AM show || Passport Office: It's time for the Foreign Affairs Min to conduct a reevaluation -Ablakwa

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Transcript

00:00:00 Oh, what a beautiful morning. Oh, what a beautiful day filled with positivity. Step out there

00:00:08 this morning with the right thinking that you are a winner and of course you are guaranteed

00:00:14 to win. Good morning and welcome to the AM show for today, the Tuesday. We are here to

00:00:21 begin the day and I'm grateful to you for allowing us to be part of your morning. This

00:00:27 is how the show will flow. We'll bring you the news review. Of course, our guest will

00:00:32 be lawyer. We'll review what the papers are reporting this morning and then we delve into

00:00:38 the big stories in recent times. Following the past saga, questions have been raised

00:00:44 about the conduct of public officials. A draft bill that seeks to regulate the conduct of

00:00:50 public officials is at cabinet for consideration, but how will the existence of a code of ethics

00:00:56 ensure good conduct from public officials? And of course, what is the status of this

00:01:02 particular policy? We have more as the occupied Ghana has been writing to the chief of staff

00:01:12 asking about the status of this particular conduct, ethics of conduct for public officials

00:01:20 and where it is. We'll be delving more into it. Then also to the northeast region where

00:01:25 severe floods are threatening livelihoods with potential security implications. We are

00:01:32 there and we will be speaking to authorities on plans to contain the situation. Later on

00:01:37 the show, you'd have the chance to join us with your views via phone and on social media.

00:01:44 Stay with us. It's your show. It's my show. Join us with your thoughts as well and it

00:01:49 will be the way it will be for us today. We are all meant to win, but if and only if we

00:01:55 plan for it, that is only when we will win and I'm sure you've done so. So welcome

00:01:59 aboard. Let's the flight begin. My name is Samuel Kodjoe-Brice. Stay with us.

00:02:04 Good morning and let's do AM news. I'm Samuel Kodjoe-Brice. I'm the chief of staff at the

00:02:34 NUAM News Now. Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shelley Ayoko-Botre,

00:02:40 has sacked officers on secondment from nine agencies for overstaying their duty at the

00:02:46 Accra passport office. The officers include Ghana Police Service, Immigration, NIB, amongst

00:02:52 others. Madam Ayoko-Botre, who was enraged about the reported cases of extortion of passport

00:02:58 applicants by some officers, indicated that such activities cannot continue because she

00:03:04 is sanitizing the system. The Foreign Affairs Minister has, however, revealed that investigations

00:03:09 are underway to deal with officers engaged in shady deals with Goro boys. This cannot

00:03:17 continue. I always say that there's too much happening that really shouldn't be happening

00:03:26 within the passport acquisition system. If we talk about Goro people, these Goro people

00:03:35 are outsiders. They do not work on their own because if the Goro person collects somebody's

00:03:43 money, they need to work with somebody from inside to change their dates. They work with

00:03:51 people from inside. I'm not saying all of you, but there are some of you who are engaged

00:03:58 in it. And this should stop. The blame is always on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

00:04:06 Meanwhile, it's the agencies and I'm sure even some of our staff are involved. Public

00:04:12 servants are supposed to be giving public service to Ghanaians. The Vice President has

00:04:21 led the digitalization efforts with my support and all of my officers to put in place an

00:04:33 online system. Now the online system is being manipulated so that people can make money

00:04:40 off it. There's an investigation going on and some names have been mentioned. And there

00:04:51 are people from outside a cartel who are working with people from inside. Anybody who has been

00:04:59 here for more than a year from Monday, please do not come back because you've been changed.

00:05:09 We want to bring some sanity. Every time politicians are corrupt, politicians are corrupt. Meanwhile,

00:05:18 it's some public civil servants who will do things that shouldn't be done and then they

00:05:22 put it on politicians. We come, we do the right thing. I'm trying to bring sanity into

00:05:27 the passport system, but no. Now with immediate effect, the great Accra regional minister

00:05:34 has placed an outright ban of the use or display of party paraphernalia at festivals in the

00:05:41 regional capital, the great Accra regional coordinating council. At a meeting with MMDCEs,

00:05:46 the regional minister of great Accra, Henry Korte, was criticizing multiple chief executives

00:05:53 for various, from various metropolitan municipal and district assemblies within the capital.

00:05:58 He also announced an outright ban on the use of these party paraphernalia to reduce tension.

00:06:07 Celebration of festivals is mainly to portray our traditional and cultural values and to

00:06:14 display how rich they are in our respective regions. And so we think that the use of party

00:06:23 paraphernalia usually creates a lot of political tensions within the, I can speak for great

00:06:28 Accra. And taking cognizance of what is done in other regions, you hardly find party paraphernalia

00:06:37 when festivals are being celebrated. So together today, the MMDCEs, president and presiding

00:06:45 members have taken a decision and that is to say that going forward, all festivals in

00:06:51 great Accra will be celebrated. In fact, the party paraphernalia are banned from all festivals

00:07:00 in great Accra. Strictly banned.

00:07:03 To our news stories now, and commercial drivers at Pung Barrier and its environs have vowed

00:07:10 to continue their sit down strike in the coming days until the deplorable road in the Saki

00:07:16 Bidiya-Kukpung Barrier enclave is fixed. Residents on Monday were left stranded at

00:07:22 lorry stations due to the action by commercial drivers. Many commuters had to walk over two

00:07:28 kilometres long to the nearest place to find a vehicle. A report by Carlos Kaloni.

00:07:33 I'm a student and then I have to move from here to Accra. So all cars are not working.

00:07:52 Because of that I can't go to school today. Someone take your time. We rise against you

00:07:57 people.

00:07:58 The drivers who refused to ply the route also prevented other commercial vehicles from

00:08:03 using the road. They intend to carry out this action daily until they see contractors working

00:08:09 on the road.

00:08:10 Today is just a small thing that we are doing. It's the beginning. So tomorrow we are continuing.

00:08:16 And as we earlier said, if we don't see anything, tomorrow we are continuing again. Massively.

00:08:21 Tomorrow if we don't see anything, two weeks time, we have given them two weeks. And if

00:08:26 we don't see anything two weeks, we are going to do a demonstration. Whether the police

00:08:30 will give us a permit or not, we will do it. Whatever they want to do, they will come and

00:08:34 carry us. Because we are fed up. Enough is enough. Why? Are we not part of Ghana?

00:08:42 But what did the road minister tell parliament about this road?

00:08:46 The Bumbaria to Saki Bediakun road is 3.8 kilometres long and in poor surface condition.

00:08:57 It is located in the Bumb Katamansu municipality of the Greater Accra region. The road starts

00:09:05 from Kalisto Janshin to Mishel Camp Gates.

00:09:10 Mr. Speaker, currently there is no programme on the Bumbaria to Saki Bediakun road. Future

00:09:21 programme is that engineering studies will be undertaken on the road by the end of the

00:09:28 third quarter of 2023 to determine the appropriate intervention to be carried out on the road.

00:09:35 Work will be considered under the 2024 budget subject to availability of funds.

00:09:42 Member of parliament, Yousef Akwe Tete, has however, barred the drivers action and is

00:09:47 demanding the release of funds to the contractor for construction work to commence.

00:09:53 It's also saying that they can only consider this road in 2024 budget. And as you can see,

00:10:03 this road needs urgent attention. So the minister cannot push us to 2024 budget. My word to

00:10:09 the minister is that they should come and do something on this road. We know that the

00:10:14 road has been awarded according to the documents that we have. And so they should release the

00:10:18 needed funds to the contractor so that the contractor can move to site.

00:10:22 Municipal chief executive of the Bumb Katamansu municipal assembly, Samuel Okowamankwa said

00:10:27 he finds the minister's statement contradictory.

00:10:30 When the minister appeared in the house and he was asked about the plans, what he said

00:10:37 is not what we know. We have a document. What did he say? What did he say in parliament?

00:10:47 That there's no plans for Calypso to Mishe Camp Road. They don't have any plans for it.

00:10:56 We have a document which was signed by the chief director of the ministry. And then it

00:11:03 went to the regional urban roads which they have also signed, dated 23rd March. And then

00:11:11 it reads upgrading of selected roads in Zenu and Pung area roads phase one, 5.23 kilometers,

00:11:22 which has to do with Calypso to Mishe Camp and Bediaku roads. And this is going – this

00:11:30 road is supposed to be done with a drainage system. That is where the drains along the

00:11:35 road. So what the minister said and what is before us, they are two different things.

00:11:45 And that baffles some of us.

00:11:48 Assembly member of the Milichaku electoral area, Isaac Newton-Tethe would not have any

00:11:52 of that. He insists the municipal assembly must take appropriate action to get the road

00:11:58 fixed now.

00:11:59 The stretch of road that we're talking about is just 3.5, 3.8 kilometers of road. And it's

00:12:04 a trunk road that connects the N1 and N2. We want asphalt road. We want asphalt road.

00:12:10 But as I speak now, government has told us that they have no plans for it. So if they

00:12:15 have no plans, it means the assembly must quickly reshape the road to make it more travel

00:12:20 for the drivers.

00:12:21 Tension is mounting here at Bediaku among drivers as well as residents over the deplorable

00:12:28 state of this road and many other roads within this area. They are calling on the authorities

00:12:34 to immediately come to their aid. They have actually threatened to continue with a sit-down

00:12:38 strike come tomorrow. Reporting from Bediaku Junction here in the Kuk Katamansu municipality,

00:12:45 my name is Carlos Kaloni for JOY News.

00:12:48 Now, the case of 35-year-old popular mass ceremony for Islamic wardens in the Upper

00:12:55 West Region will be heard in camera beginning tomorrow at the War Circuit Court. Rashid

00:13:00 Ahmed Anatar is facing 18 counts of sexual assault on 12 minors in the last two years.

00:13:08 JOY News' Upper West Regional correspondent Rafik Salam was in court reports the large

00:13:12 crowd who stormed the court to witness the proceedings defied an early downpour.

00:13:19 For the second time, they were back in court and in droves. The spectators were here two

00:13:26 clear hours before the proceedings started, even defying an early heavy downpour. The

00:13:33 colonial antique building of the War Circuit Court was filled to the rafters and no blade

00:13:39 or space to walk through.

00:13:42 35-year-old Rashid Ahmed Anatar is loved and despised in equal measure and he faces 18

00:13:49 counts of sexual assault on 12 minors. Better known by adored fans as Anatar came into the

00:13:57 court dressed in a blue-black Egyptian traditional garment over pink sports sandals, winking

00:14:03 smiles. Unlike the first day, where all 11 counts were lumped together by the police

00:14:10 prosecution, the Attorney General's Office, upon taking over, separated all the counts

00:14:16 and increased it to 18. Two assistant state attorneys at the Attorney General's Department,

00:14:22 lawyer Kwame Buaten Mensah and Frances Akwe, read the facts of all 18 counts to his hearing.

00:14:30 He pleaded not guilty to all the counts. Principal state attorney, lawyer Shahid Abdul Shakur,

00:14:36 threw more light while they have increased the number of counts from 11 to 18.

00:14:41 "These are two different set of girls, so you can't lump them together because it's

00:14:47 not from the same act. That is why we have the fifth docket and then the fourth docket.

00:14:55 The first docket, there are three girls he took to his matrimonial home. There are 11,

00:15:02 12 and then 13 he took to his matrimonial home and had sex with them in turns. It was

00:15:10 a threesome. And then the second docket is another threesome of three different set of

00:15:15 girls. The third one has one of the girls who that appeared to be an agent sort of,

00:15:25 she's 12 years but she has a big body. She's able to bring in the other two girls, different

00:15:32 two girls as the third docket. So you see, these things happen differently at a different

00:15:38 place. Some in the bush, some in his house, some on motorbike by the roadside, etc. So

00:15:43 if you lump them together, it will make evidence a little bit more related.

00:15:50 Principal state attorney, lawyer Shahid Abdul Shakur, we have to record what we have in

00:15:55 camera proceedings of the court beginning tomorrow.

00:15:59 "We're bringing in, tomorrow we'll start, we'll bring in three of the victims. We'll

00:16:04 bring them in, we'll do it in camera hand. We'll try as much as possible to protect their

00:16:09 identities and then we will start very early tomorrow. So when we start, the three of them

00:16:17 will testify when they finish their testimony, irrespective of the first docket. If there's

00:16:24 still time, they will move to the second."

00:16:27 Chief Executive Officer of Ba'ath Foundation, Yousif Ilyasul Baba, who reported the matter

00:16:34 to the police on May 25 and therefore the complainant in the cases is unwavering in

00:16:41 his stance.

00:16:42 I don't have, I don't fear, I don't have, you know, I'm not perturbed at all. So I'm

00:16:46 focused on where I'm going, where I'm coming from and where I'm going. I want to see the

00:16:51 end of this case. That's where I'm going. Whoever is doing anything beside or I don't

00:16:56 have problem with it. The person can do whatever he wants, but I'm focusing on where I'm

00:17:00 going.

00:17:01 Also in court was the AAPA West Virginia Director of Gender, Women, Children and Social Protection,

00:17:07 Teri Tibaturi. Those who has their eyes on the court for justice, beyond that, they are

00:17:13 providing counseling services for the 12 minors.

00:17:16 So for me, it's not just about getting what the court says, but also focusing on the girls,

00:17:22 giving them the right services that they need. And I think talking about services, thanks

00:17:26 to UNFPA, we have what we call the essential service package for these cases, cases of

00:17:32 sexual and gender based violence, which we have a lot of coordinators and partners coming

00:17:36 on board.

00:17:37 So for instance, now it becomes easier in dealing with cases like this. DOPSI is on

00:17:41 board, social welfare is on board, gender is on board, children is on board. Any other

00:17:45 key actor that is needed is on board on this essential service package, which is helping

00:17:50 us a lot.

00:17:51 Reporting for JN News, Rafik Salaam.

00:17:56 The head of internal medicine at the Tichinman Holy Family Hospital and member of the Ghana

00:18:05 Association for the Study of Liver and Digestive Diseases, Dr. Felix Aninaje, has said that

00:18:15 there is a need for health professionals to check their hepatitis B statuses, as well

00:18:20 as help in its awareness creation as a means of minimizing its spread. He expressed worry

00:18:25 about the easy transmission of hepatitis from mother to baby and asked that more attention

00:18:30 need to be given to help address this. And our Sabit has more in this report.

00:18:36 Hepatitis B is a global public health threat and the world's most common serious liver

00:18:41 infection. It is up to 100 times more infectious than the HIV/AIDS virus. It is also the primary

00:18:49 cause of liver cancer, which is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the world.

00:18:55 Here in Ghana, its prevalence is around 12.3%, placing it as a highly endemic country. Dr.

00:19:03 Felix Aninaje is a member of the Ghana Association for the Study of Liver and Digestive Diseases

00:19:08 and a specialist physician at the Tichinman Holy Family Hospital.

00:19:13 Hepatitis B is very infectious. In fact, again, to put a figure to it, it is 100 times more

00:19:19 infectious than HIV. And it is about 10 times more infectious than hepatitis C. So what

00:19:27 it means is that if you have some contact with a patient who has hepatitis B and HIV,

00:19:37 and the mode of transmission is such that you can have both, the chances are that you

00:19:41 would have hepatitis B rather than HIV because it is far more infectious, about 100 times.

00:19:48 So we have that influence and it's spread. He expressed worry at the fact that hepatitis

00:19:57 B can be easily passed from a pregnant woman to a baby at birth and asked that enough attention

00:20:03 need to be given to help prevent this mother-baby transmission.

00:20:08 Because a mother can give it to the unborn baby, we also have situations where a lot

00:20:14 of mothers would have to be checked for hepatitis B and then if they are positive, we need to

00:20:21 institute measures to prevent the transfer to the baby. We really need to give some immunoglobulins

00:20:28 to prevent the baby who has been exposed to hepatitis B infection in your bed to kind

00:20:37 of prevent the infection from being transferred. Unfortunately, most of the mothers cannot

00:20:42 afford because this is pretty expensive and that in itself puts the children at risk,

00:20:50 especially for the mothers who are positive for what we call the E antigen. They are even

00:20:54 far more infectious and this is something that I think as a country we should pay attention

00:20:59 to.

00:21:00 The medical specialist who is also the head of internal medicine at the Holy Family Hospital

00:21:04 conducted a research on the topic, hepatitis B, the Ghanian perspective. He wants health

00:21:10 professionals to check their statuses as well as help in awareness creation to help minimize

00:21:15 infections across the country.

00:21:18 Some health people are not aware and surprisingly as it is, we have to keep talking about it

00:21:27 so that everybody at least knows his or her status. I mean the second bit to it is that

00:21:34 we hope that these health people after getting to know some fine details can also go out

00:21:41 there and propagate the message so that somehow they would also spread the word so that everybody

00:21:49 out there will be aware of what is happening in the hepatitis B space and also try to do

00:21:55 their very best to help curb this illness.

00:21:59 Dr. Felix Nyeji admonishes the public to adopt lifestyles that will help protect them from

00:22:04 having hepatitis B infections.

00:22:07 The first step is for you to know your status. You have to test to know or to confirm whether

00:22:14 you are positive or negative. Now if you are negative then thankfully we have a vaccine

00:22:19 that can to a very large extent prevent you or protect you from getting the infection.

00:22:26 Again after taking the vaccine you have to also avoid all the negative lifestyles that

00:22:31 can make you more prone to having the infection.

00:22:35 He also cautions the public to stay away from self-medications as it has the tendency of

00:22:40 complicating one's ailment.

00:22:42 So the advice is that you should be careful with self-medication. I mean not only for

00:22:45 hepatitis B but generally self-medication is something you want to avoid as much as

00:22:50 possible because mind you the liver also detoxifies almost every drug. So self-medication shouldn't

00:22:59 be encouraged both for hepatitis B and indeed for every other condition.

00:23:05 Reporting for Joy News, Anas Sabit, Tichiman.

00:23:14 Now with barely two weeks to the super delegate congress of the governing MPP, flag bearer

00:23:18 hopeful Francis Adai Nimo is calling for a free and fair election to prevent post-election

00:23:25 divisions. He is however hopeful of winning the elections to lead the party.

