman of a Board is bound by the said provisions is erroneous, and an unfair application of the law.

    “Assuming arguendo that the Commission’s findings were justified in law and in procedure, the sanctions applied by the Commission were excessive and harsh, considering the fact that our Client as Board Chairman has in the Commission’s own Decision, been exonerated of all charges of inappropriate conduct including corruption, and conflict of interest.”

    It continued:

    “No findings regarding unlawful acquisition of assets, defrauding the Republic, engaging in wilful or dishonest or corrupt acts prejudicial to the interests of the Republic, and/or knowingly making a false declaration of his assets, properties or liabilities, were made against our client”

    CHRAJ takes 10 months to review decision

    After receiving the application for review of the decision, it took CHRAJ 10 months to review its decision. During the 10 months, Prof Boateng  was in office as board chairman of the MIIF.

    His lawyer, Andrew Khartey, told The Fourth Estate that once the legal team had “applied for a review of the decision, it operated as a stay [of execution] until after CHRAJ comes back to say if it agreed or disagreed” with the application for review.

    In its decision dated December 20, 2022, and signed by its Commissioner, Joseph Whittal, CHRAJ said further engagement showed that Prof. Boateng had indeed provided evidence of his assets and liabilities declaration on October 16, 2020, in the form of a receipt, from the Office of the Auditor-General. However, this evidence was not brought to the attention of the Commissioner or the investigative team because it was not accompanied by a letter.

    CHRAJ said it relied on Section 18(2) of the CHRAJ Act, 1993 (Act 456) to re-look its decision.

    That provision states that:

    “If within three months after the report is made no action is taken which seems to the Commission to be adequate and appropriate, the Commissioner, may after considering the comments, if any, made by or on behalf of the department, authority or person against whom the complaint was made, bring an action before any court and seek such remedy as may be appropriate for the enforcement of the recommendations of the Commission.”

    This resulted in a shift in CHRAJ’s position on the matter.

    “Having carefully considered the comments of Prof. Boateng and all the circumstances of the case, the Commission has come to the conclusion that submitting written declaration of his assets and liabilities to the Auditor General on the 16th of October 2020, about three years after his appointment, does not negate the finding of the Commission that his excuse for not declaring his assets and abilities is not reasonable.”

    It continued:

    “However, the Commission has taken into consideration steps taken by Prof. Boateng to make a written declaration of his assets and liabilities under Article 286(1)(a) on declaration on assumption of office, and 286(1) (c) on declaration at the end of his term of office. Accordingly, the Commission disqualifies Prof. Douglas Boateng from appointment as Chair or member of any public Board, Council or Commission for a period not less than one year.”

    The new decision was to take effect from the date of the original decision— February 11, 2022— which meant that he had only two months left to serve his punishment.

    His lawyer, Andrew Khartey explained to The Fourth Estate that his client did not have to serve any punishment because he was already in office and could not have stepped aside for the two months left.

    GII’s response

    The Ghana Integrity Initiative disagrees. However, it says CHRAJ’s latest decision on the matter lacks transparency.

    “It’s curious that the complainant was not involved in the process of the review. GII complained and a decision was taken. If new evidence comes up, it is a matter of natural justice that GII should be brought in the know. To have done this on our blindside is quite curious,” Michael Boadi of GII said.

    He said the GII was not even given a copy of the reviewed decision.

    He also indicated that per the law, CHRAJ did not have the power to review its decision but “it can accept new evidence which may impact on earlier views expressed.

    “If they said they reviewed [the decision] that is not proper but they reopened the case again and reinvestigated, based on fresh evidence that was available to them, then that is in order.”

    CHRAJ refuses to comment on The Fourth Estate’s request

    In February this year, The Fourth Estate wrote to CHRAJ and requested to know how CHRAJ’s ban affects Prof Douglas Boateng’s current position at the MIIF. It also wanted to know whether, per CHRAJ’s decision, the MIIF qualified to be a public, council or commission board.

    In a response to a Right To Information request, CHRAJ Commissioner Joseph Whittal declined to respond to key queries on the grounds that it could prejudice its position if it is petitioned to investigate the matter.

    “The refusal of access to the information sought is because disclosure will reveal an expression of opinion of the Commission on the effect of its decision in Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) vs The Board of the Public Procurement Authority in which Prof Douglas Boateng was the [Board] Chairman [of the PPA] and a totally unrelated matter of the allegation being made concerning his role with the Minerals Investment Fund which has not been investigated by the Commission specifically but which is capable of being investigated and therefore, exempt information under section 13(1)(a) of the [RTI] Act,” the letter said.

    Must board chairpersons declare their assets?

    The asset declaration law require that the President, Vice-President, the Speaker of Parliament, Deputy Speakers of Parliament, members of Parliament, ministers and deputy ministers of state, ambassadors, the Chief Justice, Judges of Superior Court, Judges of Inferior court and managers of public institutions in which the state has interest submit to the Auditor-General written declarations of all property or assets owned by, or liabilities owed by them, whether directly or indirectly.

    Prof Boateng’s lawyer, Andrew Nii Adjei Khartey, however, does not believe CHRAJ’s interpretation of the law must include board chairmen.

    He said Article 286(5)(i) reference to “Chairman” was about the executive heads of institutions such as chief executive officers, managing directors, and not chairpersons of the boards of directors.

    “When chairman is mentioned, the constitution is envisaging people like the CHRAJ boss who is a commissioner, the chairman of the Electoral Commission, the Chairman of the Public Services Commission and not the interpretation CHRAJ gave it,” he suggested.

    GII’s Michael Boadi disagrees with Khartey’s characterization and insists that “PPA is a state institution and there is no ambiguity at all in the provision. The provision doesn’t distinguish between an executive chairman and a non-executive chairman. PPA is a state institution and there is no ambiguity at all in the provision.”

    Other anti-corruption experts say Article 286(5)(j) ropes in all other public officers who are not mentioned explicitly when the law says, “such officers in the public service and any other public institution as Parliament may prescribe.”

    According to Lawyer Adjei Khartey, his client Prof. Boateng intends to go to the Supreme Court for an interpretation of the provision.

    Justice Emile Short weighs in

    A former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Justice Emile Short, declined to comment on the specific details of the case.

    However, he stated that the non-adherence to the asset declaration law stems from the lack of accountability on one side and impunity on the other.

    “It is not because it is difficult. Some people are complying: why should it be difficult for other people?” he asked.

    Michael Boadi agrees, suggesting that the state institutions responsible for enforcing the law may be complacent.

    A tale of little compliance

    Anti-corruption crusaders have over the years criticised Ghana’s asset declaration law for lacking transparency.

    They want assets and liabilities of public office holders declared to be verified and published when they come to the office and when they leave. However, public officeholders opposed such demands, citing privacy concerns.

    The Fourth Estate last year ran a series of stories on asset declarations that point to disregard for compliance with the law.

    During President Akufo-Addo’s first term (2017-2021), only 18 out of his 126 ministers declared their assets fully. 18 others failed to declare their assets. For his second term, eight out of 87 ministers did not declare their assets at all as of March last year, while 89 appointees, including the vice-president, did partial declarations.

    Under former President Mahama, only 34 out of the 102 ministers who served at one point or the other, fully complied with the law. 56 others declared partially while 11 ministers never declared their assets.

    In the current Parliament, 95 legislators have complied with the law. 180 others have not. 85 of them are first-time MPs. This pegs the compliance rate of the legislators at 35%.

    294 appointees including ministers, parliamentarians, and judges scurried to comply with the law as of November 2022 after The Fourth Estate series on asset declarations.

    YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:

    https://thefourthestategh.com/2022/11/03/mahamas-11-ministers-who-never-declared-their-assets/

     

    https://thefourthestategh.com/2022/06/02/akufo-addos-first-second-term-27-ministers-who-didnt-declare-assets-at-all/

     

    https://thefourthestategh.com/2022/06/02/bawumia-ken-ofori-atta-osafo-marfo-kyei-mensah-bonsu-adwoa-safo-and-87-others-did-not-fully-comply-with-asset-declaration-law/

     

  • Why your local language may soon be in the grave

    Recently, I attended the wedding of a senior high schoolmate. Courtesy of a school tradition that had no consideration of one’s likes and dislikes, we named him ‘Okorto Red’ which literally means ‘red crab’. John hated his nickname but soon acquiesced, realizing that school nicknames follow the good old scientific rule – ‘like poles repel and unlike poles attract’ – the more you fight them, the more they stick.

