There is no unity in the Police Service - Bobby Banson | AM Show

The Multimedia group
The Multimedia group
  • last year
A full discussion of Morning News and other matters arising in Ghana.

#AMShow
#AMNews
#MyJoyOnline

https://www.myjoyonline.com/ghana-news/

Subscribe for more videos just like this:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChd1DEecCRlxaa0-hvPACCw/

Follow us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joy997fm
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Joy997FM
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3J2l57

Click this for more news:
https://www.myjoyonline.com/
Transcript
00:00:00 Good morning and welcome to the AM show for today Tuesday. By the grace of God
00:00:07 we're still alive and we say thanks be to him and his name because without him
00:00:13 I'm not sure you and I will be here. So whilst we are here, remember you've been
00:00:18 given today for a purpose. So identify that purpose and work towards
00:00:24 accomplishing that one and that's how you'll be given another day to right the
00:00:28 wrongs of the previous one. So good morning to you and welcome. Now this is
00:00:34 how the show will be. We'll start of course with a news review from a
00:00:37 president of the GJA. Afeel Money is our guest this morning. After that we'll
00:00:43 bring you AM Sports with Tal Nabila. Abdullah will bring you the latest from
00:00:48 the world of sports. What's been happening? He has all of that for you. We
00:00:52 know that the Black Stars are preparing to face off in that penultimate
00:00:57 AFCON qualifier. What's the latest from camp? He will bring you that one. Now
00:01:01 today we continue our analysis of the hearing of the alleged leaked tape
00:01:05 reporting to oust Inspector General of Police Dr. George Akufo-Dampari.
00:01:10 Superintendent George Asare has sided with Commission of Police George Alex
00:01:15 Minson's suspicion that a secret tape of their conversation with Bouguere N'Abu
00:01:19 was part of a grand scheme which of course they allege that the IGP could
00:01:26 have a hand in. Now the protocol officer with the service says his checks point to
00:01:31 the IGP as being the one who facilitated a recording for the arterial gain. Now
00:01:37 the subject of this is a leaked audio in which police officers were heard
00:01:43 conspiring to find a replacement for current IGP Dr. George Akufo-Dampari.
00:01:48 But this conversation leaked sparking uproar and a parliamentary probe and
00:01:54 that parliamentary probe is bringing up a lot. Now we'll delve into this as well.
00:01:58 Now also coming up we'll tell you how a group is seeking to end childhood
00:02:03 cancers by planning to establish or construct hospitals that cater for
00:02:10 childhood cancers. The first of these centers will be built in Chibi in the
00:02:14 eastern region and with the start of a construction set for March next year.
00:02:18 This flagship operation located on 50 acres donated by tribal tribal leaders
00:02:24 will serve as original referral center of excellence for the treatment of
00:02:28 children with cancer in Africa. Now we'll also delve into forests under siege
00:02:35 produced by Erastos Asaridonko which goes deep into some notable forest
00:02:40 reserves to investigate how irresponsible mining is depleting
00:02:45 important biodiversity. Despite Ghana signing on to several treaties and
00:02:50 conventions and climate actions the rate at which miners are eating into the
00:02:55 country's carbon filters seem to outweigh and make nonsense of the
00:03:01 government's greening initiatives. Out of 16 regions of Ghana, 7 have been
00:03:06 affected by illegal mining activities. This is also on our plate this morning.
00:03:13 Now of course we'll bring you in for you to share your thoughts on the issues that
00:03:17 we'll be discussing. Very very important discussions that we'll be having on the
00:03:20 show this morning. When the time comes we'll activate the phone lines, you join us as
00:03:24 well as your comment on social media and that's how the show will run. My name is
00:03:30 Samuel Kodjoe-Brizz and today I have a surprise for you. So stay with us and I'm
00:03:35 just a voice myself and the surprise we're just a voice of the team led by
00:03:41 you know Derek Eko-Sam. AM News is out there. So on behalf of the team I say welcome.
00:03:50 [Music]
00:04:16 Let's do AM News now. He dropped out of school in class 6 knowing that his
00:04:22 qualifications could not earn him any meaningful job. He resorted to menial
00:04:26 work which could at least help him cater for himself. After trying some laborious
00:04:31 works Mr. Eje resorted to selling coconut. Through that trade he has ensured
00:04:36 his children have what he did not get when growing up education. Anodame sat
00:04:42 with him to hear his story for today's series of Hope Future.
00:04:47 [Speaking in Swahili]
00:04:57 Kofi Eje has engaged in lots of menial jobs. He's done amazing work. He's driven
00:05:04 commercial vehicles but years ago he settled on the coconut business.
00:05:11 He's not engaged in coconut business though it's difficult because the job requires a lot of effort.
00:05:19 To say it was easy will be an understatement he says.
00:05:23 [Speaking in Swahili]
00:05:28 When I started I used to carefully arrange the coconut on a tray then I hawk it down till it finishes.
00:05:35 Then the cycle continues until all I purchased runs out.
00:05:44 Did Kofi Eje think of quitting along the way? Considering how his colleagues who
00:05:50 had fully attended and completed at least senior high school were progressing.
00:05:55 It got to a point I thought I could do other jobs because it was energy
00:06:01 draining. So I stopped and began driving commercial vehicles. That was also not
00:06:08 sustainable for me. I then began doing missionary work. That too was not
00:06:14 profitable so I decided to return to selling coconuts as I realized that was
00:06:19 more lucrative. Throughout the journey of changing jobs I realized all that is
00:06:24 required is for one to be determined and willing to work.
00:06:30 [Speaking in Swahili]
00:06:32 Sometimes calculating how much he earns a day as against that of his colleagues.
00:06:39 Not for once did he believe he must rely on someone else for a job. Self-help to
00:06:46 him was the best way to go.
00:06:48 [Speaking in Swahili]
00:06:50 As for the job it requires diligence. Just decide how much you intend to save and if you are disciplined you will be able to save and even invest.
00:06:59 Today he is happily married and all his six children are in school with the
00:07:05 eldest in the university.
00:07:09 [Speaking in Swahili]
00:07:11 I would say this job has been very beneficial to me because that's all I've been doing and through that I have married. I have six children now.
00:07:26 The youngest is in senior high school and the eldest is in the university.
00:07:31 [Speaking in Swahili]
00:07:35 As he manages these other younger men who are trying to achieve their goals in life, Mr. J constantly reminds them that engaging in handy jobs is not a recipe for poverty.
00:07:48 [Speaking in Swahili]
00:08:01 I always use myself as an example when I advise them. I tell them to utilize the skills they have and not always rely on others to assist them.
00:08:12 [Speaking in Swahili]
00:08:27 [Hammering]
00:08:31 For Join News, I am Hannah Odom.