00:23:29 Samuel Mbrava, Political Desk, Hasmur.

00:23:33 Dai Nimo is number seven on the ballot paper. Derby himself, the Cristiano Ronaldo of the

00:23:38 race. Nimo says he's out to prove a point and not an underdog.

00:23:43 I have had the opportunity to go through the exercise in 2014 and even 2014 when I was

00:23:49 seen to be an unknown person. 2014 I was seen to be an unknown person and the surprise was

00:23:55 that I came in third. So I'm not a new person in the party. I will be seen as an underdog

00:24:02 again in this election and that will be the underdog causing an upset or a surprise at

00:24:08 the end of the day.

00:24:10 The former Mampo MP comes into the race with a vision to the forefront, one that stretches

00:24:15 beyond party lines. His ultimate goal is to infuse unity into the MPP's core.

00:24:20 So the fundamental requirement is that we need to bring all members of the party together

00:24:25 and that is unity. And where there is unity, then we have the maximum strength.

00:24:31 However, Mr Nimo believes that the role of the elections committee in shaping the party's

00:24:35 cohesion to ensure unity is critical by conducting a free and fair election.

00:24:40 Elections offer an even playing field, characterized by the free nature of it, the fair nature

00:24:49 of it and the transparent nature of the process.

00:24:54 Leveraging his professional prowess as an engineer, Mr Nimo assesses his unique suitability

00:25:00 to lead the country. His technocratic expertise, he argues, equips him with the tools needed

00:25:05 to steer the nation effectively.

00:25:08 Having worked as a civil servant also before at the Ministry of Roads and Highways and

00:25:13 having been a member of parliament, I have enough insight into how central government

00:25:18 will present or how the entire governance structure of the country is. I have enough

00:25:22 insight.

00:25:23 In two weeks, the fate of five will be decided among ten aspirants at the superdelegates

00:25:29 congress of the MPP. Will the former Mampo MP, who is contesting the race for the second

00:25:34 time, make it to the list? Time will decide.

00:25:39 Samuel Mbura, JOYNE News.

00:25:47 And that's how we wrap up this morning's edition of AM News. There's more on myjoyneonline.com.

00:25:53 AM News Review is up next on the show. You stay with us. We'll be right back.

00:25:58 Welcome

00:26:27 back to the AM Show. Time for us to go into the papers and to review what they're reporting

00:26:32 this morning. And I'll be joined by Loya Kweku Pintil, who is already joining us via

00:26:42 Zoom. He is already with us. Good morning. I trust all is well.

00:26:47 Good morning. Ah, yes.

00:26:50 Great to have you.

00:26:53 Everything is cool running, yes.

00:26:56 OK, now I have with me the daily graphic, the New Crusading Guide, the Daily Guide newspaper

00:27:05 and the hawk. Let's start off with the daily graphic. Now, it says 22 assemblies spend

00:27:12 2.4 million, collect 1.3 million cities in revenue. Also, 20,000 streetlights for greater

00:27:22 Accra region ready. That's according to the regional minister. 100 million cities voted

00:27:27 for tourism enterprises. And it has a picture of the tourism minister, Dr. Ibrahim Mohamed

00:27:35 Awal.

00:27:36 OK, so let's start with the tourism story, because now the Ministry of Tourism, Arts

00:27:44 and Culture has set aside 100 million cities to promote youth led tourism enterprises.

00:27:51 This is in view of the tremendous contribution to the sector is making to the economy and

00:27:58 development of the country. The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr. Ibrahim Mohamed

00:28:02 Awal, who disclosed this in Accra yesterday, said the government, through his outfit, was

00:28:08 poised to change the narrative as far as tourism, arts and the development of culture was concerned.

00:28:16 Speaking at a forum with selected editors, he stated that the ministry would also train

00:28:21 60,000, 6,000 rather, young people along the tourism value chain on customer orientation

00:28:28 as part of effort to improve the sector. The increased attention on tourism stems from

00:28:34 its high prospect, which is now the third leading contributor to the country's gross

00:28:39 domestic product, GDP. The sector contributed about three point one billion dollars in 2021

00:28:47 alone. The sector is projected to contribute about four billion dollars to the GDP by 2025.

00:28:55 That is a huge one. How do we ensure? Because in this country, any time we devote some money

00:29:02 to to help in the development of a sector, the implementation becomes a bit problematic.

00:29:08 How do we ensure the effective implementation of this particular amount? I would think that

00:29:17 when these money's become available, I would rather that the government would rather have

00:29:23 some bank or use a bank, a bank, a financial institution, manage these funds on behalf

00:29:32 of government. Because every time that the government has to manage funds of this nature,

00:29:37 it becomes typically a political issue. And what it means is that if party fanatics will

00:29:43 eventually get this money, then the criteria for disbursing the funds are not clearly defined.

00:29:48 Or even when they are defined, people see that government funds and when they take it,

00:29:53 that becomes the end of it. They know that their own way of getting some money through

00:29:57 party means. And that's about the only reason why some of these funds cannot become recurring.

00:30:03 In other words, cannot be invested and yield, I mean, dividends or profits and the whole

00:30:10 thing benefits government. So my own take of this matter is that when these funds become

00:30:15 available, I would rather that the government should not disburse it. The government agency

00:30:20 must not disburse it. It must go to some financial institution. I'm not even talking about any

00:30:25 special institution set up by government. The funds should go to financial institution.

00:30:30 What business it is to manage funds and knows how to make profit out of managing funds.

00:30:37 I mean, that's my own take on this matter.

00:30:40 I mean, the idea is also to help young businesses in the sector. You've mentioned that normally

00:30:47 it becomes party fanatics who benefit from this. So what would be your proposal in a

00:30:54 way? I mean, aside the bank, how do we ensure that the real people in the sector, the young

00:30:59 people in there are getting the support and not as you put it, party fanatics?

00:31:04 Yeah, let me put it this way. Whichever way it is, a loan is a loan. And it's the ability

00:31:11 to repay the loan that makes the funds, I mean, worth of it, worthy of it. And so it's

00:31:18 like me and you, anyone, people come to you, they are looking for a loan. I ask people

00:31:24 to demonstrate to me how they intend to use the money. You want a loan for what? I mean,

00:31:29 what was the project? What is it that you have in mind? What are the projections? What

00:31:34 exactly do you want to do? I mean, people must go through these things. I'm not saying

00:31:38 that maybe the way of devising funds are not done along these type of lines, but it comes

00:31:44 back to the issue. Whether you are young, whether you are old, I quite understand. And

00:31:50 maybe the guarantee or security may not be the same, but it has to be done in such a

00:31:58 way that it can be monitored. It has to be done in such a way that somebody can ensure

00:32:03 that, I mean, there's a yardstick for measuring how the funds are used and how the funds are

00:32:09 repaid and how to go after the people who take this, who are the beneficiary of these

00:32:15 facilities that come in. That's the yardstick. That is the standard. Whether, indeed, it

00:32:19 is disbursed by a bank or it is disbursed by a financial institution. These are the

00:32:24 measurements. In other words, what do you want it for? What exactly? What is the project?

00:32:29 Is it in writing? And how can we follow? At least you convince me on paper that this is

00:32:34 how you intend to use it. Convince me on paper that when you put this much to the whatever

00:32:40 enterprise that you want to do over a certain period of time, this is what you're going

00:32:44 to yield, how much is going to come out. How are you able to repay? That somebody must

00:32:49 convince somebody, at least on paper, so that if we are not able to run it the way

00:32:56 that it does, then at the end of the day, we can't even...

00:33:03 All right. Looks like we're having challenges with the lawyer's line, but we'll try and

00:33:14 rectify it so we can have a smooth conversation with lawyer Kweku Pintsoda. He's our guest

00:33:21 on the news review segment of the AM show here on the Joe News Channel. Well, we understand

00:33:27 that one of the stories in the daily graphic says 200,000 streetlights for Gritakra ready.

00:33:33 Now, the story is written by Joshua Bediakukumson, and it reads that the Gritakra Regional Coordinating

00:33:39 Council has procured 20,000 streetlights to be distributed and installed in the various

00:33:46 metropolitan municipal and district assemblies in the Gritakra region. This is to improve

00:33:52 the lighting system and security in the region. Currently, the council is collating a list

00:33:58 of all the electoral areas within the region to help draw an itinerary with contractors

00:34:06 to fix the light. The Gritakra Regional Minister, Henry Kote, announced this yesterday at the

00:34:11 annual Gritakra Regional Coordinating Council meeting held in fulfillment of section 191

00:34:17 of the Local Governance Act, 2016 Act 936. He said that two metropolises in the region,

00:34:24 the Akra Metropolitan Assembly and the Tama Metropolitan Assembly, would each receive

00:34:28 600 streetlights while the various municipalities get 400 each. In addition, Mr. Kote said district

00:34:35 assemblies would also receive 300 streetlights each. Well, I'm sure for those of us who live

00:34:42 in the city and how dark it becomes in the night, this will obviously be good news. But

00:34:49 how do we move on from here? Loya Okwepempe, until I stay with us. Loya, I guess I guess

00:34:55 all is well now. You might want to complete your statement and then we'll move on to the

00:34:58 next subject. Yeah, but you know, we are doing a newspaper review and you notice our internet

00:35:04 is playing up. I have a national communication authority. A national communication authority

00:35:09 in this country who sees everything right with these things. I remember one of the times

00:35:14 I was in the UK and Vodafone UK had been fined a huge amount for disruption in services and

00:35:20 poor services. And those poor services... And I agree with Loya there that in this country,

00:35:32 service providers do anything they like and they go scot-free. Nobody really does anything

00:35:37 to them because you buy expensive data. Yet the sort of service you get is quite questionable.

00:35:46 Anyway, now the story on the 20,000 streetlight says the meeting brought together all the

00:35:54 MMDCs in the region and their presiding members to discuss development and challenges confronting

00:36:01 their respective areas. The common issues that came up at the meeting included sanitation,

00:36:06 flooding, congestion, deplorable roads and shiftancy. The MMDCs also updated the minister

00:36:12 on some of the ongoing projects in their respective assemblies and the levels of completion so

00:36:17 far. Now, sometimes you wonder why would set and allow darkness to engulf our cities and

00:36:28 it will take a certain meeting for us to then be given a briefing that some streetlights

00:36:35 have been procured. Why that? Why do we need to allow people to live and drive in darkness

00:36:43 with all of it attendant negative impact before we are told that a number of streetlights

00:36:50 have been procured? This should be a regular happening that when there is a streetlight

00:36:55 that is malfunctioning in a certain corner, it is replaced quickly. We don't need for

00:37:00 darkness to engulf the city and it will take a certain meeting then an announcement to

00:37:04 be made that there's a number of streetlights that have been procured. Lawyer, we now have

00:37:10 you on the phone because data, the internet is not stable so we have to bring you on the

00:37:15 phone. So wrap up on your thought and then we move on to the next subject.

00:37:19 Yeah, you know the real issue is not the fact that government is providing streetlights.

00:37:24 The real issue is whose responsibility is it to provide a streetlight? If you take,

00:37:29 any time you take your bill from ECG, there's a portion of the bill that goes for street

00:37:34 license. In other words, we pay for it. And therefore, the fact that ECG will allow this

00:37:43 country and this city to be in darkness all the time, half of the time, and by so doing

00:37:52 facilitating all kinds of, I mean, able doing, if I may put it as blunt as that. This is

00:37:58 the real issue. And let me tell you, let me provide my solution to that. Whilst we commend

00:38:02 government or the minister for that effort, I think we do respect it's a misplaced of

00:38:08 our, our, our dear funds. At the end of the day, ECG takes the money to provide a streetlight

00:38:16 and they don't do it. And then they're going to take money from elsewhere. And next year,

00:38:21 you're going to see this one at a public account committee and somebody's going to ask, why

00:38:25 did you take this money to do this thing? When it is not part of the responsibility

00:38:31 of government to do that because we are already paying for it. So what does FME and ECG, what

00:38:36 are they using the money for? You know, these are the real issues in this country. We take

00:38:40 money because it's available and we use it for this because we think it's convenient,

00:38:44 but they stop it. They are sucking the money and they are not accounting for it. And that's

00:38:48 the real issue. So, my, my thoughts, I may commend the government for that, that initiative.

00:38:55 The real truth is we must grow. What did they use our money that they collect for street

00:39:00 lighting? What did they use it for? They don't account for us. You know, my, my prescription

00:39:05 for all of this is that I think Ghanaians must cultivate a habit when we steal almost

00:39:10 every utility provider, every government institution for some of these things. Because they take

00:39:16 it for granted. We have a mix of roads and highways. We have all whatever. Then we have

00:39:20 potholes all over the place. People best buys and whatever, whatever. And we complain and

00:39:25 somebody appears to be looking at that. Because here, issues of negligence and whatever, it

00:39:31 doesn't really mean much to anybody. So we inflict ourselves year in, year out with all

00:39:37 manner of things that people by legislation and by their mandate are required to do. And

00:39:43 when they are not doing it, we're not questioning it. And at the end of it, government, some

00:39:47 government official will then try to fix it. So the solution is not permanent. The solution

00:39:53 is never, never in order. Because that is not the business of government. That's my

00:39:57 view of the matter. Based on the arrangements in place that I already know. So we can move on.

00:40:03 All right. Now, a story, this, this is also one story that's, that's of heavy interest.

00:40:10 22 assemblies spend 2.4 million in cities, collect 1.3 million in revenue. Now 22 local

00:40:16 assemblies have been indicted for inefficiencies in revenue collection. This is contained in

00:40:22 the Auditor General's report on the audit of the Metropolitan Municipal and District

00:40:26 Assemblies for last year. While the assemblies pay 2.4 million cities as salaries to 129

00:40:32 revenue collectors, they collected 1.3 million cities as revenue between January 2022 and

00:40:39 December 2022. The collections represented 55.02% of the salaries of the collectors,

00:40:45 leading to a shortfall of about 1.5 million cities. So we are not getting money from those

00:40:54 revenues. We are rather spending. And this is, this is an annual affair. How do we get out of

00:41:01 this, this rat race? Yeah. You know, every time that we talk of corruption, the perception is

00:41:08 somebody profits. In other words, somebody takes money, put it in his pocket. But corruption is

00:41:13 much wider. Corruption goes beyond physically. People benefit directly. But inefficiency,

00:41:20 incompetency, mismanagement in terms of negligence, because he who knows how to do a thing

00:41:29 but does not do it, he also costs as much harm as the one who willfully, I mean, benefits from

00:41:36 doing something that he does. So there's a clear case of incompetence, coupled with negligence,

00:41:42 coupled with mismanagement. And of course, that should be fixed. Somebody has to study

00:41:47 what really happened. Please, it's not all the time that we may say somebody has profited by it.

00:41:53 But the point I'm making is that negligence is as good as the one who takes the money and puts it

00:42:00 in his pocket. So there may be as well a good case for what he did. But then having done it,

00:42:05 and having seen that it is not you that desire the result, maybe they have to study their system

00:42:12 very well and try to improve it. It's part of governance. It's not everything that government

00:42:17 does that government is going to, I don't know what you call it, make a profit out of it, or

00:42:21 achieve the desired result. But the whole of governance is studying your weaknesses,

00:42:27 studying the way you do things, and learning from your mistakes, and trying to move forward.

00:42:32 So that's about all that I would say. - But isn't it time that we probably

00:42:39 align salaries with productivity? For example, you spend 2.4 million cities in paying revenue

00:42:47 collectors, and they were only able to collect 1.3 million cities. That is really something that

00:42:54 should awaken the consciousness of these assemblies to say, well, we'll peg your payment to how much

00:42:59 you bring in. A percentage of how much you collect is what you earn. Isn't it time we look at that

00:43:05 arrangement? - I wouldn't know whether we can do it over the nation as a whole. I don't know whether

00:43:10 this is what you call one of such a transaction. In other words, we have not been told for previous

00:43:18 years what they managed to do. But the real point I'm making is that tying somebody's salary to what

00:43:24 he does or earns, you call it commissioned agent. In other words, a person earns a commission.

00:43:30 It's an option for the assemblies to try. And who knows, if they do so, possibly their revenue may

00:43:37 be boosted sufficiently for them to be able to adopt it as a way of managing their revenues

00:43:45 along those lines. So I will not go straight ahead and accuse anybody of corruption at this

00:43:51 stage. I would think that maybe it's the one time transaction that went so bad, maybe because things

00:43:57 were not monitored so properly. But I agree with you that appointing commission agents or people

00:44:03 who work for commission is a very effective way, particularly of managing revenues in an assembly.

00:44:10 - Well, before I put aside the daily graphic, I don't know the university you attended, but

00:44:19 I went to the University of Cape Coast. - There's only one university in Ghana.

00:44:23 They call it the University of Ghana. - No, no, no, no. Okay, don't let us start

00:44:27 this argument because in fact that one is a contested, contestable point of view. But

00:44:34 the only university of competitive choice in this country, we all know, is UCC. And today,

00:44:40 management staff, student of the University of Cape Coast, we are all celebrating Ms. Rose Amwenima

00:44:49 Yeboah for winning the first ever gold medal. Loya, the only university that has won Ghana's

00:44:55 first ever gold medal in women's high jump event for Ghana. They just entered International

00:45:01 University Sports Federation's Summer World University Games in Chengdu, China. So yeah,

00:45:09 that's it. And Loya, we are among top 400 globally universities, number one in Ghana,

00:45:15 number one in West Africa. We are fourth university in Africa and number 24

00:45:20 globally for research influence. So that's my way of just informing you, Loya.

00:45:25 Let's move on to another paper. - We'll call it top government official

00:45:30 if it is to comment. - Okay, let's look at the Daily Guide

00:45:37 newspaper. It says, "Torbos resigns. Mahama condemns coups. BOG not mandated to report to

00:45:47 parliament." That's according to majority leader. "A misarthur takes on Westing chiefs." Okay,

00:45:55 let's deal with Mahama. It says, "The flag bearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress,

00:46:03 John Romani Mahama, has publicly denounced coups, the illegal and overt attempt by the military

00:46:10 to unseat an incumbent leader saying, quote, 'Constitutional governance is still best,' unquote.