    After the wedding, drenched in catholic tradition, came to an end, we headed to the reception located on the compound of a school within the church to fraternise and catch up with tales of our lives, almost 20 years after school.  Some whispered to me how they were itching to hear how Okorto, one of the shiest people in school, finally found his lost rib. Of course, there was the couple’s dance too—Okorto has two left feet.

    On our way to the reception, a bold inscription— ‘No vernacular’— screamed at me. I smiled.  A veteran of both public and private basic schools in my formative years, it was a familiar caveat.

    At the reception, Okorto’s infamous dance moves lived up to expectation. It was as bad as anticipated. We raked memories of the past, and we had a good laugh over Okorto’s story about how he met his wife. In all, my friend’s wedding was a memorable reunion.

    On my way to work two weeks ago, Okorto’s wedding and the ‘no vernacular’ sign with its consequences swamped my thoughts. Courtesy of slow traffic, a drama involving a group of junior high students unfurled before my eyes.

    “Why are you speaking vernacular?” a male student, who looked like he had been spending too much time in a gym, asked a junior authoritatively.

    The question was followed by a knock on the vernacular-speaking junior’s head.

    “But why? Are we in school?” he shot back.

    This response attracted a flurry of more knocks on the head.

    “Are you not in a school uniform?” the school bully asked more enraged.

    The much younger culprit wouldn’t take it. The altercation escalated into a full brawl with the victim of the assault going for the jaws of his abuser with a feeble punch.

    At this point, I had to stop the melee before one of them ended up in the open drain. I found out the ‘machoman’ was a class prefect and thought it was within his responsibility to enforce the school’s anti-vernacular rule by the roadside.

    The victim of those hard knocks was a JHS 1 student.

    By the time I completed the mediation, the class prefect understood that the school’s rules said ‘no vernacular here’ which applied ostensibly only in school and not when in school uniform.

    “As I advised him to protect his juniors and not assault them even if they broke school rules, I reflected on the politics of language in our society. Why do we claim paternity of the English language while making orphans of our mother tongues?”

    Lost identity, lost heritage

    In Ghana, most (to my estimation) parents take more pride in their children’s fluency in English than in vernacular. In fact, all private primary school administrations in Ghana ensure that pupils speak only English while on the school premises.

    So, at home, school, and everywhere language is needed, English is widely spoken.

    I’m equally guilty.

    What makes this issue particularly disturbing is that the English we speak is what the Ama Ata Aidoo Centre for Creative Writing at AUCC term as ‘Ghanglish’, a bastardized version of the real thing. ‘Ghanglish’ is where the phonology, grammar, semantics, syntax, elocutions, and pragmatics employed are more akin to those of our indigenous languages than that of English. So why are we stressing our children?

    According to experts, the use of native African languages is declining, particularly among middle- to upper-class African millennials and Generation Z. This means the next generation of African leaders, including our politicians and academics, will speak English as their first, and possibly only, language.

    Alas, this becomes another one of our self-inflicted factors, in addition to a haunting colonial past, migration, globalization, urbanization and a counter-intuitive educational system responsible for Africa’s identity crisis.

    In a BBC report titled ‘Africa’s lost language: How English can fuel an identity crisis’ the author spoke to a number of millennials whose parents forced them to speak English.

    “To learn English, I immersed myself with white kids. I didn’t want to associate myself with the black kids any more. It was really difficult,” a South African teenager recalled.

    She said she’s unable to hold a conversation without turning to English words – an experience she described as being “colonised by English”.

    According to the story, the 17-year-old’s fluency had come with the realization of how, not only being able to speak English, but speaking it in a certain way, could open or close doors in South Africa.

    In the case of her Nigerian counterpart, when she was growing up in Lagos, English was the only language she was allowed to speak. Her Igbo parents took her English language skills rather seriously, and as a young girl, she was made to attend an etiquette class where diction was a key component of the lessons.

    Fortunately, these two are now focusing on correcting what they described as the errors of their past.

    Which Ghanaian languages are in trouble?

    In a research paper titled ‘Some Endangered Languages of Ghana’, Jonas and Rebecca Akpanglo-Nartey found that Ghanaian languages are currently under threat as grandparents speak only local languages, parents speak both the native language and the language of assimilation (in our case English), and their children become monolingual in the assimilated language. This means, in certain cases, your parents, who live in the same country as you, cannot communicate with your children.

    Are we getting to a point where grandparents can’t converse with their grandchildren?      Credit: Getty Images

    Kenyan author, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, described the situation as a linguistic famine in African societies, which he observed was the result of prizing foreign languages over native languages.

    True, it hasn’t been all rosy among the native speakers of the various ethnic languages. The inability of some natives to speak other ethnic languages has created social and economic barriers. This has contributed to the dominance of certain languages at the expense of others that are threatened with extinction.

    For instance, Ghana is a multilingual country with over 80 ethnic languages, a reflection of the rich cultural diversity of its people, some will say. However, this number of languages can be a curse rather than a blessing. Language barriers can be a source of tension and unwarranted conflicts. There have been several situations where people have complained about the treatment meted out to them due to their inability to speak a particular local language.

    In 2021, I was returning from a funeral in Aflao in the Volta Region when the public vehicle I rode in got stopped at an immigration barrier a few kilometres after Agbozume. I had no identification card on me and so I explained to the officer my mission and volunteered the information that I was actually from the Volta Region.  Oddly enough, a fellow passenger, in a bid to ascertain my ‘Ghanaianness’, suggested I speak Twi, not my ethnic Ewe, to validate my claim.

    That incident confirmed Akpanglo-Nartey’s research mentioned above. She discovered that Ahanta and Nzema are both losing grounds to Fante. Larteh and Kyerepong seem to be losing grounds to Twi. Ga and Dangme are both losing to Twi, while the Togo-Mountain languages, namely Avatime, Logba, Santrokofi, Siwu and others, face threats from Ewe and Twi, which are widely spoken.

    The conflicts and tensions language barrier creates feed into the beliefs of those who are happy to dispatch our local languages to the graveyard of dead languages. These critics argue that there is virtually no evidence backing the idea that a country can create and sustain economic growth while at the same time maintaining the same level of language diversity currently prevailing in most African countries.

    This assertion of opponents of linguistic diversity however cannot be true because some of the world’s most advanced countries, including China and Australia are equally diverse in languages with more than 200 tongues.  Even highly industrialized Singapore (which played in the league of underdeveloped countries in the early 1950s) speaks at least four languages.

     Saving the fallen

    Though the state has failed at its primary responsibility to promote the use of our local languages, it is good to know that others are concerned and working on it.

    While the language roots are still intact, more or less, institutions like the Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation (GILLBT) are doing their bit to ensure that they thrive. Thanks to them, you can now read the bible in 37 local Ghanaian languages.

    That is not all.

    GILLBT has also employed volunteers in various communities and equipped them with the necessary resources to train and educate indigenes on how to read and write their local languages.

    Ghana introduced a bilingual policy dubbed the ‘National Literacy Acceleration Programme’ which specifies that the most common local language in a school’s community must be used for academic instruction from kindergarten to primary 3.

    As part of its implementation, eleven local languages, namely Akuapem Twi, Asante Twi, Fante, Ga, Nzema, Ewe, Kasem, Dagaare, Dagbani, Gonja, and Dangbe are to be used as a medium of instruction. This was after research revealed that only 18% of pupils in lower primary could read and write in their local language.  Although Ghana’s language policy makes a case for the use of our mother tongue as a medium of instruction in our schools from kindergarten to lower primary, even the public schools have not given it a thought. As for the private ones such an idea is unthinkable.