00:08:34 [Hammering]
00:08:41 Now the minority in Parliament have rescheduled their protest to demand the resignation of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Ernest Addison, and his two deputies.
00:08:50 This follows the decision of Anakra High Court to adjourn its ruling on a preliminary objection filed by their lawyers.
00:08:57 The objection is in response to an injunction process filed by the Ghana Police Service. Richard Kwajot Nya was in court and has details on the proceedings.
00:09:07 Two preliminary objections were raised by lawyers for the minority and civil society group.
00:09:13 Eduji Tamaklu led the charge. He shut down the police motion and called it incompetent. He says that they have not properly invoked the jurisdiction of the courts.
00:09:24 After listening to the various arguments by the minority and the Ghana Police Service, the judge called them into his chamber.
00:09:32 Mahama Yarga explains what happened after the judge called them.
00:09:37 Eduji, who led our team, raised very serious legal issues. The police have been doing the wrong thing for a very long time.
00:09:46 It is only today that Eduji drew the attention of the court to the fact that the police have been doing the wrong thing in terms of the mechanisms that they have always tried to use
00:09:59 to stop demonstrators from carrying out their demonstrations.
00:10:03 And as you saw, arguments were made for and against our position. The judge asked us to see him in camera.
00:10:14 When we went in, he said that the legal issues that were raised by our side were very serious legal issues.
00:10:23 They have never really been conversed in a court before. We had referred to several authorities.
00:10:30 He, as a judge, feels that he needs to take a more serious look at the arguments that were made in court today.
00:10:37 Given the fact that we just raised those legal issues, he needs a little time to give a written, reasoned ruling on the matter.
00:10:50 So he pleaded with us to give him time. We argued over the time and finally we agreed on Friday.
00:10:58 So he says that we should hold on so that on Friday he will give a ruling on the legal issues that we ourselves have raised in court
00:11:07 regarding the competence of the police to come via the mechanisms and the route that they have come to court.
00:11:15 So does it mean that the protests by the minority and civil society will not come off as advertised?
00:11:22 Mahama Yarga has some answers.
00:11:24 So as law-abiding citizens, we don't want to sidestep the courts because we will need them to protect us one day.
00:11:33 So the courts have not stopped us from demonstrating. And the courts have not changed the route of the demonstration.
00:11:41 And we have no intention to change the route of the demonstration. Indeed, the arguments on the route haven't even happened yet in court.
00:11:49 It is just our pointing out that the police is incompetent in the way that they have come to court.
00:11:55 So we are pleading with our supporters and those who have prepared themselves for this march to remain prepared.
00:12:04 Because this march will happen. It will happen on the same route. It is only the date that will change after the court has given a ruling.
00:12:13 So on Friday, we will be back here in court. We will listen to the ruling of the court on the preliminary matter.
00:12:19 We will go into the substantive matter of whether or not the Bank of Ghana premise is a security zone.
00:12:26 Whether or not, you know, the routes that we have chosen cannot be used by us.
00:12:32 And then whether or not we are the ones causing the coup in this country.
00:12:36 All those arguments will be heard on Friday after the ruling on the preliminary matters and the decision taken by the court.
00:12:44 And then we will announce the specific date of the demonstration.
00:12:49 What they have done is just to postpone their problems. They have just postponed their problems.
00:12:54 After the problem of we demonstrating and demonstrating their inefficiency, incapacity, how they have destroyed the central bank of Ghana and the financial system of the country.
00:13:04 We will demonstrate and we will demonstrate on that route that we have announced to the public.
00:13:09 We have also been speaking with the minority leader K.C. Latufosun on the way forward.
00:13:14 Demonstration will happen in due course. The court has asked us to wait for one week.
00:13:20 And we are waiting for the court ruling on the matter on Friday.
00:13:24 Our supporters should remain ready and the demonstration will certainly happen with a new date. Simple.
00:13:29 Reporting for Joy News, my name is Richard Kwejo Nyakon.
00:13:35 The district chief executive for Amanse South, Clement Opokunje, is asking residents of Dawusaso to actively support government's commitment to improving the quality of education in the area.
00:13:48 He emphasized the importance of taking pride in government-owned projects, particularly educational infrastructure, and safeguarding them for the benefit of the community.
00:13:57 The newly constructed classroom block funded by the Amanse South District Assembly through a common fund replaces a deteriorated makeshift wooden structure.
00:14:10 District chief executive Clement Opokunje stressed the need for residents to embrace a culture of maintenance to ensure that the government-executed projects remain in good condition for an extended period.
00:14:26 Maintenance culture is very key. And in my speech, I admonished them to take this property as one of their own, as their own property that they have built with their own money.
00:14:38 They should guard it jealously. They should protect it with the last drop of their blood.
00:14:43 If paints begin to peel out, you should ensure that the peeling of paints, you repaint it and make it look very good.
00:14:51 You don't wait for the central government to come back and say we have to repaint the whole building. No.
00:14:57 Once you take it upon yourself as community folks and begin to do that, then it gives us reassurances that,
00:15:03 okay, if there's another project that we want to earmark for this community, we should do that because they are going to protect it for the state and for the larger interest of entire Ghanaians.
00:15:12 The district director of education Stephen Edudako also appealed to stakeholders within the district to actively support initiatives aimed at advancing the cause of quality education.
00:15:23 I expect stakeholders, especially those who hail from this area, to come and support education.
00:15:32 We've had some of them supporting, bringing in booths, furniture and what have you.
00:15:40 But the district is vast, so we need more of those supports.
00:15:44 So I would like to appeal to philanthropists, especially those who hail from this district, to come to our aid and support.
00:15:54 They can provide booths or furniture or any other learning materials. Yes, they will be welcome.
00:16:02 Despite challenges faced by various communities in the district, such as the lack of electricity, water, educational facilities and poor road infrastructure,
00:16:12 Mr. Gemfi emphasized that the district assembly remains committed to addressing these issues.
00:16:18 As part of our strategy, we have done our research and we know the cries and the pleas of every community in the district.
00:16:30 We have it on paper. When any project comes, we know where to place this project and where not to place that project.
00:16:38 That is what we do basically. It is tailored, factioned out for a particular community.
00:16:45 So every project that we embark on, we know the particular community that is in dire need of such a project.
00:16:53 So that it befits the purpose to which the project is cited.
00:16:58 Well, more than 15,000 people in Ghana have benefited from Project Alpha, an initiative of Professor Elsie E. Kaufman Foundation,
00:17:07 in partnership with DEST Technology Ltd. The project seeks to make the study of science practical and fun for people and their teachers.
00:17:16 Emmanuel Givenou was at the first year anniversary of Project Alpha in Accra and has filed this report.
00:17:24 It's time for science class and these pupils are beaming with excitement.
00:17:30 Excitement about conducting basic experiments and unravelling the mysteries of the natural world.