00:46:19 According to him, constitutional governance empowers citizens to change their leaders

00:46:24 peacefully if they believe they are not functioning in their best interests. His remarks follows the

00:46:30 recent takeover in Niger, which was spearheaded by soldiers from the presidential guard and is

00:46:37 only the latest in a series of coups in recent years in Africa." Now, Loya, I mean, I've heard

00:46:45 most people say that it serves as a notice for the constitutionally elected government,

00:46:55 especially their president, not to toy with the various countries' constitution and also to

00:47:02 govern according to the interests of the people because that is how you prevent all of this from

00:47:08 happening. I'm sure you followed what's happening in West Africa and you've probably seen what's,

00:47:15 I mean, the similar undertones happening. How do you think West Africa can deal with these

00:47:23 rising number of coups that are happening across the sub-region?

00:47:26 At first, I commend President Mahama for the comments that he made. And it's quite significant

00:47:36 that he, being the flag bearer of the Niger Democratic Congress, which has a history,

00:47:43 the whole party is based on the foundations of a coup. And if he comes out to make that statement,

00:47:51 it is a plus for Ghana's democracy and I appreciate him for that. Now, talking about what's going on

00:47:56 in Niger and what's going on in West Africa, you see, there's a pretense. Once people think that

00:48:02 a democratic government becomes democratic merely because it went through the processes of being

00:48:08 elected and so forth and so on, that's fundamental. The whole of governance is for those who govern

00:48:16 to appreciate that they are fallible, I mean, like you and I, and that the whole idea of governance

00:48:22 is trying to reduce or minimize errors that human beings make. That government can pretend

00:48:31 to be infallible. I mean, that's the foundation of democracy. And so this business that has arisen,

00:48:36 where people think that for some reason this government has erred, or government is going

00:48:41 off track, or government is somehow not behaving in accordance with the democratic temper of

00:48:49 governance, then somehow it gives a right to the military. And I like what Mohammed said,

00:48:56 because he said, on the whole, I mean, at the end of the day, for instance in Ghana,

00:49:01 it's about time that we make a comparative analysis. Because you see, these soldiers

00:49:07 that have come in Niger, all the people who are demonstrating, give one year,

00:49:13 these people cannot even come out to demonstrate either way, whether in favor or against them.

00:49:18 That's why people really don't sit down and look at the long-term effects of these things.

00:49:23 The military, when they come, they are worse. The record in Africa is that they are worse in

00:49:29 governance than the civilians. The real question that I've been asking myself over the last four

00:49:35 or three weeks is, you notice that almost all the officer corps of African military,

00:49:41 they tell us, "We want this and that. We want to this." They are trained by colonial masters.

00:49:46 So I've been wondering, what is it in the training that they give to our African soldiers,

00:49:51 the elite of African soldiers, that when they come back, their mind is turned upon

00:49:56 constituting themselves into a power block to determine how long or how short a government stay.

00:50:02 When the same soldiers who went to the same training stations in those foreign countries,

00:50:08 they did not think of those things. There is something that is going on that is about time

00:50:14 that we begin to examine it. You know what I'm saying? It is much deeper. I mean, I'm being

00:50:18 honest with you. Over the last two or three weeks, I've been reflecting. When you walk on the road

00:50:23 in Britain, I mean, in the streets in Britain, they suggest they even don't try to drive. In Ghana,

00:50:27 a typical soldier is dressed in overdress and everybody who goes to a shaman to beat anybody.

00:50:33 But that discipline, that indiscipline, is never shown anywhere, anywhere in the Western world.

00:50:39 They went to the same school. So there is something wrong in the way our soldiers were trained.

00:50:45 I'm being honest with you. Unless we get to that point, Ghana has been independent for how many

00:50:51 years now, I'm sure the same curriculum that has been used for how many years, which was developed

00:50:55 by the British, who are training our soldiers to make themselves a power bloc and all of that.

00:51:01 Something has to change in this country. And of course, in other African countries. But please,

00:51:07 for those who are celebrating military as a way of removing what you call democratic government,

00:51:14 let them go on. They haven't said anything before. In 1979, I was a street performer. I know what it

00:51:20 seems to go through a country with soldiers, I mean, doing all manner of things. All of a sudden,

00:51:25 the soldier becomes an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-ever-seeing. And then they subject the

00:51:33 citizens, they molest them, they do all kinds of things. So please, in the name of Jesus, I pray

00:51:39 that this thing will never be part of our history. Those who are celebrating it, maybe they don't

00:51:44 know, they are the intellectuals. But you know, they become the intellectuals in the cloakroom

00:51:51 of these African dictators. And they are sure that they are never taught. But the history of Ghana

00:51:55 will show you that sooner than later, these babies of the revolution, they are eaten by the

00:52:01 revolution itself. We have a history in this country. Those who do not know, they should go

00:52:05 to the University of Ghana bookshop. There are lots of books on the coup in Ghana and all of

00:52:10 these things. They should go and read very carefully and take useful lessons. And know

00:52:16 that you cannot encourage a soldier to betray a government and all of a sudden, the soldier,

00:52:21 at the end of the day, they also want power. So the real issue is whether the military in Africa

00:52:26 can also use coups as a way of retaining power and ruling and so forth and so on. That's my

00:52:33 take. It's a horrible thing. And it's about how we deal with the ethnicity, the personal issue,

00:52:39 the training, I would suggest, the training, we should go back to it. That's my take on this

00:52:45 issue. Okay. Now, there's a story on page six of the Daily Guide newspaper. It says,

00:52:52 a misartha takes on Western chiefs. And the story is written by Manuel Opoku,

00:52:58 at Buzia, from Buzia. And now, former second lady, Mrs. Mathilda Emisa Arthur, has taken a swipe at

00:53:07 chiefs in the Western region for allegedly doing little to help halt the activities of illegal

00:53:12 mining in the region. Mrs. Emisa Arthur, who hailed from the region, was speaking as a guest

00:53:20 of honor at the opening of the Western Region Development Conference under the auspices of the

00:53:25 Nanako Bnanketsia IV Trust held at Buzia in the Ahanta West municipality. Now, the five-day

00:53:32 conference is on the theme, driving inclusive and equitable development in the Western region.

00:53:39 Now, she says, and this is a quote from her, to sum up the state of affairs in the Western region,

00:53:47 I would like to quote what a friend I took to Newtown, a border area near Hafasini. This friend

00:53:53 asked me, "Are we in Ghana because there were no good roads?" She added. She said, "The schools

00:54:01 were in sorry state. Most of the towns had no portable water. There were also abandoned drains

00:54:07 and gutters, which had become death traps." Quote, "Our region has been neglected and is

00:54:13 helpless to the extent that there is no legacy that we are leaving anybody." Unquote. She asserted.

00:54:20 Loi, I don't know how well you know the Western region, but what do you make of what the former

00:54:27 second lady is telling the chiefs of the Western region, especially about roads which are in bad

00:54:31 state and all of that? I wholeheartedly agree with her. Her comments are right. And sometimes

00:54:41 it is embarrassing. Sometimes I do not know how to call some of these things. The places where we

00:54:48 got the best of everything, turn out to have the worst of everything. Sometimes you look at it and

00:54:56 it is unbelievable. First is the guarantee issue. Ghana has a peculiar landscape where almost every

00:55:04 piece of land, except those which are acquired by the Ghana government through an executive

00:55:11 instrument, every land is owned by a school or a family. Every land in this country. What it means

00:55:20 is that somebody takes direct control over the land. And in terms of even conveyance, it has to

00:55:27 move from a chief before it goes to an individual. It has to move from a family before it goes to an

00:55:32 individual. So at the end of the day, we are looking at how we have all conspired to ensure

00:55:40 that we have no control over our own land, over our natural resources. And the joke of this whole

00:55:47 thing is that for all the people who are subjecting our land to all these things, we do not even see

00:55:57 the money that they make. We do not know where they take you to. We do not see anything absolutely

00:56:01 significant about any of these people. You cannot go into any community and be shown an edifice

00:56:08 constructed by these galanteers or whatever. So I mean sometimes it's very puzzling. It is very,

00:56:16 very puzzling. And the roads and everything that is the Western region. As a matter of fact,

00:56:21 I only know a few times that I go inside. But I mean, what I've heard is enough to show that

00:56:28 the Western region, where the basket, wherever, of this country, the food basket of Ghana,

00:56:35 I mean, it's in this deplorable state. And I wouldn't know what is it that we need to do that

00:56:40 we haven't done. But it really calls for action by the chiefs. Because the chiefs are the rulers

00:56:46 or the people, the overlords of all these communities. And until the chiefs come together,

00:56:51 they have traditional councils, they have regional, what do you call traditional councils,

00:56:56 and so forth and so on. Unless they see it as an agenda and draw up an agenda and take action

00:57:03 at the local level, there's a limit to what government can do. You know, every time this

00:57:08 comes, everybody's about government, government, government. I think it's a shame that at this

00:57:12 time in our life, our personal life, we're thinking that government ought to be responsible

00:57:17 for everything. It cannot be. And it's about time that we realize that those at the local level

00:57:24 ought to take responsibility. And when we talk about that, we're talking about these chiefs

00:57:29 in their communities. It's about time that their own citizens started. You know, all these

00:57:36 demonstrations we have about government, you never heard about any people demonstrating against

00:57:41 their chiefs. Because if the chiefs do not allow the people who come into the community,

00:57:45 they will not be there. So because we believe that government services, now there are even

00:57:50 elections coming around, this is a time for political terrorism. People are making,

00:57:54 if you don't do this for this, you will know who. When they themselves, they know there's a

00:58:00 minimum requirement of the things that they themselves can even do to attract the government

00:58:04 into the community. But that is not to share government's responsibility at all. But I'm

00:58:08 thinking that at the local level, local level, I'm not too sure that our chiefs are doing enough

00:58:14 at all. That's my personal view about this matter. - Okay. But I guess as for the roads,

00:58:19 which are so terrible in the Western region, as for that, the government needs to know that

00:58:24 when you are cutting your manganese to the port, you are cutting your bauxite to the port,

00:58:29 you are cutting all of those minerals and all of those precious things that we export.

00:58:35 And that road, which is of course an aqueous road, a very important road,

00:58:39 you don't need a chief to tell you that you need to fix the road, do you?

00:58:42 - No, it's about the company. It's about the companies who've got all those contracts. They

00:58:47 really do it. We've got a minerals commission, we've got the Ghana Investment Promotion Council,

00:58:53 we've got all these institutions. Who are the ones who enter into all these contracts?

00:59:02 What is the social contract that these people have under those agreements? Why do they take

00:59:07 all the money? Was there any responsibility whatsoever? I mean, the revenue that government

00:59:11 makes out of these things, the contract, it's about time that we examine these contracts to

00:59:16 know what portion of these funds... You know, I remember some time back, somebody did their

00:59:21 contract between Johannesburg and Ogoise, and showed us the difference. It's the same, you know,

00:59:28 I don't know how else to describe it. It's the same funds, the same revenue government generates

00:59:32 from these things that they use for. So, everything goes to a central account,

00:59:37 no portion is left for the development of these roads, and the company themselves,

00:59:42 I don't know, but I know that they have social contracts in the community,

00:59:48 and the chiefs and those places in those communities, it's about time that they started

00:59:52 to take an interest in the contracts by the central government. Because, let me put it this

00:59:57 way, as a matter of law, every mineral that is found in any part of this country, it divests

01:00:05 the owner of the land of any interest in it, and it goes directly to government. So the real issue

01:00:10 is what role, what place does the chief have in these contracts when they are drawn up?

01:00:17 It's about time that these chiefs started to sit down with government, look at these contracts,

01:00:21 begin to see what portion of these funds that are generated from these contracts are compulsorily

01:00:30 employed into their communities by way of development. That is a critical area,

01:00:36 I mean, that I believe that our chiefs might be demanding from the central government.

01:00:41 - Okay, all right. All right, Loya. - It's all the parts of this, yes.

01:00:43 - So I mean, those are fantastic points that you've raised, and I'm grateful that you could

01:00:49 find time to join us this morning on our News Review. So that's the News Review, but it was

01:00:55 brought to you by Ketseo, the endpoint on the Pathak Clinic. We're offering prostate screening

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01:01:36 to Doctor, and my family in the state of Connecticut in the USA. Your good works for

01:01:43 humanity shall never be in vain. God bless you. And it's coming from my producer, Kingsley,

01:01:49 a very good man himself. So that's it. But we have more coming your way here on the AM show.

01:01:55 So don't go away, stay with us.

01:01:57 [Music]

01:02:23 Good morning, I am Muftahu Nabila Abda and this is AM Sports. Now, let's start from the camp of

01:02:30 the Ghana Football Association. They have announced the list of people who are vying for various

01:02:34 positions within the football governing body. About 37 people have all filed nominations to contest

01:02:42 for various positions within the Ghana Football Association. And the top most of them is a

01:02:46 president, Wered Ket Edwin Simion Okriku. The incumbent president will be coming against

01:02:51 Georgia Kwesi Afrie for the position of president of the Ghana Football Association. The election

01:02:56 is scheduled for September 27. For the executive council position for women, Gifty Oware Mensah,

01:03:02 who is the chief executive officer of Very Ladies, and also the deputy director of the National

01:03:08 Service Secretariat, she's contesting for that slot. She is the only one, which means that

01:03:12 automatically, if she's able to go through the vetting process, she's going to be part of the

01:03:17 executive council of the FA. For the Division 1 slot, Mac Addo, who is currently the vice president

01:03:22 of the Ghana Football Association, is contesting again for a second tenure. Samuel Enimado, Eugene

01:03:28 Noel, Gideon Fosu, and then Alexander Abedbeo. These are the people contesting for the executive

01:03:36 slot for Division 1. Three people are going to be voted onto that council. And then for the Premier

01:03:42 League, 11 people, including former Black Stars coach Kwesi Apia, is in there. Kingsley Osei-Bonsu,

01:03:49 Nanat Safo-Odro, Frederic Echampon, Anthony Aubin, Ransford Abbey. These five people are the incumbent

01:03:56 on the executive council of the Ghana Premier League for Premier League and Division 1, because

01:04:02 Dr Randy Abbey contested for the position of executive council on the ticket of Division 1

01:04:07 because Heart of Lions were in Division 1. But now that they've qualified to the Premier League,

01:04:13 he's going for the Premier League spot. On United's centre of Lagos cities, Edmond Aka-Samatex,

01:04:18 Kwesi Apia, going for the slot on the ticket of Kumasi Assan. Aladji Akambi, that's Amadou

01:04:26 Muro-Bremer, is on the ticket of House of Oak. Leona Mande of Carola United and Rafael Jabra.

01:04:32 Rafael Jabra, he was the Bono Regional Football Association chairman. Currently, he's still the

01:04:38 chairman until the elections are done. But now he's going for the Premier League slot on the

01:04:43 ticket of Ediana Stars. Now let's take a look at the various regions, the people who are vying for

01:04:49 those positions. Some of them are going unopposed. For the Greater Accra region, Samuel Abouabouri,

01:04:55 he's a current chairman of Greater Accra Football Association and he's coming against Johnson

01:05:01 Bussempim. For Central Region, Robert Duncan is coming against Abdelhaid Yatir. Robert Duncan

01:05:06 is the incumbent. And then when we go to the Western Region, we have Simon, he's also in there

01:05:13 and then we have Marc Bismarck, also a contestant. For Northern Region, Mohamedou Abou Hassan,

01:05:19 Aladji Rizal, he's the incumbent, he's going unopposed. For Eastern Region, Linford Asamuang,

01:05:25 he's going unopposed. For Ashanti Region, Osei Tutu, Ajeman, he's also going unopposed. For the

01:05:30 Volta Region, Daniel Agbogahi, he's the incumbent and he's coming against Mathieu Kadu. For the

01:05:38 Bono Region, we have Dixin Dia, also coming up, he's also contesting for the position of executive

01:05:47 counsel. And we have Meshek Asante as well and Dr Charles Osei-Anto. For the upper, it's Salif Zida

01:05:53 and then Ebel Asogo is also contesting. And then for the Upper West Region, we have Amadou and then

01:06:02 Ahmed as well as Kwame. These are the people vying for the various positions of the Ghana

01:06:07 Football Association. The elections are scheduled to happen on September 27th. And by virtue of the

01:06:14 amount that was advertised by the Ghana Football Association, it means about 537,500 Ghana citizens

01:06:21 has been paid into the GFA accounts for these people who have filed to contest for the various

01:06:26 positions. Now, let's talk about Accra House of Oak and their board chairman, Togbe Afede,

01:06:34 he's been speaking about some of the issues that are within the club. According to him,

01:06:40 the biggest enemy of House of Oak is the club itself. The biggest challenge we have had so far

01:06:46 has been from our own people. The biggest challenge from our own people, which is not fair.

01:06:53 Even in the animals kingdom, I'm sorry to say, lions, they come together. They won't betray one

01:07:02 of their own to Highness. Will they do that? They won't do that. Lions will come together and defend

01:07:13 their own against Highness, let alone betray. Because the only thing I know, where others

01:07:20 always insults, negativity, insults, so that even the good things we are doing,

01:07:26 people will paint a negative picture, rubbish even the program that we are building,

01:07:32 which is the envy of many other clubs.

01:07:37 It's not right. We all cannot think alike. And that's the beauty of money.

01:07:43 Because we cannot think alike. That's why we're making progress. Your idea comes,

01:07:50 his idea comes, my idea comes. All we see is progress. People all think alike. It means what

01:07:58 forward march, we start with, we can make progress. That's a reality. That is the reality.

01:08:06 You know, since we took what has been the biggest challenge, make it go for us to raise

01:08:12 because people think we're always fighting.

01:08:17 People think I was fighting those who have been against us have succeeded

01:08:23 in stifling our progress. Some of the things we are seeing about man, for example,

01:08:33 much, much, much earlier, a lot of the dreams would have been materializing much, much, much earlier.