    In most public schools in Ghana, speaking a local language comes with a cost

    The elite in society, as well as government, must pay more attention not to promote the use of foreign languages at the expense of indigenous languages. This is not wrong per se, but it is important that as we pride ourselves in our ability to rattle a foreign language, we do not forget our roots.

    We have borrowed enough; there are signs on the walls pointing towards Ngugi’s ‘linguistic famine’ if we don’t act now. Our elders urge: “A wise person must know the language, sayings, and tales of his society.”

    Do you know yours?

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  • Contempt: Court fixes May 25 for judgment as Lighthouse fails to file submissions

     An Accra high court has set May 25, 2023, to deliver judgment in the contempt case brought by Lighthouse Chapel International (LCI) against six of its former pastors. The pastors have accused the church of a plethora of wrongdoings, ranging from economic exploitation to abuse in another suit. They resigned and sued the church in 2021.

    The pastors’ story was published by The Fourth Estate shortly after they filed their suit seeking justice for the non-payment of their Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributions, alleged underpayment of their salaries, and emotional abuse among others.

    Lighthouse filed a contempt of court against the six pastors, and the judgment was supposed to be delivered on April 28, 2023. Justice Frank Aboagye Rockson had ordered the two parties to file their submission by March 29, 2023, but when the case was called on Friday, it came to light that the church had failed to file its written submission.

    Neither the church nor its lawyers were in court when the case was called.

    The judge asked the lawyer for the respondents (the six former LCI pastors) if he had been served with the submissions.

    “No, my lord. I haven’t,” the lawyer, Mr. Kofi Bentil, said.

    Asked about the last time the court sat on the matter, Mr. Bentil said it was March 15, 2023, and added that the judge had ordered that the parties should file their submissions by March 29, 2023.

    After combing through his documents, the judge agreed with Mr. Bentil and stated that the respondents had filed their written submissions as ordered by the court.

    “Under the circumstances, a date would be given for the ruling based on what is so far before me,” the judge said before assigning May 25, 2023, as the judgment day.

    Mr. Bentil asked that the court award a cost of GHc 3,000 against the church for failing to do the needful.

    The court agreed.

    Background

    LCI’s case

    The LCI’s claims that the respondents are in contempt of court for three reasons. It said the six former pastors of the church gave interviews to The Fourth Estate, which were published, and that the pastors did not include all the details of these interviews in their court filings. The church also said The Fourth Estate publications cast the church in a negative light.

    The church brought a contempt suit against The Fourth Estate for publishing the articles. The Fourth Estate was found guilty but has appealed the judgment. The church also wants its former employees punished for contempt.

    Ingredients of contempt

    In his written submission to the court, Counsel for the former LCI pastors, Kofi Bentil, argued that the act of contempt of court in Ghana requires specific elements that must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. These, he said, include intentional disobedience of court orders or denigration of the court, both inside or outside of the courtroom during ongoing legal proceedings. Additionally, it must be shown that the accused had the intention to commit contempt and acted accordingly.

    To be held in contempt of a court in Ghana, the lawyer further said, the accused must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to have conceived and acted in a way that defied or disobeyed the orders of a court, or in a way that denigrated the court either in the face of the court or outside the court during a period when the court is adjudicating the issue in contention.

    Mr. Bentil argued that contempt of court was a conduct that undermined the authority and dignity of a court, defined as the crime of disobeying a court order or showing disrespect to a judge. He said that to be found guilty of contempt, there must be a court seized with the matter.

    According to court documents, the respondents contend that contempt of court is typically only applied to actions that happen after a court has started dealing with a case. This is because it requires serious and clear actions that violate the law. He said in this particular case, the applicants (the church) had not provided sufficient evidence to prove such actions, and the respondents had not behaved badly enough to warrant this severe punishment.

    He said: “It is extremely pertinent to note that in this court, My Lord the Judge had occasion to admonish the parties and charge them to stay out of the media circus surrounding this case. In that admonishment, My Lord the Judge commended the parties for restraining themselves so far. What is pertinent here is that this admonishment and commendation came after the publication of Darkness in a Lighthouse. Witness for Applicant admitted recollecting this admonishment. It stands to reason therefore that as would be expected of a court, this court had not considered the events before that date as contemptuous, and was proceeding with the matter before it, not matters outside the court.”

    The respondents claim that they had tried to settle the issues with their employer outside of court, but their attempts were unsuccessful. The Fourth Estate got wind of it and approached them for interviews, which they gave. These interviews, they said, happened before they decided to take legal action against the church.

    Court is not scandalised, disrupted, thwarted

    “Respondents did everything to avoid court action because the applicant herein is far better resourced than them, but when all failed, instead of giving up, and with the support of friends and family, they ran to the law. It is not true that they were bent on coming to court,” the six pastors said in their defence.

    “Respondents, therefore, have no doubt that this court is not scandalised, disrupted, thwarted nor tormented by the contents of interviews given long before writs were filed and would not consider them as contemptuous of this court, because it is clear about what is before it and what is not, and would not be prejudiced by extraneous matters,” Mr. Bentil said in the court document.

    Furthermore, the respondents said the church was aggrieved that the interviews cast it in bad light and wished to project their displeasure and discomfort onto the court and suggest that the court was offended and had experienced contempt because applicants were offended.

    “We are confident this court appreciates the media interest around this case, but will not assume the pain of parties herein, or turn the displeasure of parties into its own and declare contempt when a party is displeased with external issues unless the conduct is truly contemptuous and not a strained effort to stretch the law of contempt to fight partisan battles,” they argued.

    Asking the court to dismiss the case and award cost against the church, Mr. Bentil argued that the applicants [the church] were asking the court to be offended on their behalf and punish the respondents (the six former LCI pastors) for conduct that they believe is disrespectful.

    Editor’s Note: Beyond proceedings in court on Friday, this story also relied on the written submission filed by the respondents. The Church failed to file its submission so that information is not available to this media outlet. The story will be updated if the applicant (the Lighthouse Chapel) files its submission.

  • “Over-aged” vice-chancellor, registrar dragged to court

    A resident of Navrongo has filed a lawsuit seeking the removal of Prof. Eric Magnus Wilmot, the Vice-Chancellor of C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences. He is    also seeking the removal of Dr. V.A. Ankamah-Lomotey, the university’s registrar, on the grounds that the two are above the retirement age and are, therefore, ineligible to hold their positions.

    Apart from their removal from office, the plaintiff, Joseph Pwoawuvi Weguri, wants the court to order the two defendants to refund all monies, including salaries and allowances, they received from the Consolidated Fund and/or from the university, and costs, including his (Mr. Weguri’s) legal fees.

    The Fourth Estate reported in October last year that the appointment of the two retirees had become a matter of concern for the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), which expressed reservations about the university’s decision to appoint them to substantive positions.

    The plaintiff describes in his suit filed on March 20, 2023, as “unlawful, arbitrary, and illegal” actions in relation to the two university officials’ appointments and wants the court to nullify it.

    Also joined to the suit are the university, located in Navrongo in the Upper East Region, and the Attorney General.

    The plaintiff contends that the Act establishing the university mandates it to appoint its officers, including a vice-chancellor and Registrars, in accordance with the statutes of the university. However, the plaintiff claims that the appointing authorities violated the public service laws of Ghana, especially Article 199 of the Constitution, 1992, by allowing the public officers to remain in full-term employment after they attained the age of compulsory retirement.

    The plaintiff also claims that the GTEC cautioned public universities on appointments and post-retirement contracts in a circular dated June 8, 2021. Despite this warning, the university, by letters dated December 1, 2020, appointed Prof. Eric Magnus Wilmot as Vice-Chancellor and Dr. V.A. Ankamah-Lomotey, as Registrar of the institution for full terms of four (4) years each.

    The plaintiff further alleges that before his appointment as the substantive vice-chancellor, Prof Wilmot, who had retired as a public officer of the University of Cape Coast in 2019, was first appointed interim vice-chancellor of the institution. Although Prof. Wilmot and Dr. Ankamah-Lomotey have attained the ages of compulsory retirement, they have remained in full-term employment of the university and have been receiving salaries and allowances from the Consolidated Fund.