00:17:36 The pupils want to prove that oxygen supports combustion using simple materials such as candles, tubes, play-doh, plastic bottles and jars containing colored water.
00:17:49 As the candle goes out, the water rises to fill the bottle where the oxygen used to be.
00:17:55 These pupils are beneficiaries of Project Alpha, an initiative by Professor Elsie E. Kaufman Foundation, in partnership with DEST Technology.
00:18:05 The project aims to make science practical and enjoyable for both teachers and pupils.
00:18:11 It's been a year already and there's a lot of excitement.
00:18:14 First of all, just even getting the set and opening up the set, you should see the faces of these young people.
00:18:21 And when they are able to successfully do an experiment, oh my goodness, the joy around all of this.
00:18:27 This is what makes it worth doing for me, to see those young people so excited to be participating in science.
00:18:36 Over 15,000 pupils from 176 schools have benefited from the program, resulting in improved learning outcomes.
00:18:44 When the learners get the sets and they are doing the activities at home, some parents are participating.
00:18:50 So they may not be a direct target, but they are also benefiting by understanding better.
00:18:57 They ask questions, so what are you doing? They have a better appreciation of what these science concepts are.
00:19:03 Head of Product Development at DEST Technology Ltd, Charles Ofore Antepim, says that his organisation will introduce more products to expand the reach of the program.
00:19:14 We currently have about 170 schools that are actively implementing the practical science as we want it.
00:19:21 The idea is to expand it to way more schools, both private and government.
00:19:25 We started at the primary 4, 5 and 6 level, but we are actively working on developing the science at four of them, lower primary and for the junior high school and even senior high school.
00:19:35 Acton Head of the Youngsters International School believes the introduction of the science kit has significantly improved pupils' knowledge and skills related to STEM subjects.
00:19:46 The learners have also improved in the learning of science because it has given them a lot of hope.
00:19:53 It's not like learning from the abstracts now. It is something that they can feel, they can touch.
00:20:00 And it's like at all times they are in a hurry to do an activity here or there.
00:20:06 Also, Head of Public Affairs at the West Africa Examination Council indicates that Project Alpha represents a paradigm shift in the teaching of science at the elementary school level.
00:20:18 It actually represents the new norm if you want in science education, making learning more practicable, making the students make use of their own environment,
00:20:31 make use of technology and learn about their own environment to enable them to move away from the root learning and adapt a more practical way of learning.
00:20:41 And that enables them to appreciate more what they are learning and that also enhances their ability to recall and be able to use that in their examination.
00:20:51 The Professor Elsie Ife-Kaufman Foundation calls for more support to enhance the effectiveness and reach of the initiative.
00:20:58 Project Alpha aims to demystify science and make the study of the subject practical and enjoyable.
00:21:05 Emmanuel Givenou for Joy Prime.
00:21:08 Now, Ghana is set to become the first African country to manufacture its own cholera vaccine.
00:21:15 This is a significant step to join the global fight against infectious diseases.
00:21:20 Speaking at a technology transfer event at the National Vaccine Institute, Acting Technical Coordination Directorate at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Bafwe,
00:21:31 who reviewed that this initiative is a step in the right direction to ensure that Ghana is self-sufficient.
00:21:37 There is more in this report by Jacqueline and Sumayya Bwa.
00:21:40 There are fewer African countries with the capacity to produce vaccines, so many African countries are dependent on developed countries.
00:21:50 To break this chain of dependency, Ghana has taken a huge step to produce its own vaccines.
00:21:57 It will begin with the production of oral cholera vaccines.
00:22:01 The EU Biologics, based in Korea, is set to transfer the technology of producing the vaccine to Ghana's local partners, D.E.K.
00:22:10 Vaccines, in order to increase global vaccine production capacity and reduce disparity in vaccine access for African children.
00:22:19 Acting Technical Coordination Directorate at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Bafwe, who reviewed that this initiative is a step in the right direction
00:22:29 to ensure that Ghana is self-sufficient.
00:22:32 The principal aim of manufacturing your own vaccine, one, to have, you know, when you import, you have import duties here, all these add to the cost.
00:22:47 So when we are doing it locally, one, you give job to local people. We want to be self-reliant in all the vaccine space.
00:22:59 Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsia Asare, is excited that the private sector is leading this new development.
00:23:08 He said, with time, Ghana will continue to limit the importation of vaccines.
00:23:13 We decided, the president said, let's do this into the private sector. We said the private sector is the engine of growth.
00:23:20 So we are giving all the necessary backing to the private sector to become the engine for vaccine production.
00:23:29 Private sector does things and does it very well, because this company like D.E.K., which is made up of Dana Dams, NS Chemist and Kina Pharma,
00:23:37 are very industrial, very well established pharmaceutical companies, which have footprints in the West African sub-region.
00:23:47 And that's what we have been doing. So D.E.K. has already cut, the president cut the sword in April for the setting up of the factory, which is ongoing now.
00:23:57 They have been supported by the EU, they have been supported by GIZ and the German government. And now, today, the Koreans have come in with the International Vaccine Institute of Korea
00:24:10 and also EU biologists to transfer technology. They signed an agreement today to give them products for the production of oral cholera vaccines.
00:24:21 They have already signed an agreement, as I know, with Serum Institute of India and I know also that Life Sciences, which is another private company,
00:24:29 which was commissioned last year by His Excellency the President, they are going into also vaccine production and anti-sneak and anti-rabies vaccines.
00:24:38 The first locally produced oral cholera vaccine is expected to be made available after testing. For JOIN News, Jacqueline Ansuma-Iyobua.
00:24:48 And finally, philanthropic organization Voter Health Network has restored a vision of some 56 persons doing a recent medical mission in Adidome,
00:25:00 Sogakufe, in the central and south Tong district of the region. A team of specialists performed surgeries comprising small incision, cataract surgery,
00:25:09 typhoid, exercise, evisceration and corneal scrapping. There is more in the following report.
00:25:18 A team of over 40 medical experts and volunteers pitched camp at the Adidome and Sogakufe government hospitals to render free health services to beneficiaries
00:25:28 during the second edition of the Voter Health Network medical mission. The co-president of the Voter Health Network, Dr. Francis Jojo Dameli,
00:25:37 said that his outfit offers multi-specialty services during their missions.
00:25:42 Most medical missions are one diagnosis medical missions or one specialty medical missions. But ours is multi-specialty.
00:25:52 Our services range from internal medicine, family medicine, cardiology, general surgery, urology, ophthalmology, just mentioned it, recovery.
00:26:08 So we provide a broad array of medical services. We attend to a broad array of pathology, which is very much needed in our communities,
00:26:19 which are largely underserved. Why are we doing this? Not for financial reward, but because we care and we want to give back.
00:26:31 We are grateful for the investment the people of Karameh in our training, in our education, and we think that we should give back to our people.