01:08:39 To go further speaking there now let's hear from Samuel Income. He wanted to return to

01:08:47 Kumasi Asante Kotoko and that did not succeed. And he rather switch to Accra House of Work. He's

01:08:54 been explaining what happened behind the scenes and his move to Asante Kotoko did not materialize.

01:09:02 I think when I was coming to Ghana, I said I want to play Ghana football, you know, and I was being

01:09:10 professional because I said to myself that it's the same league that who gave me the platform. So

01:09:15 for me to come back and come and play the same league, I would not be something that I feel shy

01:09:20 to come and play the league that gave me the platform. So I came, it was Kotoko who sent me

01:09:26 offer, official offer from Kotoko, from Nane Omponsa, which was the CEO. So I told him, okay,

01:09:33 that's fine. So I came, we were talking about it back and forth in terms of money and a lot of

01:09:41 issues as well. So when I came, I tried to call him and he said to me that the first time I called

01:09:49 him, he said to me that he's in the meeting at the moment, he will call me back. So he called me back

01:09:56 and he said he will give up to me. Okay. So it went to a point that the board, even the board

01:10:02 members want to see if I really want to play, you know, so I met a couple of them. We sat down,

01:10:08 we discussed, and I told him that if you guys think maybe there's no money, I would love to

01:10:15 play for free. But at the end of the day, they said, the coach said he has already have, he's

01:10:24 already having his team, he has like four players in my position, you understand. So

01:10:30 it tells me that when I come, I'll be five. Fifth choice. Yeah, fifth choice. So

01:10:36 and I even told them that on the day, whoever will train good will play. But they also let me know

01:10:44 that the coach is okay with the right. He has, and which I respect him for that decision, because

01:10:52 it doesn't mean that you are a legend. So you can just do what you shouldn't do. You have to respect

01:10:58 him as a coach. You have to also understand his game plan. He said this kind of players that he

01:11:03 has is good for him. And I don't think he finished the season and he won the league,

01:11:09 and which I respect him so much for that. But the fans was not, the fans couldn't understand

01:11:16 what happened behind the scenes, what happened behind the scene, because they wanted me to be

01:11:21 in the team at all costs. So this is what happened. I cannot just say I'm Samuel Lincoln, so I'm just,

01:11:27 I want to, how to say, I don't want to obey the instructions that me and you know that football,

01:11:35 the regulations are in football. So yes. So what, what, what, where, in fact, we had stories

01:11:47 that came out claiming that you said the CEO feels so big to call you, but what you're telling me

01:11:53 is quite different from that. Yeah, yeah. You know, you know, the moment this Kotoko

01:12:02 deal didn't happen, there was a lot of rumour. There was a lot of,

01:12:07 there was a big tension, even me, on me. The fans were insulting me, they were giving me,

01:12:14 they were bashing me back and forth. I'm ungrateful, I'm that, I'm that. I decided that I

01:12:19 would never talk, you understand, because I don't want also big tension in the team as well. I just

01:12:26 want the playing body also have a good mind to also focus on the league itself. So yeah, there

01:12:33 was a whole lot, you know, but even it got to a point, some, some people are saying that I said

01:12:39 I need $10,000 and they said they don't have $10,000. So that is why the deal couldn't happen,

01:12:44 but it was not like that, you know, so I don't want to talk too much about this.

01:12:49 Yeah, but did you say the CEO feels too big to call you? Did you say that in a way?

01:12:53 I don't remember. I think I said something that I called him, I called him and he said he'll call

01:13:04 me back, you understand, and I started calling him. There was no answering phones. That is why

01:13:11 I got to know that maybe there's something happening, you understand. So when the board

01:13:16 members also tried to invite me, I went there. I was there. They called the CEO in front of me

01:13:24 and they were talking to him that, in commission in front of us, we would love him to be in the

01:13:29 team. What is the problem? What is happening? And I think he said something that I had it. He said

01:13:35 something that they should talk to the coach. This is what he said. They should talk to the

01:13:41 coach. So it means like he has played his part. You understand. I know, I know there was a whole

01:13:48 lot brother. Not to stretch this conversation, but just this moment, just a few minutes ago,

01:13:54 you mentioned that the CEO called you back. So I'm struggling to put one and two together.

01:14:00 If the CEO called you back, where from the people that were trying to call him and he's supposed to

01:14:07 call you back, where from all this? I'm a bit confused. Yeah, that is what I'm saying that

01:14:11 it goes to a standard. A lot of stories came up, a lot of them. So in essence, some of the stories

01:14:19 were false. Yes, I'll put it out. Some of the stories for me, it was not something that I said,

01:14:27 it you understand. So, but I don't. Did you feel disrespected by some of those reactions?

01:14:33 Having given your all to Kotoko before? I said to myself that, okay, my last club before I travel

01:14:43 was Kotoko. And I wanted to come and play. And this is this stuff is happening.

01:14:49 It got to a point that I was feeling like, okay, maybe I don't deserve to be there.

01:14:57 And also I feel like, okay, whatever I did for them, maybe they are not appreciate. They don't

01:15:06 appreciate it. But I got to know that it's not the same people that when I was there,

01:15:11 I'm talking about the management, they were not there. They were not there at this time. So

01:15:17 I don't feel like I have to be like, I'm disappointed. I wanted to play, but it didn't

01:15:23 happen. And this is football. Football is like that, you know, if you want to go somewhere and

01:15:28 they don't feel like you have to be there, you have to find somewhere else, which they will

01:15:33 appreciate you, they will cherish you as well. So I didn't feel down at all. But I just said to

01:15:39 myself, I have to move on. In essence, it was the coach who did not allow you to come to Kotoko?

01:15:44 They said, I met him one time, but we didn't even talk about this. And I don't want to say

01:15:53 it was the coach. I don't want to also blame it was the CEO, the management. That is why I want

01:16:01 to make it in general that if he's supposed to happen, it was going to happen. But it didn't

01:16:06 happen. So yeah. This is our wrap up of AM Sports here with me, Mufti Nabila Abdoulaye.

01:16:12 [MUSIC]

01:16:39 This cannot continue. I always say that there's too much happening that really shouldn't be

01:16:48 happening within the passport acquisition system. If we talk about Goro people,

01:16:56 these Goro people are outsiders. They do not work on their own. Because if the Goro person

01:17:04 collects somebody's money, they need to work with somebody from inside to change their dates.

01:17:12 They work with people from inside. I'm not saying all of you, but there are some of you

01:17:17 who are engaged in it. And this should stop. The blame is always on the Ministry of Foreign

01:17:29 Affairs. Meanwhile, it's the agencies and I'm sure even some of our staff are involved.

01:17:34 Public servants who are supposed to be giving public service to Ghanaians.

01:17:39 The vice president has led the digitalization efforts

01:17:46 with my support and all of my officers to put in place an online system. Now the online system is

01:17:58 being manipulated so that people can make money off it. There's an investigation going on and some

01:18:09 names have been mentioned. And there are people from outside a cartel who are working with people

01:18:18 from inside. Anybody who has been here for more than a year from Monday, please do not come back

01:18:26 because you've been changed. We want to bring some sanity. Every time politicians are corrupt,

01:18:36 politicians are corrupt. Meanwhile, it's some public civil servants who will do things that

01:18:43 shouldn't be done and then they put it on politicians. We come, we do the right thing.

01:18:48 I'm trying to bring sanity into the passport system, but no.

01:18:51 - Well, so welcome back to the AM show. Let's get into the big issues now. And of course,

01:19:01 let's start from the, in quote, anger of the minister when she paid a visit to the passport

01:19:09 office and acquainted herself with what was happening. She is not happy with how things

01:19:16 are progressing at the office. She says, now that we've digitalized the processes,

01:19:20 people should not struggle like they do currently in acquiring a passport. Well,

01:19:26 I've been joined on the line by lawyer Kwaku Painter. He's still with us. Dr. John Osai

01:19:33 Kwapon. He is a CDD Ghana fellow. Those of us on Facebook, we call him the professor.

01:19:39 We also have Vitus Azeem. He is an anti-graft campaigner. Gentlemen, good morning and welcome.

01:19:46 - Good morning. - Good morning.

01:19:48 - Great. Let me start with you, Dr. John Osai Kwapon. I mean, on social media, you do have a

01:19:57 lot of experiences to share. If you look at the challenges Ghanaians go through in acquiring a

01:20:03 passport and you compare it to other jurisdictions, what is really wrong with our system that needs

01:20:11 correction for us to have a very smooth process? - Thank you very much. Good morning.

01:20:19 Good morning again. As you play the clip, the minister is pointing to something key that

01:20:29 frustrates the process. And that is still the human involvement in the process of passport

01:20:37 acquisition, right? She talks about, and rightly so, that to facilitate the process, to make it

01:20:44 more efficient, there are all of these efforts to introduce technology, to digitalize the process

01:20:50 and all of that. And yet there's still that human factor that gets in the way of the process,

01:21:00 whether it's the changing of dates, things like that. And I think that is what makes it different

01:21:08 from other jurisdictions, which is the lack of fidelity to the well-established processes and

01:21:18 procedures for the acquisition of a passport. Nobody wants to wait their turn. And there are

01:21:25 people, as she rightly pointed out, there are people on the inside who ensure that people

01:21:33 skip the line, et cetera, et cetera. Because really, the guru boy, the guru person who takes

01:21:42 your money cannot facilitate the process for you without the collusion of someone on the inside,

01:21:50 because they do not have, the guru person doesn't have access to whatever systems is in place.

01:21:57 And again, technology is supposed to facilitate these things and make them faster, but there's

01:22:03 still that human hands that still ends up slowing down the process for one reason or another. And

01:22:12 that becomes the challenge and that becomes what distinguishes our process from the process in

01:22:19 other jurisdictions. Yes, getting something from the public sector sometimes can take time because

01:22:29 you are not the only one demanding the service or in need of a particular product. And there

01:22:36 are processes that you have to go through. But again, there are things that have been put in

01:22:40 place to facilitate that process to make it more efficient. And unfortunately, the human factor

01:22:47 colludes with other persons to make it unnecessarily frustrating.

01:22:57 You had mentioned that the same human factor have been able to temper with the online system such

01:23:07 that it reduces the efficiency of that system. How do we deal with these people to ensure that

01:23:15 we are able to completely move them away from interfering with the system so the system can

01:23:23 work and deliver the sort of efficiency that we're all looking for? That's a really tough one. But I

01:23:31 think when you find those who deliberately get in the way of allowing the process to work as

01:23:42 efficiently as it is, and you exert punishment, I think in these cases, immediate punishment is the

01:23:49 key. That would help serve as a deterrent to others. Because we can keep introducing the

01:23:58 technology, we can keep rewriting the rules. But if we don't enforce the rules, if we don't enforce

01:24:06 the processes, the procedures that we've put in place, then those things would not produce the

01:24:14 kind of results that we expect to produce. Which means that ultimately, what you need to do is the

01:24:22 enforcement of whatever sanctions you put in place against those who are found to be culpable of

01:24:28 undermining the systems and processes that you put in place. Let me bring in Loya Okupentin here.

01:24:37 Loya, so with your legal understanding, the minister says those who have overstayed, and of course,

01:24:44 some of them could be behind all of these issues that do not help in us getting the sort of

01:24:53 efficiency we need, in quotes, these go-robots and all of that. She says they shouldn't come

01:24:58 back from Monday. Is that the best way to deal with it? How do we ensure that the right things

01:25:04 are done so that the right message can be conveyed?

01:25:08 Loya?

01:25:09 Loya Pinto?

01:25:17 Can you hear me? Yeah, yeah, I can now hear you. Hello? I can now hear you, sir. Yeah, what I'm

01:25:27 saying is that, please, my Kwaku is E, and my Fante is not K-W-A, it's K-W-E-K-U. Kwaku? Yes.

01:25:38 That's fine. Fante's don't spell Kwaku with A. Ah, that's what I said. You heard right. So, I'm gone.

01:25:42 Yeah, so, so what I'm saying is that I understand what she said to mean an acknowledgement on the

01:25:55 minister's part that keeping people in one place for too long helps to breed corruption.

01:26:03 This is basic for those who do public administration. They don't keep one person in one

01:26:08 place for all this long. So, it's an acknowledgement on her part. So, I don't even understand her to

01:26:12 mean that they are necessarily going to be sacked, but then they are going to be shifted over the

01:26:17 place. That is just a part of the problem. But as a lawyer, let me just tell you other problems

01:26:23 related to this. Currently in this country, or rather on the part of the World Bank, every year

01:26:29 they publish what they call World Bank doing business in Africa. They do on a country to

01:26:35 country basis. So, every year you've got what they call World Bank doing business in Ghana.

01:26:40 And in that, in that book, or in that, in that report, is a kind of chronology of all kind of

01:26:48 services that are available in this country over what timelines that you can achieve those things,

01:26:54 like if you want to register a company, they give you a timeline for all the activities.

01:26:58 If you want to register a business, JIPC, they give a timeline for activities and the related

01:27:04 cost of doing those kind of things. And this is available online, available all over. So,

01:27:10 when a businessman, for instance, want to instruct a Ghanaian lawyer, he's already gone online,

01:27:15 he's seen all that information. And when it comes to you, he instructs you, he has a fair idea of

01:27:21 what kind of timelines that these things are expected. Let me use, because what the minister

01:27:27 said, the same thing runs at the Recent General Department, which is the key point. I'm sorry I

01:27:32 have to make those cross analysis, but it's absolutely important. The frustration that

01:27:37 the minister expressed with regard to obtaining a passport is the same when you go to the Recent

01:27:42 General. And so, when your foreign investor who sits in America goes to World Bank doing business

01:27:48 in Ghana, is able to see that this thing is supposed to run through three weeks and that

01:27:53 is the total cost of it. When you go to the ground, it doesn't work. Go to land valuation,

01:27:58 please quote me on this, go to land valuation, you want to stamp a simple document. You go,

01:28:03 they will tell you that, listen, under normal circumstances, this thing will take three weeks,

01:28:09 but if you are able to find your way and put weight on paper, we can get it for you three days.

01:28:14 And if you don't do the three-day deal, and you leave it for the three weeks, three months,

01:28:19 you're not going to get it. So, these things are locked up in all kinds of institutions and places

01:28:25 where we are supposed to get things according to certain timelines. So, what the minister said

01:28:30 is just the tip of the iceberg. And so, how we have to eliminate these things,

01:28:38 what the minister has said is just one of it. How are the people monitoring these things

01:28:49 from remote locations? I mean, technology is taking us to the place where we are.

01:29:02 You're making a very cogent argument, but unfortunately, the line is still not helping us.

01:29:09 You're making a fantastic submission. But I don't know, maybe your internet does not want to permit

01:29:16 you this morning. But let's try again. So, you said what the minister has done or has said is

01:29:22 only a tip of the iceberg. And even at the land commission or the land valuation you mentioned,

01:29:29 they do that to you as a lawyer yourself, right?

01:29:34 Well, we'll try and raise the lawyer quickly, so we can. But I also have Mr Vitus Azim

01:29:53 on the telephone with us here. He's an anti-graft campaigner. Mr Azim, good morning.

01:30:00 Hello, Mr Azim.

01:30:06 Yeah, good morning.

01:30:07 Great. Great to have you. Great to have you join us here on the show. Now, what's your take on

01:30:13 what the minister did yesterday at the passport office?

01:30:18 Well, I think that sometimes we do things without looking at the implications. We don't just transfer

01:30:25 people verbally. Yes, you're frustrated about what is happening, but then there are procedures

01:30:32 for dealing with employees. But that may not even solve the problem. You can move those people away

01:30:39 and bring angels from heaven. If you don't put certain measures in place, they will do the same

01:30:46 thing. And it's sad because it's not like our people don't know what to do or they don't want

01:30:53 to do it. Look, I started back in 1997 when they were changing the passports. I was in the US. I

01:30:59 just sent my passport to the embassy in DC. And within two to three months, I got a replacement

01:31:05 passport. Then I came one day to Accra passport office to change my passport. That's when I

01:31:14 entered the ladies small girl told me, "Oh, go and come back in the afternoon. We'll take your

01:31:18 biometrics. We are busy." And I said, "Look, this is just a renewal. Why should I have to go and

01:31:26 come back?" And I cried, "You don't drive around because of traffic." They were busy. I left here,

01:31:32 went up to one of the directors of the office. He took my passport, gave me two days to come back

01:31:39 and take my passport. People can do the work. They don't want to do it because we've not put

01:31:46 in place measures that will make them effective. So we need to set timelines for the staff.

01:31:54 In a day, if you can process, you have to process a certain number of passports.

01:31:59 If you're not able to do that, then you lose your job or you get some form of sanction.

01:32:07 We need effective monitoring and supervision and we need sanctions in place if this has to work.

01:32:14 I express my boss, "You go and pay at the bank and yet the express, even after three months,

01:32:21 you don't hear from them at all. They keep going and they keep tossing up and down

01:32:25 because somebody is not feeling for me." Then you have to scatter the people around

01:32:30 the passport office. If you have nothing to do in the passport office, don't come and stay around

01:32:35 there because they are the people that are making those arrangements. Even those who pretend to be

01:32:40 selling around there. One time a woman confronted me, "Oh, I'm not coming for my passport. Give her

01:32:46 two thousand, she'll get it for me." I left her and went away. So those around are also collaborating

01:32:56 with people inside the house and the leadership, the management must sit up and identify those

01:33:03 behind these things and take action against them. Otherwise, the situation will change.

01:33:06 - So the solution is not just digitalizing the processes to say, "Let's do it online."

01:33:14 That's not it? - No, it's not enough.

01:33:18 It's a step in the right direction, but it's not enough because there are people

01:33:23 who are still behind the process. Even manipulating the system, always saying the system is down,

01:33:31 you go to the office, every day the system is down. Even banks, your accountant tells you the

01:33:37 system is down, you have to get effective functioning of the system. It means using

01:33:45 and solving the antibiotics. Because you are using your own staff, they can collaborate

01:33:51 with the rest of the staff to ensure that the system is going to work.

01:33:56 So first, if you are digitalizing, you must make sure that the system works. And then you monitor

01:34:02 and supervise what's happening to ensure that it happens, I mean, the right thing happens.