    Mr. Weguri, who contested the 2016 parliamentary election on the ticket of the Peoples National Convention (PNC), contends that the continuous occupation of office and withdrawal of salaries and allowances by the two university administrators after they have attained the age of compulsory retirement and after Prof Wilmot had retired from the public service is not only unlawful but also illegal.

    He claims that while Prof. Wilmot turned 60 years in April 2022, Dr. Ankamah-Lomotey attained 60 years in August 2021.

    He further claims that the defendants (the university and the government) acted in an unlawful, arbitrary, and capricious manner by giving full-term employment to the two after they attained compulsory retirement age and after Prof. Wilmot had retired from public service.

    The plaintiff further states that the university did not follow laid down procedures in appointing the two, which included constituting a search party, publishing vacancies, and shortlisting applicants for interviews to select suitable persons for the positions, including the positions of Vice-Chancellor and registrars.

    The plaintiff said he had petitioned the Minister of Education and the university for the removal of the two university officials, but the petition was dismissed on unjustifiable grounds.

    In the petition dated, November 21, 2022, Mr. Weguri pointed out that the irregularities in the appointment of Prof. Wilmot and Ankamah-Lomotey, “are inconsistent with Article 199 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana (as amended by Act 527-Amendment Act 1996).

    The law states that:

    “Notwithstanding clause (1) of this article, a public officer who retired from the public service after attaining the age of sixty years may where the exigencies of the service require, be engaged for a limited period of not more than two years at a time but not exceeding five years in all and upon such other terms and conditions as the appointing authority shall determine.”

    According to the petition, it was in compliance with this provision of the Constitution that President Nana Akufo-Addo first appointed the duo in an interim capacity in May 2020.

    However, the petition pointed out that the then Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh; the Director-General of GTEC and the Governing Council of CKT-UTAS violated the 1992 Constitution by appointing them into substantive positions with effect from September 2020 in a letter dated December 1, 2020, for a full term of four (4) years.

    “This Act of impunity is also frowned upon by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission Directive on reengagement of retired employees of Higher Education Institutions which states among other things that ‘persons who are re-engaged after retirement subject to permission cannot be assigned position holding roles nor draw allowances due a person still in active service.’”

    He asserted, “It is worthy of emphasis that even where the government would approve post-retirement contract appointments in public universities, it is usually to non-office holding positions and the skills of the retiring officer must be in short supply and unavoidably needed.”

    Timeline of events.

     Governing Council’s response to allegations

    Meanwhile, the university’s Governing Council in a letter dated January 12, 2023, responded to Mr Weguri’s allegations. The letter signed by the Professor Gordon A. Awandare, the Chairman of Governing Council CKT-UTAS, acknowledged that in May 2020, Prof Wilmot and Dr Ankamah-Lomotey, were given interim appointments for a year.

    “The Governing Council when duly constituted was given the mandate to regularise the appointments of the vice-chancellor and registrar. At the time of their appointment, the vice-chancellor was 58 years old while the registrar was 59 years old. In pursuit of its mandate to appoint a VC and Registrar, the Governing Council constituted a committee, chaired by an eminent retired professor, to interview and ascertain the suitability or otherwise of the two officers.”

    It continued: “The committee therefore subjected the officers to a rigorous interview and submitted its report to the Governing Council. Council discussed and approved the report and then formally sought and obtained approval from the Minister of Education through the Director General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to offer full four-year terms of office to Professor Eric Magnus Wilmot as vice-chancellor and Dr V. A. Ankamah-Lomotey as registrar, spanning September 2020 to August 2024,” it said in response to the allegations of wrongdoing.

    Gross incompetence

    According to the letter, although there have been accusations of incompetence, the council has regularly received quarterly reports from the vice-chancellor and has been content with the management’s overall performance and the progress being made.

    “We do not believe there is ‘gross incompetence’. As is the case in every new institution, challenges exist, and [the] council is providing the needed supervision to management to tackle the challenges and provide a solid foundation for the university,” it said.

    Background

    The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) last year expressed reservations about the increasing number of post-retirement contract staff appointed to positions in stated-funded higher education institutions (PFHEI).

     GTEC has stated that people who are re-engaged after retirement cannot be assigned position-holding roles nor draw allowances due to a person still in active service. The integrated personnel payroll department and budget department of the commission was instructed not to process the emoluments of any post-retired staff without the required evidence after August 1, 2021.

     However, it has been revealed that Professor Eric Magnus Wilmot, a university retiree holding a substantive top position of vice-chancellor, Dr. Vincent A. Ankamah-Lomotey, have both been given substantive appointments that would keep them in office after their retirement age of 60.

    Professor Wilmot retired voluntarily in 2019 from the University of Cape Coast (UCC), where he was the Provost of the College of Education Studies for three years. In 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo granted him an interim appointment for only one year as vice-chancellor for the CKT-UTAS. The interim appointment was due to elapse in July 2021. But before the appointment elapsed, the university’s governing council issued its own appointment to Prof. Wilmot, giving him four years to serve further as vice-chancellor.

     The post-retirement appointment of Prof. Wilmot as vice-chancellor took effect on September 1, 2020. He is due to retire again in 2024, and when he does, he will be entitled to some benefits as per the conditions of his post-retirement service at the CKT-UTAS.

    The Registrar of CKT-UTAS, Dr. Vincent A. Ankamah-Lomotey, was a former deputy registrar of the College of Science at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). President Akufo-Addo gave him an interim appointment in 2020 for one year as the registrar of the CKT-UTAS. He was a little over 59 years at the time, with barely a year to hit the mandatory retirement age of 60.

    Months before the one-year interim appointment was to elapse in July 2021, the school’s governing council offered him a four-year appointment. Both the retiree vice-chancellor and the registrar are no longer serving the president’s one-year interim appointments, which elapsed in July 2021. They are currently serving in substantive positions on full-term appointments issued by the governing council, contrary to the rules governing such appointments in public universities in Ghana.

    When The Fourth Estate contacted the vice-chancellor on the post-retirement appointment, he stated that no rule had been broken, and he was performing his role, so he deserved his post-retirement earnings. When the registrar was asked about the issue, he did not provide any response.

  • Ghana’s 2023 district-level elections: who cares?

    In the last few weeks, several national issues have dominated media headlines and public discourse. From the visit of the US Vice President to Ghana; the adrenaline rush by Ghana’s Parliament to pass the three tax bills; attempts by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to torpedo the approval of six newly appointed ministers; to the failed attempt by the Electoral Commission to make the Ghana card the sole document for voter registration ahead of the 2024 national elections amidst takes on Ghana’s economy and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    For the key players in Ghana’s near political duopoly, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the main opposition NDC, the elections clock for the presidential and parliamentary elections is automatically re-set immediately after the end of an election. Since 2020, they have been super busy strategising, chastising and competing with each other on all fronts.

    But there is the other bigger ‘vote’—the 2023 district level elections—which appears lost on us in the cacophony of all the “important” subjects. Ghana’s Electoral Commission has a major assignment this year to conduct elections for the renewal of the mandate of local assembly members and the election of new ones across the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs). But how much we know about this? Although the district level elections are expected to be held this year, the electoral hype has been on the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections. There are many who do not even know that there is an election this year.

    Ghana’s District Assembly Elections Act of 1994, stipulates: “District Assembly elections (DLE) are held every four years and shall be held at least six months apart from parliamentary elections.” Be that as it may, district assembly elections in Ghana, have been held in 1988/89, 1994, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2015 and 2019; obviously showing a certain pattern by Ghana’s Electoral Commission, to hold the elections before the general presidential and parliamentary elections.

    While local level elections present the most practicable opportunity for citizens to participate actively in selecting their local representatives to the various MMDAs and contribute to local government decision-making, it has rather gained notoriety for apathy and disinterest. Consistently, the turnouts have been fluctuating, most of the time producing less than half of the turnout in presidential and parliamentary elections.