00:26:44 Residents from Adidume, Mafikumasi, Drapun and hard-to-reach communities benefited from the humanitarian service.
00:26:52 They were provided free consultation, diagnosis, treatment and surgical services.
00:26:59 Some beneficiaries who came with eye conditions had their visions restored.
00:27:04 We are grateful for the humanitarian service. We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received.
00:27:14 We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received. We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received.
00:27:24 We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received. We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received.
00:27:34 We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received. We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received.
00:27:44 We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received. We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received.
00:27:54 We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received. We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received.
00:28:04 We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received. We are grateful for the support the people of Karameh received.
00:28:14 The Medical Superintendent of the Ajidume Government Hospital, Della Martin Ahinyevi, was grateful for the network for extending their services to his jurisdiction.
00:28:24 Ladies and gentlemen, at our half-year performance review meeting held last week, it came into light that most of our mortuary intakes are coming from homes.
00:28:33 As medical professionals, we have a responsibility to care for the health of our communities we serve.
00:28:39 And this outreach program, without any doubt, is aimed at achieving this goal.
00:28:44 The Member of Parliament for Central Town, Gabby Hutoje, and the District Assembly supported the mission to ensure its success.
00:28:52 Some medical consumables were presented to the Ajidume Government Hospital by the Volta Health Network.
00:28:59 I am Fred Kwame Asare, Joy News, Ajidume.
00:29:05 And here in Accra, I am Samuel Kodjoe-Bresson.
00:29:08 That's how we wrap up the AM News.
00:29:10 There's more news on myjoyonline.com.
00:29:13 Up next is the news review on the show. Stay with us.
00:29:17 (dramatic music)
00:29:43 So welcome back to the show. Let's talk about what the papers are reporting this morning.
00:29:47 And we've been joined in the studio by a former president of the Ghana Journalist Association, Mr. Afey.
00:29:57 Good morning to you. I trust all is well?
00:29:59 By his grace, I hope it's well.
00:30:01 By grace, we are well.
00:30:03 Okay.
00:30:04 Okay. So we have the Daily Graphic newspaper. We have the Daily Guide newspaper.
00:30:09 The Ghanaian Economy Times, The Finder, and the New Crusading Guide.
00:30:16 Now let's start off with the Daily Graphic.
00:30:18 The banner headline says, "Men's Gold Customers Will Get Justice. AGI Shows at Cambridge Forum."
00:30:26 Also, "Ghana Committed to Climate Leadership," according to Samuel Jinapo.
00:30:31 Graphic, "Malcolm Management Confirmed."
00:30:34 And the banner, "Ghorso Krontenini Found Dead in Forest."
00:30:39 Whoa.
00:30:40 A new secret tape on IGP's removal pops up.
00:30:43 "Committed to Conduct In-Camera Hearing."
00:30:47 Now let's start off on this one.
00:30:50 The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Scott Fredy Abouadame, has given an assurance
00:30:55 that justice will be served to victims of the men's gold saga.
00:30:59 The efficiency of a country's justice system was tested particularly by the speed and efficiency
00:31:04 with which cases seeking to hold high-profile members of society to account,
00:31:09 as well as top financial crimes, were conducted.
00:31:12 Consequently, he said, "We need to punish corruption and other forms of economic crime
00:31:19 through a fair, honest, and efficient justice system."
00:31:26 Mr. Bonin, I was asking, how long will this justice be served to the customers of men's gold?
00:31:34 It's been too long, hasn't it?
00:31:36 Certainly, yes.
00:31:39 The famous writer, Anne Landis, once said, and I quote,
00:31:44 "The naked truth is better than a well-dressed lie."
00:31:49 The naked truth in this context is that the investigators and the law enforcers themselves
00:31:57 have been criminally slow in punishing these perpetrators.
00:32:04 Many of those who have been sentenced to premature death,
00:32:08 many of those who have been sentenced to lead lives of destitution,
00:32:12 because they've invested all their life savings into this scheme
00:32:18 only for a young man to outwit or swindle them.
00:32:24 So, it's good that the Attorney General has come out to assure the nation
00:32:30 that justice will eventually be served.
00:32:34 We learn that the wheels of justice grind slowly.
00:32:40 But in this instance, particular instance,
00:32:43 the slow grinding of the wheels of justice offers little or no consolation
00:32:48 to the lives, number of lives, which have been lost as a result of this scheme.
00:32:55 So, our appeal to the law enforcers is that please speed up investigations into this scam
00:33:04 and let the perpetrators face justice.
00:33:09 The law should deal surgically with all those who played a role
00:33:16 in fleecing the investors in this scheme.
00:33:23 Now, let me bring another quote from him.
00:33:26 He says, "In reality, people lost their homes
00:33:31 and some marriages even broke up as a result of the men's gold saga.
00:33:35 I am happy to state that after painstaking investigations,
00:33:40 criminal prosecution has commenced against the perpetrators.
00:33:44 At least, by the grace of God, justice will be served to victims of those dastardly acts."
00:33:51 Mr. Dami said in a keynote address at the 40th Cambridge Symposium on Economic Crime
00:33:56 at the University of Cambridge in the UK yesterday.
00:34:00 Now, the founder of men's gold, Nanapi Aminsa, still goes about carrying out his business.
00:34:07 I mean, recently he brought a verification system where you had to pay, be verified again,
00:34:13 and then they would even give you the date at which you would be paid.
00:34:18 Is it fair to the victims of this saga that the guy they see as the mastermind of the whole thing
00:34:26 is going about and even trying to perpetuate in court what people have described as fraud on people?
00:34:35 This is not to pass judgment on the mastermind of this scheme,
00:34:42 but it's fair to describe him as impunity personified.
00:34:49 One thing about impunity is that if it's not tackled, if it's not addressed from the root,
00:34:56 it ignites a self-propelling and re-energizing cycle, which then becomes very difficult to tackle.
00:35:03 Because we all saw that this young guy was feeding fat and living big on people's investment.
00:35:10 But we were all silent, and the law was impotent in dealing with him.
00:35:17 So he went on and then devised some more schemes to rope in more people.
00:35:24 And the more people he roped in, the more money he made, and the bigger lifestyle he lived.
00:35:34 It's a naked display of impunity.
00:35:38 So yes, we take a little consolation in the fact that now the wheels of justice will grind.
00:35:48 But again, we need to reiterate the point that the wheels of justice this time around
00:35:56 must grind with the speed of light in order to inject a semblance of justice into this matter.
00:36:09 Alright, let's see how this goes. We pray that the victims do get justice indeed.
00:36:16 But justice at the cost of the lives of some people.
00:36:19 Like you mentioned, some people lost their lives.
00:36:22 You cannot put a price tag on human beings.
00:36:24 Some marriages are gone.
00:36:26 Gone. Gone forever.
00:36:28 So when is this justice going to be served to them?