01:34:07 And if that doesn't happen, you identify the culprits and punish them.

01:34:11 - So in making the system work, you've mentioned two things. We should ensure we give them

01:34:24 a target for the day, as in, in a day you should be able to process these number of passport,

01:34:32 or you lose your job. The other thing is also to outsource some of these functions, right?

01:34:39 These are the two solutions you're giving. - Yeah, those are two, but I'm talking about

01:34:45 I'm monitoring and supervising, identifying the culprits and functioning them.

01:34:49 - So from where we are, that the minister says, they've identified that some

01:34:56 some Goro boys are frustrating the system. How should we progress from where we are?

01:35:01 - Well, the first thing, once you've identified them, even if you are not arresting them,

01:35:06 you scour the military, prevent any people from coming around, if we are not submitting any passport.

01:35:16 If they're not around, they cannot influence the system, or at least

01:35:19 they're trying to minimize, but they're just hanging around and greeting people and asking

01:35:24 them for something. And because either you are in a rush, you need agencies,

01:35:29 or you think that you don't know anybody there, you have got to say, okay, help me.

01:35:35 Okay, if you have a special arrangement for anybody that arrives, go in and say now,

01:35:43 within a certain period, let's say six to eight o'clock, anybody who arrives, go to say now,

01:35:49 and you make sure that you admit the number of people you can attend to in a day.

01:35:52 Then you're reducing the stress on the applicants as well as on the system, and ensuring that the

01:36:01 right thing is done. - Okay, all right, let me bring in someone who has become known as

01:36:08 the face of foreign affairs in parliament. He's a ranking member on the foreign affairs committee

01:36:14 of parliament, Honorable Samuel Okwudjieto Ablakwa. Grateful for joining us, sir.

01:36:19 You've seen what the minister has done at the passport office. First, your reaction on it.

01:36:25 - Hi, good morning, sir, and good morning to all the distinguished viewers of JOI. I must say that

01:36:35 the minister has carried out what you will call an emotive ministerial reaction, which,

01:36:54 to some extent, you will say that looking at the circumstances, you cannot really fault her,

01:37:03 except that it raises a number of issues. There is a director at the passport office,

01:37:11 a whole director, they did have to take their minister to defend from her ministry,

01:37:17 and to engage in that open outburst. Quite, you know, emotional, and for the minister to then be

01:37:31 dismissing people on site and all of that. It tells you that there is something fundamentally

01:37:39 wrong. The leadership at the passport office falls short of the leadership requirements

01:37:51 that you would expect to see for such a sensitive position. And this morning, the director of the

01:38:00 passport office and all those in management must be answering questions why it had to take the

01:38:07 minister to descend on the passport office and engage in that open intervention and almost an

01:38:20 altercation, if you like. Then I must also state that there is a challenge with the minister's

01:38:29 approach in how she dismisses people on site. Yes, we all want to see tough leadership,

01:38:40 decisive leadership, and that's why I am restraining myself in not, if you like,

01:38:48 criticizing or condemning the minister. Because when you have people you have put in charge,

01:38:55 not doing their work, that's what it will come to. And perhaps the minister should have taken

01:39:02 notice that certain directors were not doing their work properly and could have reshuffled

01:39:08 them or reassigned them elsewhere. But the other challenge I was coming to relates to the sweeping

01:39:18 sanctions or dismissals. If care is not taken, innocent people could be caught in the fray. So,

01:39:26 I would still add that it will be necessary for a disciplinary committee to still carry out

01:39:36 some independent investigations into the role of those the minister met. Are we sure that all of

01:39:43 them are involved in all of these underhand dealings, the bribery, the corruption,

01:39:49 all the untoward conduct that the minister is angry about? Are we really sure that it's everybody on

01:39:58 site she met who is involved? Is it not possible that some innocent people may have been caught up

01:40:06 in the crossfire? So, I would still want a certain due process to be carried out so that those who

01:40:15 are guilty, yes, let them fall on their own salt. But those who are innocent should be allowed,

01:40:24 it would not be fair, it would not be just to punish people because of the sins of others,

01:40:31 when they are not partaking, they have not been part of the mess. Then finally, I must say that

01:40:41 more fundamentally, what has led to this is a certain backlog. Our committee, the Foreign

01:40:49 Affairs Committee, has been meeting the passport office and the ministry on this matter, because

01:40:56 we have received numerous petitions about the backlog. People who have applied more than a year

01:41:00 ago, more than two years ago, and they have not received their passport. What they told us was

01:41:07 that the vendor had some supply chain difficulties because of COVID and all of that. But they

01:41:15 presented to us a roadmap, you know, we demanded a roadmap for the backlog to be cleared. It does

01:41:22 appear that the backlog has not been cleared. And that is what is leading to people then trying to

01:41:30 take advantage of the fact that people are frustrated, there are so many people in the queue,

01:41:39 some want to come ahead of the queue, they don't want to join the queue to wait for a long time.

01:41:46 And that is what people in the system, together with their agents, you may call them guru boys or

01:41:53 whatever, that's what they are exploiting. So to address this matter once and for all, you need to

01:42:01 clear the backlog. I think the last time we met them it was about 11,000. We need to clear all

01:42:07 of that backlog and reverse to the full automated system where the human discretion is eliminated.

01:42:16 We don't have any human interface. So I look at you if I like you, if I don't like you,

01:42:24 then you either come in early or you're coming later. No, let's clear the backlog and then allow

01:42:31 the automated system to work so that things are done based on what the computerized system

01:42:41 says should be the approach. I think that is how to resolve this matter moving forward.

01:42:49 Now, this is not the first time this minister is showing anger at how things are done at the

01:42:55 passport office. In 2018, there's a story and it reads that the minister of foreign affairs and

01:43:01 regional integration, Mrs. Shelly Ayako Boche, recently made an unannounced trip to the passport

01:43:06 office in Accra to see things for herself. She was taking through the processes of acquiring passport,

01:43:11 but she seemed unhappy with what she saw, especially when she spoke to this grunt old

01:43:16 passport applicant who had been waiting for months for their passport. She therefore made

01:43:22 her intention to shake up the outfit and put right what was going wrong. This is 2018 and then we're

01:43:28 in 2023, five years down the line, and it looks like we are still not able to remove some of these

01:43:35 impediments. So are we really going to see this, these kind of changes anytime soon? Where do we

01:43:42 begin from? How do we do it? So to be honest with you, I will say that let us start from leadership.

01:43:52 I take the view that the time has come for the

01:44:01 minister to reassess the people who are sent there to manage the passport office, because you see

01:44:08 that is her call and that's an agency under her. So if you have a situation where every now and then

01:44:16 you have to decide, you have to go on a surprise visit and anytime you arrive you don't like what

01:44:22 you see and all of that. What does that say about the people the minister puts in charge of the

01:44:29 passport office? Clearly there is something wrong. So it is time for the minister to carry out an

01:44:40 honest reassessment of the people who are deployed to manage the passport office. They may be doing

01:44:50 their best but their best is clearly not enough and they have questions to answer because you see

01:44:56 this is a knee-jerk approach. Where systems work in jurisdictions where the system really works,

01:45:05 people do what they must do and they know that there will be sanctions if they don't

01:45:10 get the job done, they won't earn their salaries. It doesn't take a period to have to pay a surprise

01:45:17 visit and then that's when there is helter-skelter and probably things begin to feel right for a few

01:45:26 days or a few weeks and then we revert to the old terrible ways of doing things. So my candid

01:45:37 advice and that will be the advice from our committee will be that the minister must reassess

01:45:44 the people who are asked to handle the passport office. And you see when people are appointed

01:45:51 they should be given clear KPIs. Do they really understand their role? Do they have a mandate? Do

01:45:56 they have targets that they must meet? And what happens when they fail to meet those KPIs, when

01:46:02 they fail to meet those targets? Those are the things that must be done. That's the most sustainable

01:46:07 approach. This business of ministers every now and then parachuting themselves in to the passport

01:46:14 office and screaming halls and dismissing people on site and then we are back to square one in a

01:46:21 few weeks. That's not a sustainable approach if you ask me. All right, I'll let you off here but

01:46:30 just before you go will your committee take any action on this? Yes, certainly we have been looking

01:46:37 into this but as I told you earlier we agreed on a roadmap, we asked them to go clear the backlog. So

01:46:43 we already have some scheduled meetings coming up to see to what extent they have cleared the

01:46:49 backlog. But we are going to certainly add this latest development particularly with the

01:46:56 general dismissals and all of that. We want to be sure that those who have been dismissed deserve

01:47:02 to be dismissed, no innocent person has been caught in the fray. But more importantly we

01:47:09 want the system to work. We want a more sustainable permanent resolution where the right people are

01:47:16 appointed, they are given clear KPIs and that they meet those targets. So certainly the foreign

01:47:23 affairs committee will be taking an interest in this matter. We have a meeting later today

01:47:29 and I'm surely going to raise this issue.

01:47:32 Sami Akpenemao.

01:47:33 Sami, according to our blackboard there, he is ranking on the foreign affairs committee of

01:47:43 parliament. Well, so that's it. Let's move on to our next issue about the conduct of public

01:47:50 officers and how the issues have been coming up in recent times as a result of the one of the most

01:47:59 engaging development in this country this year. That's the Cecilia Abinadapam missing cash case.

01:48:08 Now that saga has brought questions and people have been asking about the conduct of public

01:48:14 officials. A draft bill that seeks to regulate the conduct of these officials, we understand

01:48:21 is a cabinet for consideration. But how will the existence of a code of ethics ensure good conduct

01:48:27 from public officials? Let's zoom into that discussion. I still have with me Dr. John

01:48:33 Osai-Kwapon, CDD Ghana fellow. Mr. Vitus Azeem, he's an anti-craft campaigner, a long-standing one.

01:48:39 Mr. Kwaku Pintil is a legal practitioner. Well, Doc, let me start with you on this code of conduct

01:48:48 that we're expecting it to come out. I understand that we already have the conduct of public

01:48:56 officers bill 2013. What is the status of that and why do we need a new one which we understand

01:49:05 is at the cabinet level? So from what I understand in terms of I think something the Attorney General

01:49:15 said that it needs strengthening, right? That you need something in place that have a much

01:49:25 stronger bite that allows you to get the kind of behavior from public officials that

01:49:35 that you hope for, which is what I think is driving the new draft bill that is making its way

01:49:45 through the process. But for me, the bigger question is not how many rules we put in place

01:49:56 or how many new rules we put in place. For me, the bigger question is always how ready are we to

01:50:03 enforce the rules that we put in place? Because if the rules we put in place are not enforced,

01:50:10 then you can write as many new rules as you want. You can make them stronger. You can make them

01:50:18 tougher. You can put a more stronger sanctions regime in place, stiffer punishments, etc.

01:50:29 And I'm not saying those things don't help. Those things are necessary, but they are not

01:50:35 sufficient if when situations arise, those rules will not be applied, those sanctions will not be

01:50:43 applied, or they will not be enforced. So that for me is where sometimes our good intentions behind

01:50:53 writing rules falls apart, which is the will and the determination to strictly enforce them

01:51:03 without fear of being. So the issue is not about the sort of laws that we have, but about enforcement.

01:51:13 So if we have to come out with anything like that, any bill of that sort, what should be the

01:51:20 defining characteristics in this bill such that you and I can be confident that if well-enforced,

01:51:29 it could help us achieve our aim? Right. So I mean, in something like that, Ed,

01:51:36 you have to look out for the mechanisms you put in place to structure the behavior that you want in

01:51:47 public official. So I'll use myself as an example. I work at a public university. Every year,

01:51:55 I'm required to file an ethics disclosure statement. And in that statement, I have to report,

01:52:03 even though I've already filed my taxes with the IRS, I have to report all my sources of income.

01:52:10 I have to report any investments that I have for myself, any investments that I have on behalf

01:52:18 of my children. If I've gone to work anywhere else, even work that I do on a voluntary basis,

01:52:25 for example, I'm a fellow with CDD Ghana, I have to report all of that. So those are the rules in

01:52:33 place. But there are also mechanisms that ensure that those rules are followed. So every year,

01:52:41 before the due date comes around, I get an email from the legal counsel's office of my university

01:52:48 to say, this thing is due, and you have to complete it. And if you are unable to complete

01:52:54 it on the due date, you have to file for an extension with the ethics office of the New York

01:53:01 state, which is the state in which I live. You would also get reminders from the states that

01:53:05 this thing is due. Once you file it, you do get an acknowledgement from the state that

01:53:13 it's been done. And if there are, it is reviewed. So if there are issues that are not clear,

01:53:19 if there are questions that are not clear, you can expect that you would get a follow up that says,

01:53:26 can you clarify your answer in point one, or can you clarify your answer in point two, right?

01:53:33 So those kinds of mechanisms, you know, gives you that confidence that it's not just something on

01:53:41 paper that says you have to do it. But there are also others who are involved in the process of

01:53:48 monitoring it and ensuring that one, you have completed it, that two, the system is counting

01:53:56 on the fact that you have completed it, honestly, to the best of your ability. But there's also a

01:54:04 verification process that allows the enforcement officers at the back end of the process,

01:54:11 to validate whatever it is that you have reported. And so when you put a code of conduct in place,

01:54:19 which this draft bill is seeking to do, you also want to make sure that it has the kinds of

01:54:25 processes and mechanisms that ensures that one, the public officials who are required to report

01:54:33 whatever it is that they have to report, for example, will do it on time. And there's someone

01:54:40 who ensures that they do. And if they don't, there is a penalty for that. If I don't, I can get,

01:54:47 for example, in my case, I can get an extension for filing, right? But even that I have to make

01:54:54 a case for why I need an extension for filing that statement. And if I refuse to file it,

01:54:59 there are sanctions, including losing my job that I can face. So those are some of the things that

01:55:07 you can put in place to give a code of conduct and ethics bill some bite.

01:55:14 - And in your jurisdiction, is this something that, I mean, the information you've provided

01:55:21 to the authorities is available to the public that they can assess when the need arises?

01:55:26 - Yes, when the need arises. So everything from my role, my offices, budget, my salary,

01:55:36 all of those things are public information, information that the public can assess. And

01:55:45 all of it is done so that if I'm living a certain lifestyle, that doesn't necessarily match my-

01:55:54 - Income.

01:55:56 - My salary and benefits as a public officer or someone who is associated with a public institution,

01:56:04 questions can be raised and I can be called upon to explain why, as an officer with a public

01:56:13 university, I'm earning X amount and yet my lifestyle seems to suggest that, or my lifestyle

01:56:20 doesn't put in good match what my salary seems to suggest. And sometimes there could be legitimate

01:56:25 reasons for that, but these are the things that ensure that those of us who work in the public

01:56:34 sector do not create a certain impression in the minds of citizens that we are engaged in

01:56:42 unethical behavior.

01:56:44 - Must be a similar arrangement if we are to do it in Ghana. I'm asking this because our,

01:56:50 I mean, declaration of asset assistance now is treated as confidential. So if I declare that I

01:56:58 have social and social properties, it will not be giving out to the public, it's only held by the

01:57:03 auditor general and his mandated officers, but not the general public. That's why I'm asking

01:57:12 whether there should be a practice that Ghana should look at.

01:57:16 - Yeah, I mean, every country has to look at its country context when it is developing

01:57:25 these things. But I honestly believe that a practice like that helps and it helps the

01:57:32 public servants themselves. I don't think we have gotten to that point where public servants

01:57:39 recognize that some of these rules are designed to protect them. Protect them in the sense that

01:57:46 they are always under a veil of suspicion. They are always viewed as guilty until you prove your

01:57:55 innocence, things like that. And so when you shine a light on the things that you are able to shine a

01:58:02 light on, that it protects you, the public servant, it protects you from getting into trouble. If you

01:58:09 look at our asset declaration, for example, if I understand what happens, even the auditor general

01:58:17 to whom the asset declaration is filed cannot even take a look at it. So can you imagine,

01:58:25 I can give you an envelope in which I claim that I have declared my assets and for all you know,

01:58:32 it could even be an identity sheet. But there has to be some reasonable amount of verification

01:58:41 in the process, right? That you can designate individuals who can at least look at that asset

01:58:50 declaration, verify that you have truthfully reported everything. And then on a year-to-year

01:58:57 basis, be able to do some comparisons to see what has significantly changed. Like I said, in my case,

01:59:07 if I report a particular income in a given year, and the following year I file my ethics disclosure

01:59:14 and my income has doubled or tripled, it would definitely raise a red flag. There could

01:59:20 definitely be legitimate reasons why my income has doubled or tripled, but I would have to explain

01:59:27 that when a red flag is triggered. And all of those things for me, again, it's designed to protect

01:59:36 you, the public official. It helps you not get into trouble. It helps you not, you know, continue

01:59:43 to live under this veil of suspicion, right? Because everybody sort of has this perception that,

01:59:49 you know, people in the public sector are in there not to serve, you know, or not to offer a public

01:59:56 good or serve the public, but are in there for themselves. And all of those things for me are

02:00:01 designed to really help protect the system and protect those who work in the system.

02:00:08 Okay. Let me bring in Mr. Vitus Azim now. Mr. Azim, you've been around for a very long time.

02:00:14 All of these issues are things that you've contributed to over the years. What has been

02:00:19 our challenge? Why we are not able to really have that, you know, ethics of conduct for public

02:00:29 officers and to even have an effective asset declaration regime?

02:00:33 It was ridiculous. It's ridiculous to say that we are going to IMLS to ask for support

02:00:46 to devolve our code of conduct there. Because this was done by the least, as I just described.

02:00:57 This has been worked on for a very long time.

02:00:59 SAC has produced guidelines for conduct of public officers. And

02:01:06 civil society has put these things together. Parliament has produced one. President Mahama

02:01:14 launched one for political appointees. And for that we say today that we are going to the IMLS

02:01:20 to look for money to develop a code of conduct law. I find it very, very ridiculous.

02:01:26 Our leaders do not want the code of conduct law because they know what it would mean to them.

02:01:33 They do not want to comply with the code of conduct. Even the asset declaration law

02:01:40 that has now been incorporated into the code of conduct there.