    Year Turnout
    1988/89 59.3%
    1994 29.3%
    2002 41.6%
    2006 33.1%
    2010 35.5%
    2015 30.6%

    It is more than 600 days to the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections. However, the citizens’ interest in those elections is blazingly overshadowing the local level elections this year. One cannot blame the citizens entirely because the state institutions that are supposed to spearhead the district level elections appear disinterested in it.

    Ghana votes in tight election – DW – 12/07/2020
    Unlike the presidential and primary elections, district-level elections attract low-voter turnouts.

    The Electoral Commission (EC) has the mandate to announce the date for the district level elections as well as the timelines for the processes leading to it. However, as of the time of this publication, there is yet to be any official announcement of the date for the 2023 district level election & timelines for electoral processes leading to the D-day except for grapevine reports that it could be held in October.

    For instance, the landing page of the EC’s website (as of April 21, 2023) shows only information on the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections with a ticking time count down to the 2024 presidential elections. The EC’s 197.9k follower twitter handle and Facebook page have no post yet on the district level elections either.

    While this may not legally constitute a breach of the constitutional provision regarding the time frame allowed between the conduct of parliamentary elections, a 2015 report by the Ghana Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) said,“Arguably, the absence of a specified timeframe for the conduct of the DLE [district level election], unlike the parliamentary elections may be a contributing factor for the EC’s laxity in preparations for the conduct of those elections.”

    For instance, in 2015, the district level election was postponed two times from the original date of November 2014, then to March 3, 2015, and then eventually on September 1, 2015. There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that when the elections were postponed, some female candidates lost the interest to re-contest when the polls were re-opened. Even in 2019, the November 26 date that was initially announced was later postponed to December 17.

    The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Dan Botwe

    Again, as of April 21, 2023, the sector ministry in charge of local governance, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, had no information or message on the district level elections on its website. It is the same with the websites of Ministry of Information, the Local Government Service (LGS) and the newly created Ghana Today website by the Information Services Department. What is worse, about 90% of the websites and Facebook pages of the country’s 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) who have a core mandate to ensure citizens participation in local governance, were yet to have any information or message on the district-level elections either.

    Among the many challenges contributing to the low-level interest in district level elections, democracy watchers observe that the loud silence of the 1992 Constitution on a specific date for district level elections as is the case with the presidential and parliamentary elections is worrying. Again, the EC’s dependence on the government’s financial support to conduct the elections remains a concern.

     

    There is no doubt that Ghana’s local government system requires reforms. Indeed, in 2019, the country failed in its attempt to amend Article 243[1] of the Constitution, which gives the President, the power to appoint all metropolitan, municipal, and district chief executives (MMDCEs). The amendment was to make these positions elective. A referendum to seek citizens’ support to amend Article 55[3] of the Constitution (an entrenched provision), which bans political parties from participating in local level elections and making such elections partisan, was also suspended. In a graphiconline publication of August 2020, a former local government minister, Hajia Alima Mahama, said the NPP government would ensure the partisan election of MMDCEs in its second term in office.

    Ironically, a 2021 survey by CDD-Ghana on citizens’ support for the election of MMDCEs showed that more than seven in 10 Ghanaians (76%) favour the election of MMDCEs while Seventy-one (71%) percent of Ghanaians said they prefer that MMDCEs be elected on a non-partisan basis.

    While we await such weightier reforms to take place, the mandated national institutions, civil society, the media and citizens should continue to engage the discourse on local governance processes. Can the Electoral Commission proceed to make public the date for the 2023 district level elections early enough to allow citizens to prepare and actually participate?

    Can MMDAs, as part of their mandate to ensure citizens’ participation in local governance, team up with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to utilize their communication and information dissemination platforms to sensitise citizens and create more visibility and awareness about the elections? Can the media consciously incorporate conversations about the District Level Elections on their platforms early enough? This is not only important, but it is also our collective civic responsibility.

    The writer, Abigail Larbi, is the Programme Manager, Media & Good Governance at the Media Foundation for West Africa, Accra Ghana. She can be reached at [email protected]

  • Journalist in custody for publishing “false news” about McDan

     

    The Tema Circuit Court has remanded the Deputy Station Coordinator of Radio Ada, Noah Dameh, for publishing “false news” about businessman Daniel McKorley (McDan), whose company has been given the concession to mine salt in Ada.

    Noah was remanded in the custody of the Tema Habour police on March 30, 2023, and is expected to reappear before the court on April 13, 2023.

    His lawyer, Samuel Ofosu, told The Fourth Estate that after Noah was discharged in December last year because the court lacked jurisdiction in dealing with the charges proffered against him.

    He was charged with the publication of false news contrary to section 208 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).

    However, immediately after he walked out of the courtroom, the police arrested him and granted him a police enquiry bail.

    “Curiously, they had refiled the case under a different section of the law which makes publishing false news a misdemeanour,” the lawyer said.

    “Apparently, they had appeared before the court three times. The difficulty here is that we had no notification of this second suit because if we had, we would have appeared in court, as we’ve done in the earlier suit. Mr Dameh has always appeared in court to stand trial,” he said.

    After the police failed to notify him of their latest case against him, Noah’s lawyer said they had an unusual call to action.

    The person who stood surety for Noah was served a notice ordering him to produce Noah in court on Thursday, March 30, 2023.

    That was done. However, the court remanded him.

    Noah’s colleague at Radio Ada, Gideon Amanor Dzeagu, who is also the Head of the Programme, told The Fourth Estate that the police prosecutor had alleged in court that “he went looking for Noah on two occasions in Ada but did not find him.”

    Based on that, the prosecutor asked that Noah should be remanded so he could be at the next court session.

    The presiding judge agreed and Noah has since been in police custody since Thursday.

    The Facebook post 

    Noah Narh Dameh had made a post on his Facebook wall about the sidelining of indigenous salt miners by some Chiefs of Ada and Daniel McKorley (McDan), whose company has been given the concession to mine salt in Ada.

    Daniel McKorley is the founder of Electrochem Ghana, a subsidiary of the McDan Group. Electrochem Ghana now operates the defunct Songor salt factory.

    Noah Narh Dameh’s Facebook post on May 8, 2022, had a picture of McDan and a young man in bandages and handcuffed to a hospital bed. The post incurred the displeasure of Mr McKorley, who reported it to the police.

    The police subsequently invited Mr Dameh, who is a co-host of the Manor Munyu current affairs programme on Radio Ada, for questioning.

    According to the police facts sheet sighted by The Fourth Estate, “…the news posted was false and because the accused person attached the photograph of Dr. McKorley his life is in danger within the community where his company undertakes project.”

    It said when Noah Dameh was invited to the police station, “he could not justify why he posted the news with a photograph of Dr. Daniel Mckorley on his Facebook wall…”

    Below is the text Noah posted with the photograph:

    Reflection:
    Must our people suffer torture and bullet wounds for speaking against their source of livelihood that is being grabbed from them?

    What is preventing Daniel McKorley – McDan from going into vegetable and livestock farming as he stated but rather removing the hands of Ada people from their cultural salt-winning business to farm as alternative livelihood.

    Must the Nation’s human right activists continue to remain silent because McDan is more powerful than the laws of Ghana, groups and individuals?

    Must the people of Ada take the law into their own hands to take back their source of livelihood because of hunger and ordeal they are going through?

    Nene Lomo IV, Chief of Ada Lomobiawe division,
    Nene Agudey Obitchere III, Manklalo of Ada and Naana Adikie Adi, Queen mother of Adibiawe division, to ask, were you installed by your people as PROs for McDan and his ElectroChem salt production company or you have been installed to serve the interest of your people?

    Is it best to mandate one person to control salt for the entire nation?

    For how long will you use the National media to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians and the international world.
    ………………………………………………..
    You are compressing peoples anger into a glass bottle and when it explodes, it will not go well with Ghanaians.

    McDan can not feed over 15, 000 salt winners, producers and sellers in Ada as you are proclaiming on the commercial media.