00:36:31 That is the question.
00:36:33 And you might not know, whilst the wheels grind slowly, how many more people can lose their lives as a result of this.
00:36:41 So apart from the investigations and prosecution and eventual punitive action against the perpetrator or perpetrators,
00:36:52 something should be done to assist, at least to bring some relief, financial relief to those who invested their lives,
00:37:01 even though they were warned.
00:37:03 And again, I think the Bank of Ghana was also slow, chronically slow, chronically slow in addressing this issue.
00:37:11 They knew. They sent a warning, but it was weak to say the least.
00:37:18 And they could have followed up with something more drastic to ensure that they stop him in his tracks.
00:37:26 But they looked on, they also went on, and this is what we see.
00:37:30 People have told that, at least any of them, and it's so unfortunate.
00:37:35 Okay. When you go to page 13 of the same paper, it says, "Ghana committed to climate leadership," by Samuel Abujinapour says,
00:37:42 "The Minister for Land and Natural Resources, Samuel Abujinapour, has assured the global community that Ghana remains committed to providing leadership for nature-based climate action."
00:37:53 Mr. Abujinapour, who is co-chair of the Forest and Climate Leadership Partnership,
00:37:57 stressed that the debilitating impact of the climate crisis was cross-cutting and required collective action from all countries to overcome.
00:38:06 And this is why Ghana is ready to partner with other nations, both North and South, to promote nature-based climate action," he said.
00:38:14 Mr. Abujinapour stated that this at the launch of the FCLP Working Group on Strengthening Supply and Demand of High Integrity Forest Carbon Credit
00:38:24 at the Made in Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, yesterday.
00:38:28 It brings me to the question. We've just, yesterday, we played the documentary "Forest and the Siege."
00:38:34 I mean, Ghana is saying that it will show leadership in climate.
00:38:38 Yet, back home, many of these forests that could help us get this carbon credit are being dissipated by illegal miners.
00:38:47 In a one-time level, it looks as though there is nobody who is overseeing the protection of these forests.
00:38:54 Isn't that contrary to our talks about us leading the climate action?
00:39:00 We need, as a nation, especially the media community, to match the Minister's words with his action.
00:39:10 For far too long, politicians have been allowed to dabble in inflated rhetoric and empty platitives.
00:39:18 So this is the time to ensure that whatever he says is actualized.
00:39:27 Look at this time of the year. Some years back, it was unthinkable that it would rain in torrents,
00:39:35 homes would flat, properties would be lost. But this is what is happening.
00:39:41 Climate change is real. Climate change is hitting hard at everybody.
00:39:47 So we need to wake up, shape up in response to this reality.
00:39:53 Otherwise, we will be taken on our words and it will take us back.
00:39:57 Already we are having challenges with our developmental issues.
00:40:01 And this will make the challenges unsurmountable.
00:40:06 So the media in particular, in the name of comprehensive journalism,
00:40:13 make sure that you follow every step.
00:40:17 Make sure you expose the flaws in implementing whatever climate change plans we have.
00:40:23 Whether they only exist on paper or they are reflected on the ground.
00:40:28 Let the people know and hold to account people whose job is to ensure that we stay ahead of this game.
00:40:39 We are not caught on our words by the devastating impact of climate change.
00:40:45 So with our minister who says that Ghana would show this leadership,
00:40:50 and us waking up to the reality that about seven of our forests are under siege,
00:40:56 under attack by illegal miners.
00:40:58 Even yesterday I heard that one in my own hometown, the Cape Three Point Forest Reserve, is under siege.
00:41:06 Illegal miners are in there mining.
00:41:09 Is that not really lying to the world that we want to play a leading role when back home,
00:41:16 things are not as really portraying that we are indeed in charge?
00:41:21 That's the moral reason why the media should use their power, their will,
00:41:27 and influence the pedal to ensure that all the leadership failures,
00:41:33 as far as environmental protection,
00:41:36 leadership failures which reflect in the destruction of our water bodies,
00:41:43 the colour of our water bodies,
00:41:45 we should ensure that the perpetrators are exposed
00:41:50 and weak leadership in this instance is also held to account.
00:41:56 Let me sprinkle a good recommendation on your station, Joy FM.
00:42:02 I listened to the documentary and Erasmus deserves a national award,
00:42:07 or international award, for his relentlessness in exposing the destruction of our forests and water bodies.
00:42:20 This is replicated in other media houses.
00:42:23 That's a journalism.
00:42:25 Something that will use the power of the media to solve social problems,
00:42:32 solutions of reintergenerating, and not only parroting or echoing what politicians say.
00:42:38 Okay, let's move to the Daily Guide newspaper.
00:42:41 It says, "AG bemoans corruption in public procurement process, fake doctor arrested at CAF,
00:42:46 IGP concocted tape, so-called 'tender' as a spills beans,
00:42:51 minority suspense, BOG protest, and our talk 'enough is enough', hajja for real."
00:42:58 Now let's talk about the AG's tape.
00:43:01 Now it says, "Superintendent George Asare, one of the police officers
00:43:05 at the centre of an alleged plot to depose the Inspector General of Police,
00:43:09 testified yesterday before the Parliamentary Committee investigating the leaked tape,
00:43:14 explaining why he believes the recording was set up against him and COP George Alex Mingsa.
00:43:22 According to him, the former North Indian Regional Chairman of the MPP, Daniel Bogrinabu,
00:43:27 conspired with the IGP Dr George Ekufor-Dampari to set them up
00:43:31 because the two have excellent business relationships,
00:43:34 with the latter awarding the former a contract for 40,000 police boots.
00:43:42 Superintendent Asare told the Ad Hoc Committee that he had both audio and video recordings
00:43:48 of the former MPP North Indian Regional Chairman and the IGP about their collaborations and deals,
00:43:54 including contract. He stated that once the audio was leaked,
00:43:58 he was invited by the National Intelligence Bureau, which he accepted."
00:44:05 I'm sure you followed this.
00:44:07 Yes, I'm following with all absorbing attention and all consuming seriousness.
00:44:16 What has been the take-out for you?
00:44:20 The revelations so far are not only mind-boggling, not only nerve-wracking or bowel-emptying,
00:44:37 but also so wrenching and heart-rending that a reputable institution like the police service
00:44:51 should be allowed to cool down the drain.
00:44:56 The revelations so far give inklings into the monumental challenges
00:45:12 and impedimental difficulties in reforming the police service.
00:45:20 We should be very hesitant in condemning COP Aless Mensah or Judge Asare.
00:45:32 Not at all. And he said that every issue has two or more sides.
00:45:37 We should also rush in condemning the IGP.
00:45:44 The state of the Ghana police now calls for drastic measures to bring about the desired reforms.
00:45:57 Otherwise, we'll be inviting implosion and self-destruction,
00:46:07 which will also spell challenges, disastrous consequences for the security architecture and national stability.