02:01:44 We went with parliamentarians to go in 2008

02:01:52 to discuss and let the state approve the regulations. There were three key issues.

02:02:01 One, inclusion of spouse and children of minor age. Two, verification. And three, publication.

02:02:13 All these parliamentarians know they will do that. That their spouses and children are not

02:02:18 public officers and should not be included in the asset declaration law.

02:02:22 There is a constitution that provides for verification and publication. So the three

02:02:29 are overbought. And the ordinary general at the time said there was no point in getting the

02:02:34 regulation because the state did not want it passed. And so that asset declaration law is just

02:02:43 in the shell. You can't do that. You put a blank sheet of paper and you are involved and

02:02:47 give the money. You are issuing the receipt and not answering. So we have the law already in draft.

02:02:56 A very good law drafted by a renowned justice of the Supreme Court before. We do not need to

02:03:04 reinvent the wheel. We do not need new money to develop a code of conduct bill. We just need to

02:03:10 bring it before parliament with maybe with parliament and cabinet approval. You issue it

02:03:17 and it can be passed. But the political world is not there. People don't want to declare their

02:03:23 assets because they want to hide their assets. And I think for me, that's very unfortunate because

02:03:30 if you are a public officer, there's no reason why you should want to hide certain aspects of

02:03:36 their life. Of course, there are private things that you should hide, but not certain things

02:03:40 in the public domain. So it's just inertia, lack of public interest and political will

02:03:50 to get the right thing done. If that's the case, then it looks almost likely that

02:03:59 we might never get that because if the people who are mandated or the authority to get this done for

02:04:07 us are not ready to commit to it, then we better take it that we're not going to have it at all.

02:04:12 What must change? What must we do to ensure that that is done? We are not going to have it now

02:04:18 because next year, the parliamentarians are going to be busy with their campaign. And at the end of

02:04:24 the election, the bill will be thrown back and it has to go through the same process again.

02:04:29 These are the same things that happened to the right to information bill. It will go to parliament

02:04:36 before they can even debate this, the time comes for a new election and then it's thrown away.

02:04:42 This is what has happened to this bill. This bill has already been put before parliament before.

02:04:47 So why are we talking about a new bill? It's because they don't want to do the right thing.

02:04:54 So we are not going to have it, at least not this time, because 2024 is not far away.

02:04:58 Next year's campaign, parliamentarians are going to be busy doing their campaign.

02:05:02 They're not going to have time. Very soon, the budget will be presented to parliament again.

02:05:06 They'll take a few days to just look at it and break up for Christmas.

02:05:09 So I think that we even need a new breed, a new crop of parliamentarians if we want certain basic

02:05:19 important laws passed in this country for us. Otherwise, we are just doing the same thing.

02:05:24 So this bill you're talking about, it's already before parliament.

02:05:30 Is it a conduct of public offices bill 2013? Is that what you're referring to?

02:05:34 Yes. That's 10 years old.

02:05:38 Yes, yes, yes.

02:05:40 10 years old. You don't need money to go and revise it to send it back to parliament.

02:05:46 A 10-year-old bill, we cannot get it passed. Whatever revisions are required,

02:05:52 we have the CIS electronic general service. Do we need to look for money to get the bill

02:05:59 through again? When we have engaged somebody to work on it,

02:06:03 and it now incorporates the asset creation provision in trade. And that's what they need for

02:06:10 next year. Issues like, oh, if I declare my assets publicly, I'm going to come out to meet.

02:06:16 It is not the asset declared by the public, I'm going to come out to meet. They see you driving,

02:06:20 selling cars. They see you going to certain hotels to stay and to eat. They see the good,

02:06:27 they're prepared to go and the presentation to make. They know that what you are capable of doing.

02:06:32 But are you the most endangered species in town? You have bodyguards.

02:06:38 You have security for the majority. I'm out of there guiding them. What should I do after you?

02:06:46 All right. Let me bring in Loya Kukupintil here. Loya, what should be the key element

02:06:57 in such a bill, if indeed we are to get one? Mr. Azim tells us that the 2013 one is 10-year-old.

02:07:05 It has not been passed. It's still in Parliament. We say we're going to draft a new one for you

02:07:11 and your experience in law. What should be the key element of such a bill or such a law?

02:07:16 Francis, in one way. And by that, what I mean is that whatever our public offices,

02:07:27 our judges, all those who we pay. I'm talking about the taxpayers' money going to their

02:07:37 well-being and funding. Information is available to us as taxpayers. It's as simple as that.

02:07:44 Look at what is the use of failing forms which will never be verified by anybody because it's

02:07:53 the public who are the witnesses to this, who we live with in our communities. And obviously,

02:08:01 for anybody to be able to tell whether anybody is living in accordance with rules, regulations

02:08:10 and that we have provided for, it must be the jury. The jury is the members of your own community.

02:08:18 I mean, it can't be anybody else. But you know, all the previous speakers, I listened very

02:08:23 carefully to all of them. It's the same frustrating point, which is it requires executive action.

02:08:30 It's not like somebody talking about the old lady becomes uncomfortable when you begin to talk about

02:08:35 bones or dry bones. So that's what our politicians have become. And it's my view of the matter that

02:08:41 if it gets to a point, one day I hope, but I'm not frustrated to the point of giving up hope.

02:08:50 One day, one day, this law will come into being. It's just a question of time. But for civil

02:08:55 society organizations to keep up the talk, when the debate in this country becomes policy-based,

02:09:03 in other words, I mean, issues-based, that's what I mean, issues-based, then regardless of

02:09:09 political parties that we belong to, regardless of whom we support and whom we don't support,

02:09:15 we will come to appreciate that Ghana will always be Ghana and that the people that sometimes we

02:09:21 even support and we follow and so forth and so on, they are not worth the hero worship that we

02:09:27 give to them because we could even do better, but we could go into their shoes. But then let me round

02:09:32 up, let me make this point. You know, I've had the benefit and opportunity of, I mean, being a privy

02:09:39 to certain records, which are official records anyway. I'm talking of going back after Nkrumah's

02:09:46 overthrow, after I made this point on your show, I mean, some weeks back, the Anindya

02:09:53 Agai Assets Commission, then the Apalu, I mean, one of those assets commissions, one of them was a

02:10:00 public inquiry, when Nkrumah was overthrown and all his ministers were dragged before the assets

02:10:06 commission and the other one was a kind of public finding regarding their properties and so forth

02:10:12 and so on. I happen to know for a fact that Kwame Nkrumah's economic advisor was called Dr. Emmanuel

02:10:18 Ayekumi, I mean, and I want you to cast your mind back to the hostility and the ferociousness of

02:10:26 the everything against Nkrumah and his ministers after his overthrow. This man went through everything

02:10:33 and at the end of the day, he was adjudged to have acquired all his assets legitimately. And if you

02:10:41 go and see the list of properties that he had acquired at that time, over 13 properties of

02:10:47 Dominica's Pontiac, goddamn, luxurious properties, and indeed was commended by the commission for

02:10:54 the meticulous way and manner that he kept records and so forth and so on. You know, so the real

02:11:02 point about what the lecture was saying, which I understood perfectly, is that, I mean, Ayekumi

02:11:07 had gone through all that, he was actually commended, but you know now what really happens is that

02:11:13 almost every politician has a tax, and with due respect and without really taxes laid. You know,

02:11:18 the popular charges about the politicians were shafted because they came in, it was Atamis who

02:11:26 for the first time brought in ministers who were very, very young, we'll give Atamis that credit,

02:11:31 but these young ministers when they came in, we saw them, and after a while we now see them both

02:11:37 inside physically and so forth and so on, and people cast all kinds of insinuations, and I don't

02:11:44 think it is fair to them that before they are taxed people believe that they are corrupt or people

02:11:50 believe, you know, it's a kind of perception, and therefore if everybody, we all consider the

02:11:57 issues for what they are, our politicians will know that it is their suplete interest that

02:12:02 they have the opportunity to be assessed by their own peers, by the people who, I mean,

02:12:09 within and among whom they live. It is their own interest, and our public officers, I mean,

02:12:15 it is their own interest, because I used Dr. Ayokumu's example to illustrate the point that

02:12:19 it's not every politician who is indeed corrupt, it's not so. Some work really hard, but unless we

02:12:26 are seeing how really hard that you work, what is it that makes you work, and not even work hard,

02:12:33 what is it that makes you have all those prophecies that we think and we attribute to corruption?

02:12:40 So this is the real issue that we have in this country, and of course our politicians, I'm not

02:12:44 too sure that they care too much, they understand the law as we say, as for the amendment, what we

02:12:50 try and do, I mean, even before the law is passed, obviously, changing circumstances of the times

02:12:56 requires that, even as a law, as somebody said, as Azim said, the law is ten years old, yes, but

02:13:02 what it means is that changes have taken place all over the place, and there are gaps to be filled.

02:13:08 - Now, even this bill itself has not been passed, it's all, you know, in there being considered,

02:13:15 that's why he's saying that ten years, a bill has been in parliament, what else do we need to draft

02:13:23 a new bill, because we have one already there. - While the bill was lying, development and issues,

02:13:29 people who studied the bill noticed that certain provisions were as it was said of the 1946

02:13:36 constitution, was a stairway, in other words, they have been uplifted by actualities, things

02:13:43 that were going on, required that those provisions even were changed to reflect a much more current

02:13:51 trend and so forth, so maybe that's the way I want to put it, so I don't use the word amendment to

02:13:55 mean that there's a law in being, it was being amended, I'm talking about changes within the

02:14:01 law even before it comes out, but please, I mean, all of these things, all these reasons are no good

02:14:08 reasons why the law has not been passed, and I'm telling you that since elections is looking us in

02:14:13 the face, I'm hoping and wishing that those who do this political debate and moderations and so forth

02:14:20 and so on, will make it a point to put it to every politician, an exact promise from every politician

02:14:27 concerning the next elections to give a direct response to his attitude towards that bill,

02:14:34 and when the next parliament possibly convenes, what he intends to do to ensure that that law

02:14:40 comes into being. That explains why I said I don't find myself so hopeless, or I don't find myself so

02:14:47 distrustful about what's going on. It is part of the Ghanaian way of doing things, we never want to

02:14:52 know the truth, we don't care what people say, and because we know we know how to write a story,

02:14:56 but one day, one day, the law will catch up with all of us, and maybe, what will do it well, it's

02:15:01 not even about public officers only, it's not only about them, it's about the people who live in our

02:15:07 communities, people are doing all kinds of things, so that one day if we see a Galensei champion has

02:15:13 built this mansion or whatever, then this last time audit may come in, and if you go all that money

02:15:19 without having passed it through the right channels and so forth, and so on, then you will have

02:15:24 something to answer for. It will help all of us as Ghanaians. But he won't come under the

02:15:31 public officers bill. He will not be, that's why I said it's not only about the public officers that

02:15:36 we must concern ourselves with, that's the hypocrisy we have in Ghana, you know, I'll put it this way,

02:15:41 public officers first, because they are the people who feed on us, they are the people who feed on us,

02:15:46 they are the people who put money into their pockets, or their weapon, they travel business class,

02:15:51 first class, all of those kind of things, some of them when they leave public service, they can't

02:15:55 even afford a trough to offer, and while they are feeding at our expense, they don't want us to,

02:16:00 they don't want to account to us of what they do with our money, and that's the bad truth,

02:16:05 I mean, no matter how anybody is angered, they should know that we feed them, they should know

02:16:10 that the uniform they have at their back, we place the uniform there, that's the difference between

02:16:15 them and us. So, but I'm saying that, working towards a just and equal society, let it not only

02:16:23 be public officers, though that's the issue we are now discussing, but I'm talking about looking into

02:16:29 the future, that's the kind of environment that I'm hoping and expressing, maybe not in Alaska,

02:16:34 maybe, who knows, maybe, but I'm hoping that one day this matter will no longer be a debate.

02:16:40 Dr. Kwapo, I mean, we learn from the best, in other jurisdictions, what could happen,

02:16:49 or what will be happening now, for us to have such a code of conduct for public officers?

02:17:01 Usually, it's, you know, issues that come up, right? Maybe, you know, incidents that you

02:17:11 never anticipated, that in the course of work, you know, you stumble upon, it comes up,

02:17:18 and then it forces, you know, a rethinking of, you know, the rules, practices, procedures,

02:17:26 mechanisms in place, that may say to you, okay, we need to make some adjustments, or we need to

02:17:33 broaden, you know, we need to broaden the scope of activities that this covers. I'll give you a

02:17:39 clear example. So, at my institution, for example, last year, as we got closer to Christmas, the

02:17:46 legal council had to clarify what gifts were acceptable, because, you know, sometimes officers

02:17:55 have these small gift exchanges called Sacred Santa, and there were issues about what is considered an

02:18:03 appropriate gift to, you know, a colleague, a co-worker, someone who reports to you. And so,

02:18:10 the legal council had to clarify that and say, all right, if you want to give a gift, it can't be any

02:18:15 more than $15, maximum. And if it's a gift of food, it has to be presented in such a way that everybody

02:18:24 within the office, you have to put it in a public space so everybody can eat some. So, there's some

02:18:31 of these things that sometimes triggers, you know, the need to look at the rules in place, and whether

02:18:38 either, for example, they need clarification, or they need tweaking, or you need to add,

02:18:42 you know, a few more rules, so that, again, you protect yourself, you protect the institution.

02:18:50 But, Azim, from what Doc has said, and from, you know, you laying the background, the foundation

02:18:58 that it's been such a long time since we've had a certain bill in Parliament, does it seem to

02:19:05 suggest that the politicians, I mean, in quote, those who are close with the authority to ensure

02:19:10 that we get certain laws, are not really, you know, they don't care whether or not we have a law

02:19:18 that would make sure that the right things are done within their space, and in the space of the

02:19:23 public office? -

02:19:25 That they don't care. They don't want such laws in place. We all just seek to protect their behavior.

02:19:34 They do not want to have those laws in place. They don't think that, I mean, it does feel like

02:19:41 to upset them at best. Let's look at the Right to Information Bill. It took us how long to get it

02:19:47 passed? After several advocates, we met various committees of Parliament and the different

02:19:53 different parliamentary sections before it was finally passed. Transparency and accountability

02:19:58 are things that politicians do not want, because they think that they are going to expose them if

02:20:06 they do the wrong thing, and probably use it to sort of control their behavior.

02:20:14 But if you come genuinely to serve, you should not be afraid of that. If you don't have any

02:20:20 intention of looting the system, you should be able to allow these things to go through,

02:20:25 especially the leadership. We cannot say that every politician behaves in the same way.

02:20:32 So how about the leaders? You are chosen as a leader. You can bring pressure to bear on your

02:20:39 membership to do certain things, but this doesn't seem to happen. Look, when we're doing the Right

02:20:44 to Information Bill, we met certain committees. They will assure us in the meeting that everything

02:20:50 will be fine. But when you go out, they tell you that, "Oh, that bill won't be passed." They say

02:20:56 it openly to friends that that bill will not be passed until just recently that the bill got passed.

02:21:03 So it is that commitment and the fear of the unknown. What is society and the citizens going

02:21:12 to use this law for? Will it be used to harm us? And that is the main problem I see.

02:21:19 So if they don't want it, what should then be, or who should become our savior? Because the people

02:21:31 who are supposed to do it now, as you say, they don't want it. Do we have to throw our hands in

02:21:36 the air, or there is something we can do? Sometimes the international community may

02:21:43 come in, donors may come in. Now that we are having an IMF program, it is possible that the

02:21:53 IMF and the other donors may put pressure on the government to have that bill passed,

02:21:58 especially with the regulations surrounding the monies that were found in somebody's house.

02:22:03 And that's why even though I say it's ridiculous, I'm not surprised that the government is going to

02:22:11 IMF to look for monies to get that bill passed. So there's probably outside pressure, and sometimes,

02:22:18 even though we don't like conditionalities, sometimes we may have to find solace in such

02:22:24 conditionalities to get our leaders to work. So I think that's the only way out of this situation.

02:22:32 It has been there for long, tried to leave its guidelines, and yet nothing is happening.

02:22:37 Lapinto, what should we do?

02:22:42 We said that it took how many years for the Right to Information Act to come into being? It faced

02:22:53 similar resistance as this Act is also facing. But they say the price of freedom is eternal

02:23:00 vigilance. At the end of the day, the law comes into being not because the politicians wish it,

02:23:05 but because at the end of the day, the call becomes so loud that to keep ignoring it becomes

02:23:13 another thing altogether. I would think it's very shameful if we really have to wait for these

02:23:19 breaking rules, institutions to begin to use it as a conditionality. But quite naturally,

02:23:25 some of these things, we bring it unto ourselves. And if that's to be so, we'll thank God for it.

02:23:30 At the end of the day, if it comes into being, however it comes into being, we'll be grateful

02:23:36 to God for what comes into being and makes our public officers accountable. And I agree with the

02:23:42 video speaker that the worst is currently going on, even though our lady has not been pronounced

02:23:48 guilty yet. But it gives an idea of how by miraculous circumstances our politicians come by

02:23:54 all kinds of funds. And at the end of the day, it puts all of us into this rural area and all the

02:24:00 drama that we are going through. But we hope that one day this law will come into being. I mean,

02:24:06 the politicians will bow to public pressure. And that's why I'm saying that let's make it an issue.

02:24:12 Civil society organizations, let's bring the issue to the very top of the agenda. All the

02:24:19 journalists, you are one of them. You, you are one. You are speaking to us. You are one of them.

02:24:23 You're going to engage politicians very soon. Put that question pointedly to them and ask them in

02:24:28 their opinion, what is it that they do not want to ascend or consent to the law coming into being,

02:24:35 the bill becoming a law. Let's get it extracted from our parliamentarian. You saw what happened

02:24:41 in parliament the last time that we're talking about this anti-gay law. The speaker put it

02:24:46 directly to the whole house. Let anyone, if there are any men or women here who is against what we

02:24:52 are doing and there was silence. I believe that if a similar question finds its way on the floor of

02:24:59 parliament, I'm not too sure that we're going to get one parliamentarian to speak against it or to

02:25:06 say that it's supposed to the law being, but how the issue comes to the floor of parliament

02:25:13 is what we are all talking about. I believe that with a chorus going up into a crescendo,

02:25:20 one day the politicians themselves cannot help it. Thank you very much.