    You are accountable for the peoples inheritance, their livelihood, culture and habitat that is being snatched by McDan through your support.
    #AdaSongorLagoonAssociation

    The charge sheet stating the particulars of the offence,which the police presented to the court, reads:

    “Noah Narh Dameh, journalist: On the 8th of May 2022, at Ada in the Tema District and within the jurisdiction of this court, you made a publication on your Facebook wall and displayed the photograph of Dr Daniel Mckorley and one Benjamin Anim in handcuffs at Dzodze Hospital and attributed the said Benjamin Anim in handcuffs at the hospital as an action undertaken by Dr Daniel Mckorley, news which you well know to be false at the time of publishing it.”

    In his statement to the Police, Noah Dameh recounted that Benjamin Anim, the young man handcuffed to the hospital bed, tried to prevent the abduction of a fellow community member who was struggling with some men suspected to be land guards. The suspected land guards were said to be forcing Benjamin into a private vehicle.

    “On Friday, 14th May 2021, at about 2:00 p.m., Benjamin Anim was on a motorbike heading to the Wudakope lagoon site, otherwise known as Star Chemical,” Noah said in a typed statement to the police.

    “On reaching the site he found one of his fellow Salom community members, Peter Anim, struggling with four men who were forcibly putting him into a private Opel vehicle with registration number GW 8486-11 to be driven away.

    “Benjamin Anim suspected the men to be among the land guards and men in police uniform who shot at community members at Salom and Madagber on the 5th of February 2021, when the community members raised issues over the Songor lagoon lease awarded to Electrochem company,” part of the statement said.

    ALSO READ: Ada Traditional Council bans Radio Ada from covering 2022 Asafotufiami Festival

    He told the police that when Benjamin Anim rushed to rescue his fellow Salom community member, he hit his hand against the vehicle and sustained cuts in the process. He said Benjamin later sought medical attention at Sege and later asked for a referral to a health facility at Dzodze.

    According to Noah Dameh, the District Police commander for Sege, DSP George Aboagye, and five others on May 16, 2022, handcuffed Benjamin to the hospital bed for five weeks without access to lavatory.

    “As a result, Benjamin Anim sustained a sore patch of the skin around his wrist where the handcuff was worn for many days. Again, lying on his back only for all the five weeks resulted in his back developing sore,” he narrated in the police statement.

    Benjamin Anim was put in police cells in Dzodze and later arraigned before a court in Tema. Together with other community members, he is facing trial for allegedly destroying the property belonging to ElectroChem company, the company owned by McDan.

    A photograph of Benjamin handcuffed to a hospital bed and that of McDan were put together in the Facebook post that got Noah into trouble.

    There have been protests by residents of Ada who say their livelihoods were taken from them when the salt they had mined all their lives was given to McDan’s ElectroChem.

    Some of the residents have been arrested and are now facing various charges and prosecution.

    Noah Dameh’s Radio Ada, which has championed the cause of the indigenes was attacked and vandalised by thugs in January this year. The attackers are yet to be arrested.

    In August 2022, chiefs of the Ada Traditional Area banned Radio Ada from covering the traditional festival of the area.

    Noah Dameh and two others were specifically warned to stay away from the grounds of the festival.

  • High Court judge convicts paramount chief’s secretary and another chief over attempts to influence him

    High Court judge convicts paramount chief’s secretary and another chief over attempts to influence him

    When the Acting Upper East Regional Supervising High Court Judge, Justice Alexander Graham, asked the two men in the dock to tell the court what their mission was for visiting him earlier that morning in his chambers, they could not utter a word.

    The two men, Richard Sunday Yinbil, the Secretary to the Paramount Chief of Talensi, and Naab Nyakora Mantii, Chief of Baare in the Talensi Traditional Area, on Friday, March 10, 2023, went to see the judge behind closed doors.

    They reportedly went to the judge at the behest of the Paramount Chief Talensi, Tongraan Kugbilsong Nanlebetang, who doubles as a member of the Council of State.

    Paramount Chief Talensi, Tongraan Kugbilsong Nanlebetang, Credit: A1 Radio

    The judge, however, caused their arrest after they had stated their mission for visiting him.

    They were subsequently arraigned before the Bolgatanga High Court 2 and charged with contempt of court for attempting to influence the judge.

    Mr. Yinbil and Naab Nyakora had been reportedly sent by Tongraan Kugbilsong Nanlebetang to invite Justice Graham over to his palace for a discussion regarding some mining-related cases, most of which involved Earl International Group (Ghana) Gold Limited formerly Shaanxi Mining Limited, pending before him.

    The discussion was to supposedly help the judge better understand the issues before him for determination.

    Infuriated by this, Justice Alexander Graham caused their arrest and subsequently arraigned them before the court.

    Justice Graham said the action of the two men was an attempt to compromise him and therefore, charged them with contempt of court.

    He noted that he had, on several occasions, issued warnings against attempts to circumvent the judicial processes as it had become a common practice in the region for parties of cases pending before the court to seek to influence presiding judges by visiting them privately.

    Mr. Yinbil and Naab Nyakora pleaded guilty when the charges were read to them.

    But the judge demanded that the two produce the Tongraan in court before their convictions. A number of lawyers, who were present at the time waiting for their cases to be called, had to intervene and pleaded on behalf of the two accused persons.

    The judge then proceeded to convict them on their own plea and ordered that they sign a bond to be of good behaviour for six months. The convicts were, however, held in custody till around 4 pm in the evening before they were handed over to the Upper East Regional Police Command, where they were expected to sign the bond of good behaviour under police supervision.

    One of the lawyers who pleaded for a lenient punishment for them, Abdulai Jalaldeen, told The Fourth Estate the action of the two men was against the principle of justice.

    He, however, said the two, whom he knows personally, were ignorant of the law and merely acted as messengers of an authority whose request they could not have turned down even if they were aware of the consequences of their action. This, he said, prompted the lawyers’ decision to plead on their behalf for a noncustodial sentence.

    Mr. Yinbil, declined to comment on the matter when The Fourth Estate contacted him. He, however, accused an anti-graft group, National Patriots Against Injustice and Corruption (NAPAIC) Ghana, which issued a press statement on the matter, of distorting the facts of the matter. He added that the Tongraan would respond to the issues “at the appropriate”.

    Lawyer for Tongraan, Mohammed Nambe, who was said to have apologised to the court on behalf of the Traditional ruler, also declined to comment on the matter when The Fourth Estate contacted him but stated that he only discharged his duty as an “advocate”.

    This is not the first time the Traditional ruler and member of the Council of State Member has been involved in a case of this nature.

    In 2019, his name popped up in a leaked tape in which a former minister of state, Rockson  Bukari, was heard allegedly talking to a journalist over a story involving the Shaanxi Mining Limited, located in the Talensi area.

    Mr. Bukari resigned following the incident and the judge recused himself when the case was brought before him at the Bolgatanga High Court. The Traditional ruler denied his involvement in any attempt to influence the journalist to drop the story.

     “The Tongraan is unaware of any matter that has to be ‘killed’ in favour of Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited for which he has any interest. The Tongraan does not and will not support any illegal conduct by any of his subjects or company operating in the area or stand in the way of genuine exposure of wrongdoing by the media,” a statement from the chief’s palace said.

    NAPAIC Ghana, a Bolgatanga-based anti-corruption pressure group, commended Justice Graham for resisting attempts to compromise him and taking action on it.

    “We at NAPAIC-Ghana see the development recorded today within the Judicial Service of Ghana as one of the best actions led by a judge in the Upper East Region, and we humbly ask of him to do more,” a statement signed Akobulgo Zotipeliba Ayeo, the vice-president of the group, said.

    The group also appealed to the Chief Justice “to identify good judges like His Lordship Alexander Graham and award them enormously to serve as motivation for others to emulate”.

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    8 Judges rush to declare assets after The Fourth Estate letter 

  • Husband of pregnant woman shot in her sleep found guilty of attempted murder

    A seven-member jury has found Effort Dankwa guilty of attempted murder for shooting his pregnant wife in her sleep.