00:46:24 Let me comment on the chairman of the investigation committee, Unagwa Atachian.
00:46:32 He's so far so good. He's been fair, firm, but he's brought his professional competence as a lawyer to bear on his chairmanship.
00:46:44 And as I said, it's best repeating that we shouldn't rush in condemning people who are making their revelations.
00:46:54 And in the long run, they will help us to mend what is broken, to fix what is rotten in such a vital institution like the Ghana police service.
00:47:09 So as you watch the committee hearing, what is your expectation of the work they're doing at the end of the day?
00:47:17 I'm disinclined to believe that the final report will suffer defeat as the IWASO West Borgon violation report.
00:47:32 At the nation, we spent colossal sums of money to set up a committee headed by Professor Fiyajo
00:47:42 to take a look at our constitution with the intention of bringing about reforms.
00:47:50 As you speak, that report is gathering dust.
00:47:55 Never, we must not, we dare not as a nation, allow the report which will come out of these investigations to suffer the same.
00:48:08 Not at all.
00:48:10 But that's what it looks like for you.
00:48:13 I'm an optimist, so I find myself, I would like to be on the side of optimism and not pessimism.
00:48:24 And so let me take advantage of the doubt that the authorities will act with urgent promptitude in addressing the challenges in Ghana police service.
00:48:36 Thank you very much. Let's look at the Finder newspaper.
00:48:41 And I'm still here with Mr. Afel Mwoni, former GJA president.
00:48:45 Well, the Finder says free Ghana card registration records low turnout.
00:48:50 Dr. Afarijan urges NDC to return to IPAC.
00:48:53 4,169 pregnant women die in five years due to complications from pregnancy or childbirth.
00:49:00 And Ghana to receive first technology transfer for oral cholera vaccine production.
00:49:06 Screening of 1,470 kids reveals high refractive error eye problems, Dr. Obengko says.
00:49:13 And minority NDC wait on court decision on Friday on planned protest route.
00:49:20 All right. Let's look at the pregnancy story because it is of interest to me.
00:49:25 And the story is written by Elvis D'Arcon.
00:49:28 He says Ghana has recorded 4,169 maternal mortalities in five years.
00:49:33 Maternal mortality refers to death due to complications from pregnancy or childbirth.
00:49:38 These deaths of pregnant women happened between 2018 and 2022.
00:49:43 As of the end of 2022, institutional maternal mortality ratio decreased marginally from 111 per 100,000 life births to 102 per 100,000 life births.
00:49:58 Data available at the Ghana Health Service shows a total number of 875 maternal deaths in 2018.
00:50:08 The statistics are staggering to say the very least.
00:50:13 And it should serve as a wake up call to our health authorities and the nation as a whole.
00:50:21 I'm inclined to believe that the health budgets, the budgets for the health sector need to improve. We need to get more money into that area to save precious lives.
00:50:38 What is it that we're not getting right? Is it the technology or what really is it?
00:50:43 I think lack of attention. The more we pay attention, the more resources will go to that area to prevent babies from dying.
00:50:57 And these are people who know their destinies.
00:51:01 It doesn't speak well of us as a nation. It's a classic example of misplacement of priorities as a nation.
00:51:12 Certain useless ventures will attract more investment.
00:51:18 But I'm told now the NHIS has made it free for pregnant women to go for antenatal.
00:51:28 In theory free, but in practice it's a different ballgame altogether.
00:51:34 So we need to match the theory with practice so that holders of NHIS cards will get health care free of charge.
00:51:44 So is it a service providers, that's the hospitals, or the NHIS and the NHRA that is not doing the right things?
00:51:53 That's why even though it must be free for them, in practice it is not.
00:51:56 We know the challenges service providers face in retrieving their money, recouping whatever money they...
00:52:03 and the delay, inordinated delay of the NHRA in paying them.
00:52:18 And the amounts are huge and we know how difficult it is to come by cash these days.
00:52:30 So we need to prioritise our priorities as a nation.
00:52:34 And one area we need to sharpen our focus is the health sector.
00:52:40 Another angle of the story says the midwife to women in fertility age ratio had equally been improving.
00:52:50 Moving from one midwife to 720 women in fertility age in 2017, to one midwife to 387 women in fertility age in 2021.
00:53:01 About 79% of women given birth in Ghana are assisted by a nurse or midwife, a trained professional who helps during pregnancy and labour.
00:53:09 Many pregnant women in rural areas do not have access to quality healthcare services
00:53:14 and as a result they do not receive the adequate prenatal care that they have to.
00:53:19 So the focus should be on the rural area.
00:53:22 Yes, the focus and again, 1112, we are in difficult times, but as I said, it's a matter of prioritising our priorities.
00:53:29 Prioritising our priorities and again, the 111 and the 212 help address some of the challenges.
00:53:35 Provision of cheap compounds also will be prioritised.
00:53:39 Yeah, yeah, okay.
00:53:41 So that's it, provision of cheap compounds.
00:53:44 Let's talk about the minority protests that they were demonstrating against the governor of the Bank of Ghana, the minority.
00:53:53 The protest march planned by the leadership of the NDC and other civil society organisations to the head office of the Bank of Ghana,
00:53:59 originally scheduled for Tuesday today, September 5, 2023, has been rescheduled to Tuesday, September 12, 2023.
00:54:07 The route for the march remained the same.
00:54:09 A statement issued by Dr Keisal Atu for the minority leader explained that a change in date is the result of the outcome of proceedings in court on Monday, 4 September, 2023.
00:54:19 What do you make of this protest?
00:54:21 The law should take its due course and the minority have their right to demonstrate.
00:54:31 A demonstrator does not frown on the constitution.
00:54:35 We are in a free society and the constitution makes prohibition for demonstration.
00:54:39 And they've decided to exercise their right to demonstrate.
00:54:44 And so they should be granted to do so, but within the confines of the law.
00:54:50 And I'm happy that the law is taking its course.
00:54:55 So all sides should obey what the law says.
00:55:00 Ours is a society governed by rules.
00:55:06 We are in a law and order dispensation.
00:55:10 And so the law should guide whatever I do and whatever I will say.
00:55:15 Okay, now, page five of the finder says, free Ghana card registration requires low turnout.
00:55:23 The story was also in the papers yesterday.
00:55:25 What do you make of it?
00:55:27 It looks as though it's become our attitude.
00:55:29 When an opportunity has been created for us to register for a certain service, we will not go.
00:55:36 But when it's getting to the time for that exercise to elapse, then we all rush.
00:55:41 How do we check this attitude of ours?
00:55:44 Yeah, attitudinally we have a challenge as a nation in this respect.
00:55:49 And again, it springs to mind what the media ought to do to help address this nation.
00:55:57 And we set agendas every morning.