02:25:24 Grateful. Uh, let me, let me end with you with your, your suggestion on the way forward from here.

02:25:32 I think, I mean, I, I, I, I hope that the, the, the bill would not keep languishing.

02:25:39 As I keep saying, for me, I see these rules as designed to protect the public officer to help him

02:25:49 or her not to get into trouble, to, you know, take away any veil of suspicion that the regularly and

02:25:58 consistently work on that. But I don't think they do recognize that they see these things.

02:26:04 My suspicion is that they see some of these reporting things as an intrusion in their

02:26:12 private spaces. And so I think until such time that we get to a point where we can sensitize

02:26:19 them to realize that it endures to their own benefit, then I think we can make some, some

02:26:25 good progress. Because, I mean, for a bill to stall that long tells me that the, the, the public

02:26:32 say bands are not sure whether this thing is supposed to hit, you know, protect them or harm

02:26:38 them. Probably they are thinking of it as this won't help us. But when they start thinking of it

02:26:43 as this is for our own benefit, we can, we, we, we can make some progress and move and move this

02:26:50 forward. Doc, I'm grateful. And regards to the young ladies who disturb you, those, those ones.

02:26:54 So I'm grateful to you. Mr. Vitus Azeem is an anti-graft campaigner. I'm grateful to all of

02:27:05 you gentlemen for joining us. This is still the AM Show. We'll take a quick break. We'll return

02:27:10 with more. Stay with us.

02:27:11 [Music]

02:27:21 [Music]

02:27:48 All right. So welcome back to the AM Show. Let's take you to the, you know, northeast and talk

02:27:54 about what has been happening there. You know, that over the past few days, we've been reporting

02:27:59 about a torrential rainfall that, that, you know, caused a lot of havoc in that part of the country.

02:28:06 A main bridge even was, you know, destroyed. The road was also destroyed as you're watching

02:28:14 on the screens now. Farmlands have been taken over by water. It's difficult for people in that part

02:28:20 of the country to really go about their daily activities like they used to because of the

02:28:25 impact of this flooding situation. Now, the minister for that region, Yidana Zakaria,

02:28:32 has been touring these, I mean, situations, I mean, touring these places to assess the extent

02:28:41 of damage and he joins us on the line. We'll also be joined by our northeast regional correspondent.

02:28:47 He would also be joining us. He's also with us here. And we also have the NADMO director

02:28:57 joining us as well. Good morning to you. Grateful that you could join us.

02:29:01 Good morning to you and to your service.

02:29:05 Let me start with you, Mr. Zakaria. You have been to these places. What did you see?

02:29:13 Thank you for the question. What is left behind is destruction. What is left behind

02:29:25 is large swaths of farmland washed away, crops submerged in water. Several homes have been

02:29:34 destroyed and roads, portions of our roads have been washed away. That is what has been left

02:29:42 behind and it gives a very disturbing situation. Okay. So, Mr. Honorable, we understand that since

02:29:56 the deputy minister for roads and highways came in, you started some remedial works, but

02:30:02 that is not the entire solution. What have you planned to do to bring an end to this? Because

02:30:09 the dam has broken its banks, it needs to be reconstructed and to ensure that we don't

02:30:14 experience what we're experiencing. What is the plan? Ever since this issue came to the fore,

02:30:24 wherever we are, we go with our engineers. And we even invited the Ghana

02:30:32 engagement development authority, a donor official for the northern sector. He came

02:30:43 and visited some of the dams. He has assured us he's putting together his report. Because the

02:30:51 dams are constructed along the road. And that, according to him, can be a potential danger. And

02:31:01 they will need to do some reengineering. The road, we move along with the regional directors,

02:31:08 urban road, highway, and cedar road. They see the situation on the ground and you listen to them,

02:31:17 they tell you that they will need to do some reengineering work. The culverts and bridges

02:31:23 that were constructed some time ago do not seem now to be able to carry the huge volumes of water.

02:31:31 And so some reengineering has to be done if we are to construct the broken bridges and culverts.

02:31:39 And in some areas, they said they need to raise the height of the road some level so that that

02:31:47 can help in redirecting water to pass through the bridges and culverts. So that is the engineering

02:31:55 bit of it. The houses that have been flooded and collapsed, if you observe critically,

02:32:03 all those houses are on low-lying areas. So the NADO officials are advising people whose homes

02:32:14 have been destroyed not again to burn on such low-lying areas. They should move to higher ground.

02:32:22 And we will stand on that and speak with people to understand that if they come back to the same

02:32:29 low-lying area, next time they are raised, the same fate will befall them. So in that area of

02:32:38 rebuilding, we think that it will be a no-no for anybody who wants to come back and build on those

02:32:45 low-lying areas. What we cannot do is a farmland. Because, you know, land is cash. Where people farm,

02:32:57 if it is a low-lying area, we don't have the option to say that we will move you to a higher

02:33:04 ground. Those of them who farm right, you know, the values are quite, they are set high. So they

02:33:11 do early cropping that has been washed away. So, seriously speaking, that is an area we all need

02:33:19 to brainstorm. Because if you tell them not to farm there, the question is where else do they have to

02:33:26 go and farm. So that one I think we need to face. But those issues that we can deal with,

02:33:36 we are dealing with them. Government support has come in, but, you know, government cannot do

02:33:46 all for us. So I have always been using a medium to call on corporate governors and individuals who

02:33:54 can come to our aid within and outside this country to come to this young region that is

02:34:01 facing very serious challenges now. I think that is what I have to say. What kind of support has

02:34:08 government brought in? You spoke about it but we don't know the details. You know, when portions

02:34:15 of roads were washed away, initial response from government, very quick, was to fix the roads,

02:34:23 to make them more durable. And we are very thankful for that. So some of the areas that were cut off

02:34:29 have been fixed and people can now move. But there are still areas that have to be worked on.

02:34:36 And to be honest with you, when I was at Gimsili yesterday, Gimsili to Betuligu

02:34:42 cannot be fixed anytime soon. If you see the volume of water, no constructor can redirect

02:34:51 the water to be able to do any meaningful work to reconnect the communities there. That may take

02:34:58 some months until the water is received. So the engineers were there and we couldn't see them.

02:35:05 We had to come back. So for those areas, it's like we may have to wait for some two to three months

02:35:13 for the water to receive so that they can be accessed. Well, no constructor will risk his

02:35:19 men and equipment to go to those areas. There is a story in some parts of the Sipwoni district.

02:35:26 The GCE and the LPE have tried several to reach out to some areas and they have not been able to.

02:35:34 And the LPE is still at home, Honorable Raza. The GCE is at home. Myself, I wanted to go there

02:35:42 today. We are even thinking of how to get access. I wanted to drive through the Yiro district

02:35:51 to the place, but that appears not to be possible.

02:35:55 Is the Pualugu Dam close to you? The proposed Pualugu Dam, is it close to you?

02:36:05 Oh, Pualugu Dam, more or less, is in the northeast region. But for the river,

02:36:14 if only when they overflow the bank, that communities around will be inundated with

02:36:22 water. But the several years of education by your media and others, people have now come to

02:36:28 understand that they cannot every year go through the same experience. So if you get to hear from

02:36:36 people, it's only some lands that have been submerged. The communities themselves are not

02:36:42 in those low-lying areas. So in that regard, our biggest worry is the dams that have been flooded.

02:36:51 But for human life, thanks to our maker, I think that they have recorded two deaths.

02:36:59 That's unfortunate. But if it were in the past, it would have been more than that.

02:37:03 Okay, so two people have died? So far, yes. One died on his way from Geturi to Binturi.

02:37:15 He was caught in the rain and he didn't know that a crater had actually been created on the road.

02:37:22 So he fell into it. Unfortunately, that was the end of his life. A community called God Beneath,

02:37:30 one little boy, no children in water, whatever happened, when the parents were busy trying to

02:37:39 salvage what they caught, this child out of nowhere decided to swim in the water. And that

02:37:47 also was the end of his life. So these two, unfortunately, we lost them. A third person

02:37:54 was injured and he's still going through a treatment at the Bangachanga Regional Hospital.

02:38:02 And we are praying for him to recover. So had the dam not broken its banks,

02:38:08 this wouldn't have happened, right?

02:38:09 I wouldn't say so. Because there have been three areas that I'm talking about in the 3.8. It's not

02:38:18 about dams, the banks. It is just about what we call floods everywhere. It's not about dams.

02:38:30 Because many of those areas are low lying. And so when it rains, the ramble is what I call it.

02:38:39 The dam issue is only the one that is at vanish, which breaks the bank and eroded the road and

02:38:48 carried away the bridge. So that is it. The other human threat is the dam in the regional capital,

02:38:57 Manerwe. That one, we have a close eye on it. And some steps have been taken

02:39:03 through the intervention of his excellency, the vice president, to quickly maintain it in order

02:39:09 that that one does not suffer the fate of the dam. So let me say that the experience of flooding

02:39:19 is not all up to be set to dams bursting their banks. It's not exactly the case. The only case

02:39:28 is the banning example. But for most parts of the Eastman Pulse, the Union District,

02:39:34 the Bunkungun, Nakandiri and the State Police District, it's just flooding. It's not a result

02:39:39 of dams bursting the banks. Okay. Hold the line for me. Let me bring in the NADMO director for

02:39:46 the North East region, Kweku Alhassan. Kweku, I'm grateful for joining us here. What is the

02:39:53 extent of damage from all of this flooding situations in the region? First of all,

02:40:00 let me apologize to my minister for not updating him on the depth of the port.

02:40:07 Because they were having challenges with our network. So I want to give him that update,

02:40:13 but it wasn't for him. So the Westman Pulse municipality, we have two of the depths.

02:40:21 The Eastman Pulse, we have one. Union and one. So in all the depths, it's four. But apart from that,

02:40:29 I'm not sure if it's anything new for me to add to what the regional minister has said. Because

02:40:35 part of the team that went around to do the assessment, as he has indicated,

02:40:41 what has happened to us or what has left behind is just about destruction. But what I can also say

02:40:47 is to also thank government and NADMO for responding swiftly to the plight of the

02:40:53 victims in the region. The director general early tested some relief items in Wakuwale.

02:40:59 And then also promised that somewhere coming back to the day before yesterday, we received some of

02:41:04 the items. Yesterday, we received some other items too. So I'm yet to meet with the regional

02:41:11 minister and other stakeholders for us to see how we can do to help these victims.

02:41:17 In the military area, there was this municipality, Jimbali, that was completely pulled down as a

02:41:25 result of the flood. So we collaborated with Ghana Education Service and released a particular school

02:41:31 for us. We went to house them there. And we also provided some relief items and other logistics.

02:41:39 Today and tomorrow, we'll be going back to them and see how best to support them.

02:41:44 What the minister suggests, the situation is not all that good. But the government

02:41:49 cannot handle the situation. We are appealing to other organizations,

02:41:55 churches and other religious organizations to also come out to support the victims.

02:41:59 So what are the details of the dead? You said four people?

02:42:08 Yes. Made up of who and who?

02:42:12 They are the result of drowning. But one of them,

02:42:14 who is the child, it was the room that collapsed on her and her men's side. Yes.

02:42:21 Which part?

02:42:24 That's the unit on this street in a community called Zambuchi.

02:42:27 Okay. Yes.

02:42:29 So that's a building collapse, right?

02:42:32 Yes, yes, yes.

02:42:33 Okay. And then the other three are drowning?

02:42:36 Yes, drowning. Yes, yes.

02:42:37 Hmm. The minister said one person is a child. So apart from the child,

02:42:44 are all the other three adults or we've had more children?

02:42:48 No, the two are adults. The two are kids.

02:42:53 Okay. Yes.

02:42:54 Yes. Okay. Interesting.

02:42:59 So what sort of support are you giving to the people now as we speak?

02:43:06 Well, we are giving them food items like rice, like oil, blankets, mattresses,

02:43:13 backpacks and other cooking utensils. We know there are cooking utensils and most of the

02:43:19 belongings have been washed away and they use food. So these are some of the supplies we are

02:43:22 giving to the people for now.

02:43:24 I see some people's produce were also, you know, drenched in water and they tried

02:43:35 relocating those ones. Some people have been displaced from their homes.

02:43:40 Have you found a place for these people to keep them safe for now?

02:43:46 Like I said, over here, our people are such that when they are displaced and you try to

02:43:53 provide them with a safe haven for them to go and stay there, sometimes some of them are not

02:43:57 comfortable with that. They prefer going to be with their relatives. And when it happens like

02:44:01 that, we don't have a problem with that. We will not allow them to go and stay with their relatives

02:44:07 and then the support that we have, we provide them. And things that are a bit, we take them

02:44:14 to the safe havens and then make the necessary provisions for them to stay in their comfort.

02:44:17 All right. So if someone decides to come in to offer support, what kind of support do you need?

02:44:30 Oh, the support can be in various forms. It could be food items, building materials,

02:44:35 clothing, cooking utensils, even cash. It's also because their businesses and

02:44:43 other things have been disrupted. So the support can be in that form.

02:44:52 Okay. All right then. So let's see how it will go. But are you picking a report of the situation

02:45:01 today? As we speak, what's the latest on this matter, on this flooding situation?

02:45:05 Like my minister indicated to you, you see some of the areas are not accessible. So you will not

02:45:11 be able to get there. But we have the idea about what is happening there because the farmland,

02:45:18 and then the road network, the movement is actually difficult for them. But like I said,

02:45:23 we are on the ground trying to see how best we can help the situation within our own capacity.

02:45:28 But the places that you can assess, is the water receding?

02:45:34 Yeah, not as much because I just want to take our time to do the proper thing because we have

02:45:44 been able to do assessment in 66 communities across the region. So we are still doing the

02:45:51 assessment. So as and when we are done, we'll share the report with you.

02:45:56 All right. I pray that you are able to reach the hard to reach communities because we don't know

02:46:02 what's happening. I mean, you may be getting a report, but as to exactly what the extent,

02:46:07 you may have to be there to see for yourself. So we pray that you're able to assess these

02:46:10 communities early. But let me give up to Mr. Yedana Zakaria. So we're also picking, you know,

02:46:19 information that probably the military should be involved here so that you can reach these

02:46:27 hard to reach communities. Is that something that you are considering?

02:46:33 I think that for now, we will make attempts with NABU and other institutions that are involved in

02:46:46 this to try to see the big things we can do. When it comes to that point, when we release the

02:46:52 military, we will do that. I don't want to be an alarmist. I hope and pray that we overcome this

02:47:00 one too. So that is what I can say for now. For that to happen, the regional security council

02:47:07 would have to meet and take a decision based on the report that we received from the district

02:47:14 security committee. And I think that when we get to that point, we will share and

02:47:21 communicate that. But for now, we pray and hope that the rain will slow down and then

02:47:30 if the flooding will cease, we can begin to pick up the pieces.

02:47:34 So we also know that after the rains, we need water for the farms. A lot of farms are up there.

02:47:45 Going forward, any idea about harvesting the rainwater so that it can be put to use

02:47:52 after or during the dry season? I think that would be a very good thing to do.

02:47:59 Well, yesterday, that was a conversation I had with some of the engineers. They were asking

02:48:06 the question, if we have this volume of water, destroying and just running into wherever it has

02:48:14 to go, what happens in the dry season? Why would we need it for the farm? So they were also looking

02:48:20 at the possibility that in any attempt to take the road, given that we have the envelope of resources,

02:48:28 it would be very good for us to think about how we can get and clean some of the water in future.

02:48:40 That conversation is quite an interesting one. But of course, it comes with money.

02:48:47 So I believe that the authorities, including myself and all the others in the media,

02:48:56 that conversation is good for us all to engage in.

02:49:01 But as I watched the videos from the community where the bridge had been destroyed,

02:49:10 from the layman's eye, I saw that the asphalt that was applied to the road was a very thin one.

02:49:18 And of course, I'm sure you've seen that. Is this something you're looking into to see why

02:49:23 the contractor did such a job?

02:49:25 I am not in a position to query the quality of work that has been delivered.

02:49:38 But if you listen to the engineer, they tell us that the collapse of the bridge is not due to poor

02:49:46 engineering or poor work by the contractor. It is just that no engineering work would have been

02:49:56 able to withstand the pressure of the water that accounted for the sequences. But I believe what

02:50:04 you are referring to is the minimal bridge. The contractor did the work and applied the first

02:50:13 coat of decrement surface. He was supposed to do a second one. But that is after you have allowed

02:50:20 some time for the first one to dry up, for them to observe where they would need to do to get the

02:50:29 totality done. That is where you are referring to. So let me say that from the information that I

02:50:35 have had, it was just the first coat of decrement surface that was done. So if you visit the site,

02:50:43 even before the rail, the contractor was on site trying to secure the approaches of the road

02:50:55 again, the bridge. That work was still ongoing before all this happened. But thankfully,

02:51:01 that bridge in particular has not been destroyed. So what they only need to do is to come back

02:51:08 and clean the gravel, ram it up, and then apply the decrement surface.

02:51:12 All right. We'll still be keeping tabs on you to find out what's happening because it's quite

02:51:21 a situation when you hear that some communities have been cut off and you cannot assess them at

02:51:25 all. So our heart and our heart are with you. We pray that things normalize so that things

02:51:33 will be okay for you. But just before, Mr. Lassan, before I let you go, what sort of

02:51:41 advice would you give the people in those areas who maybe could be listening to us?

02:51:50 I know it is not easy for them. I understand the situation that they are going through,

02:51:55 but I'm only appealing to them to continue to be patient with the government and the leadership

02:52:01 as we try to roll out measures to help them overcome this problem.

02:52:07 And also, we are still in the midst of the rain. I'm calling on them to be on their legs,

02:52:16 not to play with the floodwaters because we need them alive. So they should be on their

02:52:21 legs and be very cautious about their own safety going forward.