    Benita Dankwa woke up on August 29, 2015 “feeling like a balloon” only to realise she had been paralysed. The police later found a bullet, shot through her chest at a close range, in the couple’s mattress.

    Her husband, Effort Dankwa, was the prime suspect.

    The jury, made up of six men and a woman, returned a 5-2 guilty verdict after an initial 4-3, “guilty” verdict. The judge explained that if it wasn’t an offence punishable by death, a unanimous decision was not required. However, it ought to be at least 5-2 for a guilty verdict to be arrived at.

    The jury went back and returned shortly that the verdict was now 5-2.

    The face of Effort Dankwa, which had lighted up after the initial verdict, turned blank after the second verdict was announced by the female member of the jury.

    The judge ordered he should be placed in police custody awaiting his sentencing on Tuesday, March 14, 2023.

    The parents of the victim Benita Dankwa, who was paralysed from her chest downward  said they were happy that justice had finally been served.

    “It is not the number of years he is going to spend in prison that matters to me, but the fact that he has been proven guilty is my main interest. I am satisfied and okay with the court,” her father, Seth O.S. Yirenkyi, told The Fourth Estate.

    Her mother said she felt relieved. “My heart is at peace and comforted by God’s word that patience begot victory. Jehovah is a lover of justice. If, after all these years, they have investigated and found that he is guilty, then that is God’s verdict. It isn’t that I am happy nor sad. My daughter is forever incapacitated, but the truth has been unveiled,” she said.

    The jury’s verdict came seven years after Effort, then 36 years, was arrested after police investigations identified him as the prime suspect in an attack on his wife, Benita Dankwa, then 29.

    The Fourth Estate’s Editor-in-chief, Manasseh Azure Awuni, who broke the story reported that Benita was eight months pregnant at the time.

    She was shot in the chest, in what she believed was an attempt by her husband to kill her.

    She did not die, but the attack left her paralysed and incapable to pass urine or faecal matter the natural way.

    She was first taken to the Tema General Hospital because her husband failed to mention she had been shot. The doctors at Tema General Hospital referred her to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital after noticing the gunshot wound.

    “On August 29, 2015, when the nurses saw me, they said this is a gunshot, so they have to report the case before they operate on me,” Benita said.

    She was advised to get a police report. Her husband who was in the room with her when she was shot claimed he never heard the gunshot. He also failed to report the matter to the police when his wife’s family asked him to do so. Benita’s brother eventually went and reported to the police.

    He was arrested, detained briefly, and released on bail. A family friend who feared the case might die reported the case to Manasseh Azure Awuni, who produced a documentary on the matter that shocked a number of Ghanaians.

    Effort Dankwa was rearrested and charged with attempted murder. He denied the allegation and claimed some armed robbers from Ashaiman might have been responsible for the shooting.

    Investigations showed there was no break into the house the night of the attack and the only person Benita spent the night with was her husband.

    Effort Dankwa was arrested in 2016 after police investigations identified him as the prime suspect in an attack on his wife.

    During the proceedings, Benita told the court that she was convinced her better half perpetrated the act because he did not want a child.

    “I wanted to have kids, but he said he didn’t want kids before and during the course of the marriage,” she said in her evidence to an Accra High Court.

    She told the court that her husband appeared to care less about her pregnancy.

    The bloody towel

    According to court documents, a day after the incident, Effort Dankwa, allegedly asked his wife’s cousin, Priscilla, to clean the crime scene.

    While Priscilla was doing the chore, she claimed she saw a towel soaked in blood hidden under the bed. She said she immediately identified the owner of the towel because Effort had always used the said towel for bathing.

    Describing the towel, Priscilla said it was a green towel with flowers and three red dolls imprinted on it. According to her, when she showed the bloody towel to the accused, he asked her to throw it away.

    “When the accused told me to throw it away, I didn’t. I added the towel to the other things and took them to Community 8. There, I washed all the things but left the towel.

    “I told my mother that the accused had asked me to throw it away, but she asked me to wash it because we can still use it as a rag. There was so much blood that I had to rinse it twice after washing,” she said.

    Watch the full documentary on the shooting of Benita Dankwa here:

  • CHAINED: Helpless families, communities troubled by untreated mentally ill persons

    Around midnight of February 5, 2016, a mentally ill young man, Kingsford Akagiire, unleashed a sudden attack on his mother, Atampoka Akagiire, at the family’s home in Zorkor, a community in the district.

    While his mother was asleep, he appeared on the cemented compound of the house and smashed her head with a stone.

    “The stone was so huge he must have lifted it with both hands before he crushed her head with it,” Kingsford’s elder brother, Clement, told The Fourth Estate.

    The 52-year-old woman was rushed to the Bongo District Hospital in an unconscious state and referred to the Tamale Teaching Hospital for a head surgery, according to Clement. She died in Tamale on June 16, 2016.

    “He just returned from the Zorkor market that night and carried out the attack,” Clement recalled. “Our mother was sleeping on a mat outside at the time because there was heat in her room.”

    “Seeing the blood spilling out from our mother’s head and a crowd gathering around, he realised that his action had stirred up anger and so he fled the house immediately.”

    Inside a two-room old mud house a few metres away lives another woman, 75, who was almost burned alive in 2019 when his mentally ill son, Atampubire Ayambire, set fire to the house.

    The woman, Azaare Ayambire, told The Fourth Estate she was traumatised because the actions of her 42-year-old son were posing danger to her life.

    She said the latest attack came at dawn on December 31, 2022, when he whacked her on the waist with a stick.

    “After he set the house on fire, I became more frightened and resolved to leave the house. I packed my belongings,” she told The Fourth Estate. “But I reconsidered the decision because I couldn’t go and leave a biological son behind in his condition.”

    Standing in front of the partly burnt house with the same stick her son had used to hit her waist, Madam Azaare said she hardly had enough sleep because of fright.

    “He is often emotionally charged. He can be in that mood all night, walking up and down in the house, talking loudly to himself and acting violently.

    “I hardly close my eyes on such occasions for fear that he might break into my room and attack me. This prevents me from getting enough sleep almost every night,” the old woman added, her voice quavering. Her son was wandering in the main market at Zorkor at the time.

    Scared families resort to chains to avert attacks

    Anaba Azure

    Mental healthcare givers say most of the mental health cases in the district are due to drug and substance abuse. There are oral medications and jabs at health facilities in the district for treating mental illness.

    The costs of the medications and injections vary. Depending on the medicine and the brand, they range from Gh¢30 to Gh¢200, or more.

    The medications and jabs are administered periodically, generally every month, until the illness is treated. Several families in the district cannot afford them.

    Poor families, whose mentally ill relations are aggressive, mostly resort to chaining them up to prevent them from causing harm to life and property.

    Several mentally ill persons are in chains in the district. No fewer than five mentally ill people, two of whom have been in shackles for years, are regularly seen in ragged appearance at the district’s central market.

    One of them, a shaggy-headed man called Anaba Azure, gained notoriety for attacking people at the central market and on the streets before his feet were shackled.

    “We don’t have the money to treat him. When his violent attacks on people in public places got out of control, all we could afford was a chain,” said Anaba’s auntie, Akiske Azure.

    “We got some men who overpowered him and chained him. Even with the chains on his feet, he is still dangerous. We fear to go near him to change his clothes.”

    Apodola Abenaba is shaggier than Anaba. Both his hands and feet are in chains. He frequents the central market, begging traders for food. He eats from the market’s dustbins when nobody seems to have any food to spare. He was chained up after he unleashed a string of attacks on people, including one attempt on his mother.

    Apodola Abenaba
    Apodola Abenaba

    “One night, he attempted to beat me. He was holding a stick. I told him to let me lie down so he could kill me because already it was no use for me to live a life which had been rendered meaningless by his condition,” his mother, Asampana Abenaba, told The Fourth Estate at Anafobiisi.

    She continued: “He was raising the stick; then, he paused and stared at me. After a while, he threw the stick away and left the room.”