00:56:01 And we should add this to our agenda-setting rules.
00:56:07 Because we know how important this card is.
00:56:12 So as a media community, in discussing issues, in choosing stories for front pages,
00:56:23 where they will receive added attention,
00:56:27 these are some of the issues which you prioritise as a media system.
00:56:31 Right.
00:56:33 Just a brief on the Economy Times.
00:56:35 It says, "City to remain robust.
00:56:37 Ghanaians could enjoy favourable utility bills.
00:56:39 If forex rate inflation remains stable, according to PRC."
00:56:44 And New Crusading Guide, it says, "AG fights for men's good customers, assures them of justice.
00:56:50 Ignore the hollow propaganda.
00:56:52 TAKWA MPP party office still intact.
00:56:55 And New Ghana petitions IGP Akufo-Addo over Ken in Japan."
00:57:02 I don't know, maybe some 30 seconds.
00:57:03 Which other stories would you want to have a bite on?
00:57:06 I think Ken, I believe it's in respect of Ameswale, who was killed in the most tragic circumstances.
00:57:16 Four years on, justice has not been served.
00:57:20 And this is a blot on our reputation as a beacon of democratic accomplishment in Africa.
00:57:29 And as a reference point as far as media practice is concerned.
00:57:33 So, it should serve as a wake up call to authorities.
00:57:38 Please, we know what the police can do.
00:57:41 We have the men, we have the men who are trained, knowledgeable, who have expertise, professional,
00:57:50 professionally solid, to speed up investigations into the Ameswale assassination.
00:57:57 Because it's an enticement on the nation.
00:58:04 Thank you so much Mr. Mone for coming by.
00:58:07 You're welcome.
00:58:08 Mr. Afel Mone is former president of the Ghana Journalists Association.
00:58:12 We'll take a break when we return with Tao Abdullahi.
00:58:16 We'll be here with latest from the world of sports. Stay.
00:58:20 [Music]
00:58:46 Ladies and gentlemen, sports now on the AM show.
00:58:49 I am Muftahu Nabila Abdullahi.
00:58:51 About 12 players reported for Black Stars training as they opened camp ahead of the
00:58:57 last African Cup of Nations qualifier against Central African Republic at the Barayara Sports Stadium.
00:59:03 The players were led by Captain Andre Ayu, as Mohamed Kudus, Lawrence Atiziki, Edmond Ado,
00:59:10 Joseph Eidou, and Alexander Djukou, all reported to the training session at the Accra Sports Stadium.
00:59:16 This was a moment, the moment on your screen, was a moment where Mohamed Kudus hit a strike
00:59:21 on the face of Lawrence Atiziki, who was on the ground for about five minutes.
00:59:27 I don't know if it was the reason why the training session closed, because after that incident,
00:59:31 the training session ended as medics attended to him.
00:59:38 And also, the Black Stars are expected to be in Kumasi today and hold another training session
00:59:47 before wrapping up their preparations for that tie against Central African Republic on Thursday.
00:59:53 And the likes of Nicholas Opoku, who is making a return to the national team, as well as
00:59:59 Bahar Rahman were all available for the training session.
01:00:05 And 13 other players were expected to arrive tonight for the team to emplane to Kumasi
01:00:11 for that tie against Central African Republic.
01:00:14 Ghana needs just a point to be able to qualify to the next edition of the Afcon to be staged in Cote d'Ivoire.
01:00:29 Let's hear from Chris Hewton, the head coach of the Black Stars, and following his decision
01:00:34 to include Andrea Yu into the 25-man squad for that tie against Central African Republic.
01:00:41 The media space, as well as social media, has been dominated with perceptions and questions
01:00:47 surrounding his decision to include a man who has not kicked a ball since March this year
01:00:53 and does not play for any club.
01:00:55 But Chris Hewton says he doesn't care about the perception of the public.
01:00:58 What matters to him is to assemble the players he feels will get a job done for him.
01:01:04 He was speaking to Assas Radio.
01:01:06 Growing perceptions doesn't, it's not something that means too much to me.
01:01:15 From my point of view as head coach, it's about the squad that I want and the reasons
01:01:24 for each player to be in the squad.
01:01:29 So what is a perception outside, I don't know.
01:01:34 This is not my concern.
01:01:37 What I have to do is I have to pick a squad.
01:01:40 And that squad can be made up of young, exciting players.
01:01:45 They can be made up of perhaps more experienced players.
01:01:51 There will always be, in the general public, there will always be a lot of debate about
01:01:59 who should be in the squad and who shouldn't.
01:02:02 And there are players, Andre comes into a category, we know that he hasn't played as much.
01:02:11 So we're knowledgeable about the amount of games that he's played.
01:02:16 But I also know what he means to the squad.
01:02:18 He's a captain.
01:02:21 I know what he gives the squad, his regards.
01:02:25 And anybody in the squad, it's never just about their abilities.
01:02:31 It's about what they bring to the squad, some experience, some know-how,
01:02:38 how they can affect the other players.
01:02:41 So for every player that's in the squad, there is a reason.
01:02:44 And there will always be debate about any member of the squad.
01:02:49 And I'm quite sure if I asked you or if I asked the gentleman sitting over there
01:02:55 or the gentleman sitting over there, their squad, I'm quite sure that there will be
01:03:00 players in the squad that will be different than are in there.
01:03:03 And now let's hear from the Vice President of Ghana Football Association,
01:03:08 Mac Addo, who is calling on Ghanaians to throw their weight behind the senior national team
01:03:13 to be able to beat Central African Republic and secure qualification
01:03:17 to the African Cup of Nations to be staged in Cote d'Ivoire next year.
01:03:22 The most important thing for us is for people to support the team.
01:03:26 There is nothing to hide in this business.
01:03:29 So we shouldn't get too worked out on it.
01:03:32 Most importantly, we get the people to get the work done.
01:03:35 We expect the team to be here on Tuesday by lunchtime in Kumasi
01:03:44 because they will train here Tuesday afternoon.
01:03:48 And then Wednesday there will be another training, obviously, the pre-game training.
01:03:55 And then the game on Thursday at four o'clock.
01:03:58 I expect that we all go and support in our numbers.
01:04:02 Kumasi is our favorite place to play.
01:04:05 You know it's the home of the Black Stars.
01:04:07 And I'm praying and hoping that we win and we win well
01:04:12 so that we can bring smiles to people's faces and the love is still here.
01:04:18 So I'm praying and we ask all of you to come in your numbers, come in your colors.
01:04:24 And we'll continue to promote this until Thursday, until we have the win,
01:04:28 so that we can all go to.
01:04:30 Because in January next year.
01:04:33 Okay.
01:04:34 Next month, the Confederation of African Football will rule out its Africa Super League.
01:04:41 Asamoah John is one of its ambassadors for the African Super League,
01:04:45 which is going to have about eight teams compete for the maiden edition.