02:52:25 Okay. All right. Grateful to you for joining us here. John Kwekwa Lassan is the NADMO Director

02:52:32 for the Northeast Region. Earlier, you had Yidana Zakaria. He is the Regional Minister for the

02:52:39 Northeast Region. So if you just joined us, the flooding situation in that area has resulted in

02:52:45 the death of four persons, two adults and two children, one in East Mampusi, two in West Mampusi

02:52:56 and one in Union. So that is the breakdown for you. Very, very unfortunate situation. We understand

02:53:02 that from the videos we're watching and information we're gathering, lives and properties have been

02:53:09 affected badly. And all the support they can muster will be hugely important for them. So if

02:53:16 you're watching us and you feel that you can support them, kindly reach out to the people

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02:54:30 the AM show. We'll take a quick break. When we return, we'll be coming to you for your thought

02:54:36 and experiences, especially from the passport acquisition point of view. So,

02:54:42 have you tried to acquire a passport? What sort of experience do you have? You'd have

02:54:47 the opportunity to share it with us when we return. From the break, stay with us. We'll be back.

02:54:51 [Music]

02:55:20 So, welcome back from the break. Let's wrap up in style. Now, you'd join us with your thoughts

02:55:26 on the issues that we'll be, we've spoken about, but we're putting a spotlight on your experiences

02:55:33 from the passport office. The number to call us is 0302 21 1691. 0302 21 1691. But we have this

02:55:43 on our Facebook page. We want to share with you some of the comments that some of our viewers are

02:55:50 sharing with us. So, we've put the passport office Foreign Affairs Minister, SAXO, overstate

02:55:55 officers. How are some of you reacting to the story? Let's start from here. But even before

02:56:03 I go on to your comment, let's say a happy birthday to you, Chairman of the National Labor

02:56:11 Commission, Justice Kwabena Esuman Edu Retired. Today's your birthday. All the best to you,

02:56:19 Justice. Wish you the very best of life. It's coming from Ofosu Asamoah, Executive Secretary,

02:56:26 National Labor Commission. So, to the Chairman of the National Labor Commission,

02:56:30 Justice Kwabena Esuman Edu Retired, a happy, happy birthday coming from all of us here

02:56:37 at JOIN News. Well, Cape Coast Ogoa says apt. So, they are a group in Cape Coast. They love

02:56:46 what the minister did. Maban Anthony says, this is the first time I'm happy seeing a minister

02:56:53 talking. God bless you, Madam Minister. Dura Abankwadan says, speaking up for what is right.

02:57:03 The wrong things must cease. Proud smogan. Okay, so let me halt here and go on to the phone lines

02:57:09 now. Do I have Frederick? Hello. Frederick, good morning to you, sir. Let's hear you.

02:57:15 Good morning. How are you? I'm well. I'm well, sir. Okay. Thank you for the show. And then

02:57:24 I think in Ghana, there are so many things going on in Ghana, which is mind-boggling.

02:57:32 We are fine. You see, this passport thing, you see, when you come to Gumasi,

02:57:36 and you go there at 6 AM, you could still keep from 6 AM till they are closed. So, what is the

02:57:50 point? Can't centralize this thing. You see, everyone wants a passport.

02:57:58 So, let me use dupe people. And those girl boys, when you go to the government, they are there.

02:58:04 Whom are they working for? Are they not working for the staff over there?

02:58:08 So, sometimes you don't even... And let me say, let me comment to the minister.

02:58:15 She didn't say that they don't know. They knew what's going on. So, they should put

02:58:21 the top on line, decentralize the thing, and those people, the girl boys, their business will be over

02:58:26 then. Thank you. So, do you have a passport? How was it when you were acquiring it? Yes, I have one.

02:58:34 I didn't pay anyone. In fact, someone assisted me to register. It's a colleague from campus.

02:58:44 And he assisted me to register online. So, I went through the process. It took about

02:58:50 almost a year before getting the... But those who paid for, I think 10,000 people had theirs

02:58:57 in about a month or two. But mine, it was almost a year. Okay. I followed the normal process.

02:59:06 Okay. So, when he followed the normal process, it took him a longer time. You can also call us

02:59:12 0302211691 to share your point. But let's continue with some of the photos that some of you are

02:59:19 sharing on Facebook. Wavy Abdul Karim says, "This is a minister. You are good. We like your type.

02:59:30 Keep your good works. May God bless you." Yeboah, okay. I think that has gone up. Yeboah Thoma says,

02:59:37 "Well done, honorable minister." So, that's Yeboah there. Tekute Isaac says, "It's all about how

02:59:45 effective our security systems are." That's what I think. Nana Kwesi Eseamwa, Zab Zero says,

02:59:55 "Great job, minister." So, Zab Zero is happy with what the minister did. Well, Nana is calling us

03:00:02 from Kumasi, I guess. Nana, good morning to you. How are you doing, sir? Let's hear you.

03:00:08 Good morning. I have a passport. It's very, very bad. I bought the 100 Ghana one,

03:00:18 and then I went through the process. I was called and they took my bio data. I was captured,

03:00:26 and I was given 14th of February to come for it. I have gone there several times.

03:00:37 Anytime you go, they will check and they will tell you it is okay to print, but I have to get

03:00:43 somebody in a truck to facilitate its printing. It is too much. So, if you don't know anybody,

03:00:51 what the minister is saying that if you are saying is actually, it doesn't solve the problem.

03:00:56 It doesn't solve the problem. If the bio data, everything has been captured, the person is

03:01:01 captured, and it is in the system, it is fool's duty to print. You are taking money from the

03:01:08 person, even if it is five cities. You are taking money from us. So, what the minister is doing,

03:01:14 it is not enough. Something should be done. Acquisition of passport in Ghana is

03:01:19 ethical and it's a hell. Something should be done. Thank you very much.

03:01:25 So, he says that acquisition of passport in Ghana is a hell and something must definitely be done

03:01:32 about it. Give us a call on 0302211691 and we would hear your thought. Let's still share with

03:01:41 you some of the comments coming in from on Facebook. Evans Abanga says, "Great job." Bright

03:01:49 Einstein Nogo says, "God bless you." So, that's his thought today. Opoku Bwating Lebasky says,

03:01:57 "Double strength and Godspeed. I ask for you, madam." Kim Minsu says, "Very well said." Okay.

03:02:06 So, that's it. A lot of you are in agreement with what the minister said and did there.

03:02:12 Bernard is joining us on the line. Bernard, good morning to you. What's your thoughts?

03:02:17 Yes. My own concern in this issue is that I have my experience with a passport office,

03:02:24 but it was a good one actually. I did my registration online and afterwards, they gave me

03:02:32 some weeks to come and do the capture. And after the capture, they gave me three months to come and

03:02:39 take the passport. And when I went after three months, I got a passport. So, I think that what

03:02:45 the minister did is a good thing. But I think that the problem is with the people. If we can

03:02:53 try to get our passport or do the process and wait so that we can get it rather than going for,

03:03:03 or let me say last minute going for the passport. This is where the problem is.

03:03:08 Okay. I hope you understand. Yeah, I understand. But is it not also true that sometimes somebody

03:03:13 can be given a time within which he or she can get the passport, but because he hasn't seen anybody,

03:03:20 I mean, seen in court, he won't get to that stipulated time. It delays.

03:03:24 Yeah, that's why I'm saying that with my experience, I got it on the time that they gave me.

03:03:30 I went for the capture at the time they told me to come for the capture, and I got it the time they

03:03:37 told me to come for the passport. Okay. So, I'm saying that people should know that they shouldn't

03:03:42 do last minute things. No, no, no, no. That's why I'm trying to draw attention to the fact that

03:03:48 someone may have not done last minute, but because he had not seen anybody, he hasn't gotten it. So,

03:03:56 your case could be one in say a hundred, because this one, we spoke with someone who said that

03:04:04 he wanted his passport because he didn't give anything. He didn't get it on the time,

03:04:09 even though he didn't do last minute. So, it's not about last minute. It could be that because

03:04:15 you've not seen anybody, you're not getting it. It could also be that genuinely, like recently

03:04:20 happened, they ran out of papers to print the passport. So, it could be a myriad of challenges,

03:04:28 but the minister says that Goro people and people who are interfering with the system

03:04:32 are the reasons why people are suffering in getting the passport, and more people are

03:04:36 siding with that thought. Yes, it's true. It's true. That one is also a factor. There are so

03:04:42 many factors contributing. Hello? Yeah, I'm with you, sir. Yeah, there are so many factors

03:04:49 contributing to this. That is also a lack of materials to print the passport, and also these

03:04:56 Goro boys, and also with the public servants who are also exhibiting or let me see, executing their

03:05:04 work. You know, all these forms, but it could also be that people could go through the normal process

03:05:12 and wait for the appropriate time to get it. We are going to get it because I'm not the only one.

03:05:19 I did it for, I'm registered on their online platform, and I've done it for three months.

03:05:25 They say you can do it for like 10 people, and I've done it for like five people, and all those

03:05:29 people I registered for, they did it on time. They got it on time. We told them to come for it.

03:05:35 That is fine. Thank you so much for joining us. So that's his thought and experience. What is

03:05:40 your experience as well? 0302211691. Let's still share with you some of the thoughts coming in

03:05:46 here. Derek Devling Darlington says, "Your next visit is crucial. We'll be watching that episode

03:05:53 too." Okay. Derek is interested in that one. Osu Safaricha says, "God bless you, Minister."

03:06:00 Dixon Stradman says, "This is the kind of leadership we want to see. DVLA should do

03:06:08 same." Okay. So that is someone's suggestion there, madam. Go to DVLA.

03:06:12 Yousif Nana Asamoah says, "Thank you, madam. This is too much. Delay using delay." Okay. All right.

03:06:21 Interesting one there. Mohammed Fatawa Ability says, "Straight up. Great job speaking out."

03:06:26 Jason Yamua says, "People detest Honorable Ken for things like this."

03:06:33 And that is the reason why we love him more. Madam, you must be the Vice to Honorable Ken

03:06:44 for 2024. God bless Ghana. Okay. We have Isa on the line. Yeah. Isa, good morning to you.

03:06:51 Isa, good morning. Let's have your viewpoint. Have you had any experience?

03:06:57 Isa Michael did his passport online. Since almost three years, since he was a student at

03:07:07 UDS at WA. Okay. And up to now, he has been tracing up and down. He went to WA, they said

03:07:15 they've done everything. He came to Accra, someone is seeing him. They said they've done everything.

03:07:22 He's left with the passport. For almost two years now, my boy is getting crazy because of the

03:07:28 passport. Wow. He did it online for two years now, he hasn't gotten it.

03:07:33 Is it? And for two years now, he hasn't gotten the passport. He hasn't got passport. He has to

03:07:40 follow people. People are deceiving him. They will leave it for him. He has spent over a thousand

03:07:46 five. And he hasn't gotten a passport up to now. And where is your son now? Is it? Where is your

03:07:56 son now? He's now doing a, he's doing a, he's doing a national service at UBLA. Okay. Then he

03:08:07 has gone to work, but he will be back by one or two o'clock. Okay. He's known as a Dramani reader.

03:08:18 Okay. Mohammed reader. Okay. I guess you keep trying now that the minister has spoken. I'm sure

03:08:25 the effect would be that they would expedite action at these offices. So you should try again

03:08:32 and then whatever happens, I mean, we can still keep talking. Okay. And when he comes out,

03:08:38 give him this number so that he would try and call you. There's an office line when he calls,

03:08:43 it might be, but anyway, yeah, he can try it and then we see. Yeah. Thank you. Or would you

03:08:48 kindly give me your own line? I'm grateful on national TV now. It will be difficult for me too,

03:08:54 but my producer will speak to you and then, and then pick your details. So that that's, that's

03:08:58 that. But 0302211691. You can also call us and share your thoughts with us, but let's just share

03:09:05 with you some of the comments coming in from our Facebook page. A Tiamichael Nibayela Adombila

03:09:12 says Professor Mills reincarnated. Oh, really? Okay. All right. And then he gives a thumbs up

03:09:19 to the minister there. Jonathan Joe Ellicombe Akakpo. Okay. So Ben, that's your namesake.

03:09:26 Should I say I'm a proud Ghanian or should I wait? Okay. I get your drift. He wants to wait

03:09:35 more to see how this will go. Ebenezer Nyaku Asare says, why should one suffer from gaining

03:09:43 a traveling passport of his own country? The minister needs more support for this exercise.

03:09:50 Bashiru Mahi says, God bless you for this. Kobe Ebumai says this minister speaks from a real

03:10:00 experience of the Ghanian system. Okay. Padi Sherif says, oh, I can't thank you enough.

03:10:10 Okay. So that's from Padi there. Mark Ofori says great job minister. I remember former president

03:10:19 Atameos did same at Tema Haba those days. God bless those having the country at heart.

03:10:26 Bantama Kweisi Buache says, well done, madam. Continue the good work. So that's from

03:10:35 Bantama Kweisi Buache there. It reminds me of the song Bantama Kweisi Buache. Okay. All right. Now

03:10:44 Abraham Afolson Yamua says Ghana card, Ghana card. Okay. Sam Tetchy Jadidia says it took me

03:10:54 eight months before I received my passport. Okay. William calling us from Chi Hills. Willie,

03:11:04 how is Chi Hills? All is fine. All is fine, child. Okay. Let's hear you, sir.

03:11:13 Willie, where are you? I want to know what the issue is. What is the minister saying

03:11:18 concerning the shortage of their papers? Come again? What the minister is saying

03:11:27 concerning the shortage of their papers, their booklets? Well, once she's, as for those issues,

03:11:33 they told us some time ago they've resolved it. She didn't talk about it yesterday, but some time

03:11:39 ago they said they've resolved it. Now she's talking about the sort of disruption some people

03:11:45 are causing the applicant at these offices and why some people who have overstayed should leave.

03:11:51 So we're asking, what is your experience at the passport office like? If you have one,

03:11:58 give us a call and share it with us. 0302211691. 0302211691. Let's still share with you some more

03:12:07 from our Facebook page. DK says, Johnny, I'm waiting to hear from you tomorrow on your show.

03:12:17 You can't do it if you mean it. All about leadership. You can do it if you mean it.

03:12:25 It's all about leadership. Kasim Gariba says, well spoken, minister. More of these actions

03:12:33 pick up those involved and the system gradually will transform. Fifi Benji says the energy from

03:12:42 Rawlings and Mills. OK, so she loves the energy the minister portrayed there. Alfred Okunku Ncheje

03:12:51 says. Patriotism, honesty and discipline. David is calling us from Valley View. David,

03:13:00 how are you, sir? Let's hear you. Do we still have David on the line or we lost him?

03:13:09 Yeah, I am here. OK, David. Good morning, sir. Yeah. Thank you. Good morning.

03:13:26 David, don't listen to the volume of the TV. Listen to to the phone. And so we can have a

03:13:32 smooth conversation. Yeah. Yeah, I'm listening to you. We are listening to your thoughts,

03:13:39 say your experiences with this whole passport thing. OK. All right. We can still pick one or

03:13:48 two and then we can call it a wrap on the show. 0302211691. 0302211691. Let's still share with

03:13:55 you some more from Facebook. The second says decentralization will help solve half of this

03:14:02 problem. But I think now you can apply for a passport from your regions. Right. I think you

03:14:08 can. Anyway, Patrick is calling us from OK. Patrick is on the line. Oh, Tadi. OK, Patrick.

03:14:22 Let's hear you say, OK, I was very happy when I saw I saw the foreign minister's action yesterday.

03:14:27 OK, there was a time I had wanted to travel to an emergency and I applied for a passport in Accra.

03:14:34 The guy took me the guy took me thousand four hundred. He said, if I don't pay the money,

03:14:39 I can't get a passport. But the receipt, the receipt that they gave to me was 100 was a

03:14:45 hundred. You understand? I paid thousand four hundred for it, but they gave me a hundred

03:14:51 cities, a hundred cities receipt after the process. So I think what the minister has done

03:14:56 is a good thing. And I hope it is not going to be a nine days wonder because the corruption in this

03:15:00 country is too much. And those who wanted the youth in this country right now, you know, you

03:15:05 know what I'm having a dinner right now. Now there was a party like MPP and now a new person has

03:15:14 come in just two years and now you have won the election in Argentina. So, you know, what has

03:15:18 happened to the youth of this country? We also rise up one day and form our own party democratically

03:15:24 because the corruption in this country is too much. Through his passport, he took me thousand

03:15:28 four and gave me hundreds of these receipts. But you see, the person who took you the money

03:15:33 is probably not the politician. So it means that if you form your own party and you don't correct

03:15:39 the system, the person will still be in there and will be doing what he did to you to others.

03:15:45 Yes, I'm happy the minister, you know, you know, you have a fund because of that.

03:15:50 Because they are Saturdays, I don't go up and become who they want to be. And they will still

03:15:58 continue what they are doing. So I think the minister has really done well. And I think this

03:16:03 is not, I'm hoping it's not going to be a nine days wonder. If you go to DVLA to the same thing,

03:16:07 the group is like that. Everybody. Okay. So I think the government has to rise up.

03:16:13 Okay. All right. Thank you so much. I'm grateful to you for calling us. I is a ZLV Isaac. Oh,

03:16:21 Isaac, how are you? I've been waiting. Kudos on a good job, Madam Minister. That's what he says.

03:16:29 Low, Edward Mensah says you suck party boys and girls. You lose your job, Minister.

03:16:35 Okay, so I guess I get his drift. But is that what the minister is trying to do anyway? But

03:16:43 it's been an interesting day, interesting time. And thank you so much for allowing us into your

03:16:50 homes and your space. And for being part of the AM show today. Before we go anyway, let me say

03:16:56 good morning to you. Bernard Oterbill. He is with Bank of Ghana. I hope you're doing well. You had

03:17:03 your birthday over the weekend. A belated birthday to you. Bernard Oterbill. Do have a great day.

03:17:08 But thanks to you for being part of us. On behalf of the production crew, the producer, the director,

03:17:14 the cameraman, sound and everybody. We say thank you so much. Gracias. We'll meet again. Go willing

03:17:19 tomorrow.

03:17:27 So

03:17:41 so

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