    The chain on Apodola’s feet, which he has worn and walked with everywhere for many years, has peeled off parts of the underlying skin around his ankles. He is often seen using his chained hands to scratch around the bruises inflicted on his ankles by the itchy chain on his feet.

    “I weep each time I see my own son at the market this way. He was extremely violent, hurling stones at people and vehicles. We had to chain him as there was no money to treat him,” said his mother.

    Similarly, Kingsford, the mentally ill young man who committed matricide at Zorko with a stone, was later captured and chained in both hands and feet after that attack.

    Mentally ill man warns parents

    Kingsford-Akagiire-was-chained-up-after-he-killed-his-mother
    Kingsford Akagiire was chained up after he killed his mother

    A mental health nurse at the Zorkor Health Centre, Norbert Akayeti, observed that families were resorting to chaining up their mentally ill relations not only for the safety of the public but also for the protection of the mentally ill.

    He cited an example of a mentally ill young man who once attempted to take his own life in a dam at Zorkor but was obstructed by somebody who saw him heading towards the dam.

    He was later put on treatment at home. But while undergoing treatment, one day he told to his parents that he had plans to physically harm people or himself sooner or later. After putting his parents on the alert, he also urged them to chain him and lock him up in a room to avert the intended attack. Although his parents took the warning into account, they delayed in putting preventive measures in place.

    Soon after the warning, he appeared at the door to his parents’ room and, with a threatening tone, demanded that his father come out.

    “The father was fortunate that the door was locked. When I visited the house later, he was in chains. Nobody can convince the family to release him.

    “Meanwhile, the same area has a history of a mentally ill person drowning himself in water. Mentally ill persons are dangerous to themselves, too,” said Akayeti, adding that at least five mentally ill persons were in chains in Zorkor alone between 2019 and 2022.

    Akayeti said he did not subscribe to the idea of keeping mentally ill persons in shackles because it was a violation of their human rights. But he admitted that there was a limit to how far mental healthcare givers could go in persuading some families to avoid the use of chains and focus on medications alone.

    After taking his mother’s life, Kingsford initially did not receive any medical treatment as his family could not meet the cost. He kept struggling in shackles in the streets of Zorkor, mostly wearing only a particular pair of underpants everywhere, until Akayeti put him under medical treatment, the nurse footing the bills himself. When The Fourth Estate visited Kingsford on December 31, 2022, he was not in chains. He was found weaving straw baskets for sale.

    “While I make sure he (Kingsford) takes the oral medication or the jab every month so that he does not relapse at any point, I also expect that the family would do away with the chains,” Akayeti told The Fourth Estate.

    “But the family does not want to take chances. I shouldn’t force them, either. I want to avoid a situation where I would be blamed should anything unpleasant happens.”

    Some years ago, a mentally ill man died of malaria while in chains at Namoo, one of the district’s border communities. His death drew not only sympathy from a section of the public, but also condemnation over the neglect he suffered.

    Clement said the shackles posed restrictions to his brother and stigma to the family. He said he wished Kingsford regained his freedom, but there was little or nothing he could do because the decision to tie him down was a collective one.

    “I feel sorry to see him this way. He was a brilliant student at Bongo Senior High School. He completed there with good grades in his final exams.

    “Nobody knows what caused the mental disorder all of a sudden,” he said.

    Several individuals in the district are in the same dilemma as Clement. They maintain they resorted to the use of chains because they had nowhere else to turn.

    The Assembly Member for Tarongo/Atiabiisi, Patrick Aduko, said he had tried to seek help for Kingsford but his efforts yielded no result.

    “I went to the social welfare office in Bongo. They promised to work on it. I followed up but nothing has come out of it,” he stated. “These are not issues we can go to bed and sleep over. When hallucinations set in, they can kill. Authorities, including mental health organisations, need to act now.”

    Assembly Member for Tarongo-Atiabiisi, Patrick Aduko
    Assembly Member for Tarongo-Atiabiisi, Patrick Aduko

    Aduko’s call was reaffirmed by the Assembly Member for Kanga, Prosper Atogyire, who said he sympathised with Atampubire but feared for the lives of those who lived close to him.

    “It’s very serious. I feel sorry for him and the family. The trauma that the mother and the auntie are going through is very pathetic. He has been beating them. His brother’s wife came to stay in that house.

    “She was pregnant. He beat her up. She has run to a different place. He has broken all the walls around the house. I fear for their lives. His case needs urgent attention,” he said.

    “The youths are the most affected”

    The Assembly Member for Atampiisi, Asampana Mba.
    The Assembly Member for Atampiisi, Asampana Mba.

    Speaking to The Fourth Estate, the Assembly Member for Atampiisi, Asampana Mba, said his electoral had a high number of mentally ill persons.

    “In my electoral area alone, there are about 12 people I know as having mental disorders. Some of the mentally ill people are breadwinners in their families. You see them roaming, unconscious of where they are and causing problems for their families. The youth are the most affected. They need to be taken to the hospital and given drugs.

    “But some families cannot afford the drugs because they are poor. I want to appeal to the Government of Ghana and the Ghana Health Service to come to the aid of these families, at least, by supporting them with drugs. I believe they will become normal and help society if they get the drugs,” he said.

    Felix Giba, another mentally ill man, lives in the same electoral area, near the Bongo District Assembly. His brother, Peter, told The Fourth Estate that Felix was a successful kola-nut businessman until his goods were seized twice at a border checkpoint in the late 1980s.

    “He became frustrated and developed mental illness following that experience between 1988 and 1989. He still sells kola-nuts at the market but this time on a small table.

    “Sometimes, he abandons the kola-nuts on the table and starts roaming everywhere. Then, he returns home at night and starts talking alone. His condition surfaced gradually and grew to this point. We are afraid it might get worse with time if we don’t get help,” Felix said.

    Another mentally ill person, Asale Atanga, lives in Atampiisi. His wife, Ndigura Atanga, told The Fourth Estate her husband’s illness began in 2014 when he returned home from the market, screaming while claiming that he was being chased by an imaginary aircraft. He reportedly kept pointing at the skies as he ran zigzag on the compound for cover in front of a bewildered family. According to his wife, nobody else but Asale saw the alleged aircraft.

    “Since then, I have remained the family’s sole breadwinner,” Ndigura said.

    She was sitting on the cemented compound of the family’s house and removing shells from a small heap of groundnuts by her side. Her husband sat a few inches behind her, interrupting her speech and voicing words that had no clear meaning.

    “I am a farmer. The farm has been our source of survival. He does not consume any produce from the farm. He does not allow me and the children to eat anything from the farm, either.

    “We normally sell our harvests and use the proceeds to buy food. There is no peace in the house. An entire family’s burden is squarely on my shoulders. I’m taking care of him and the children alone,” she added.

    Ghana’s Chief Psychiatrist explains how a rescue mission failed

    Some years ago, the Mental Health Authority (MHA) embarked on a nationwide mission to rescue all mentally ill persons from the streets.

    Dubbed ‘Operation Clear the Streets’, the project was launched after a rapid study undertaken by the MHA in 2015 revealed there were 6,000 mentally ill persons on the streets nationwide.

    But, after a reported promising start, the programme encountered a sudden flop.

    Ghana’s Chief Psychiatrist and MHA’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Akwasi Osei, told The Fourth Estate that all mentally ill persons would have been out of the streets today if the programme had continued.

    “We went to the streets across the country. We brought 5 patients at a time to the hospital and treated them. Within one or two months, they were well. We sent them back to their communities, not the streets, and reintegrated them. Then, we looked for another set of five. All over the country, we treated 600. A time came we could not continue because we didn’t have funding coming from the central government and the civil society also was not supporting [us],” Dr. Akwasi Osei said.

    “So, we had to stop, unfortunately. If we had continued, by now there would be no single person on the streets to be causing the havoc that we are hearing. These are real security issues. If you give us the money we need, we will take all these patients from the streets within two years and treat them,” he said.

    He added: “I won’t be surprised we might be hitting between 10,000 and 12,000 of such patients on the streets today. That is the situation. It’s a huge problem.”

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