01:04:49 The former Black Stars captain says it's about time African football takes its place
01:04:54 when it comes to global competition.
01:04:57 And he says that it is the most important competition that will help Africa
01:05:01 gain the popularity when it comes to football.
01:05:04 Africa Super League starts in October next month,
01:05:08 specifically October 15th, per statement from the Confederation of African Football.
01:05:13 Let's do some boxing.
01:05:15 And Ghanaian boxer, Frizee McBones, he says that he returned to the country
01:05:21 to join the Black Pommies prepare for the African qualifiers to the Paris Olympics
01:05:27 because he was reached out by Ghana Boxing Federation,
01:05:32 which is the ambassador body for boxing governance in Ghana.
01:05:36 He says he took up the responsibility of ensuring that he gives what he thinks
01:05:42 he can to help the team secure qualification to Paris next year.
01:05:47 I think it's a Ghana boxing.
01:05:53 Yeah, they reach out to me.
01:05:56 They go through to my management team, Frizee teams.
01:06:01 Yeah. And then they want me to come back home and help their team, you know.
01:06:08 And then because so it was hard for me to make a decision because obviously.
01:06:15 Why the decision to come to Ghana?
01:06:18 Because you can afford a lot of facilities.
01:06:22 Exactly.
01:06:23 But I don't look at it that way.
01:06:25 If you look at the more if I had a fight in UK,
01:06:28 I make a lot of money to compare to Ghana currency.
01:06:33 I make a lot of money.
01:06:35 My first fight, my second fight, you know, but sometimes let's put all the money aside
01:06:41 and look what we can do to help the country.
01:06:45 You know, I'm saying, especially the youth in the country,
01:06:47 they really need somebody to look up to, you know, say they need someone.
01:06:53 I'll be willing to say, oh, because of Nipah Winty and Nipah Winty,
01:06:56 I'm not going to give up my life.
01:06:58 I'll keep going. I'll keep going.
01:07:00 Because the kind of my story is so different from other boxers.
01:07:04 Right.
01:07:05 You know, I've met so many legends like Muhammad Ali.
01:07:09 They all have a story.
01:07:11 Yeah.
01:07:12 Right.
01:07:13 They all have belts, WBC, IBF.
01:07:17 But to get in that level, to get that kind of credit,
01:07:23 what do you say?
01:07:24 I haven't got any belt, but the kind of my hard work, dedication and the story behind me,
01:07:31 it's more than what you see in all that kind of belts.
01:07:35 You feel me?
01:07:36 So, he got like five belts, six belts, ten belts,
01:07:40 all because of sometimes the way I see a package.
01:07:47 But how I do my thing, I'm so open for the world and for my country, for my family.
01:07:52 I want everyone to look up to Frizee and say, no, because of this guy, I'm not going to give up.
01:07:57 Right.
01:07:58 So it was a very tough decision.
01:08:00 Even my team members sit down, we had a chat and I'm kind of like, listen, let's put the money aside.
01:08:07 Money is so really important, but let me go back home and help the country.
01:08:12 Obviously, help the country, help the youth, help myself, help the team and help the whole nation.
01:08:18 And also, not the whole nation, Africa as well.
01:08:21 Because now we go to Dakar, it's not if, something great is coming out.
01:08:26 Amen.
01:08:27 When it's coming out, we go to France, when someone from Ghana brings something like a gold medal in France.
01:08:34 It's not only Ghana.
01:08:36 It's with Africa, Africa, West Africa, West Africa, Ghana.
01:08:41 So it's a whole lot of like a bag and not only presents.
01:08:45 So I look at it outside the box.
01:08:48 I don't look at it inside the box.
01:08:50 If you look at it inside the box, it's full of money, it's full of like selfish, only yourself.
01:08:54 But when you open the box and you look at it outside the box, there's so many things around.
01:08:58 And that is what the decision I make.
01:09:00 Wow.
01:09:01 The weekend, the 2023 marathon happened and the athletes won various prizes.
01:09:11 Well, they were given their prizes before they left the shores of their country back to Kenya.
01:09:16 The competition was dominated by Kenyans as they won the 21 kilometer race, which took place from the Independence Square around to the 37th through to the police headquarters and back to Independence Square.
01:09:36 So the 21 kilometer race was dominated by Kenyans.
01:09:39 And before they left Ghana, they were given their financial packages that they won.
01:09:45 The winner had to walk away with about 75,000 Ghana cedis, a dollar equivalent to about $6,000 or more.
01:09:53 And the second place got about 35,000 Ghana cedis.
01:09:57 There was also a raffle for a car, which was won by boxer Okonati.
01:10:03 And he walked away with an Nissan car.
01:10:12 So we have a couple of AM sports here with me.
01:10:15 But just before I go, a happy birthday to Halima to Sadia and may the almighty Allah shower you with enormous blessings to ensure that you achieve the goals.
01:10:28 Everything is. And also, may every single step you take come with grace and glory.
01:10:36 We appreciate your time with us this morning.
01:10:38 The AM show continues right after this.
01:10:41 So welcome back to the show.
01:11:09 Let's get into one of our major issues for this morning.
01:11:13 It's about the public hearing into that particular plan, alleged plot to oust the current IGP, Dr. George Akufo-Dampari.
01:11:24 Well, yesterday, one superintendent had his day at the committee and he brought out a lot of issues that, you know, we are not privy to.
01:11:35 Well, my colleague Samuel Mbura was our man in parliament monitoring the procedure there for us.
01:11:43 And he joins me in studio with, you know, a wrap of how yesterday really went and what we should expect.
01:11:50 Good morning.
01:11:51 Good morning, Kodjo.
01:11:52 So you were there.
01:11:53 Exactly.
01:11:54 Give us a brief of what happened.
01:11:55 All right. So yesterday, the third police witness, that is George, was Superintendent George Asare, appeared before the ad hoc committee probing into the leaked IGP tape.
01:12:05 We know that these were the three names that were captured in the tape that Bugure Nnaabu presented to the committee or was scrutinized by the committee on.
01:12:17 So the first person, Eric Emmanuel, JB Superintendent, he is a director at the Forensic Laboratory Criminal Investigation Department, Ghana Police Headquarters.
01:12:28 He has taken his turn.
01:12:29 When he came, he denied the knowing about the plot and then the committee interrogated him briefly and then he was released.
01:12:38 Same was applied to, you know, COP Alex Mensah.
01:12:41 He had about two days to be questioned and all that.
01:12:45 So the third person, Superintendent George Asare, had his turn yesterday and then we know, per the narration from Bugure Nnaabu, he is the one who allegedly started the entire plotting.
01:12:58 So when he appeared before the committee, he was asked about how he got to know Bugure Nnaabu and that's where the genesis of it started.
01:13:05 So he indicated that Chief Bugure Nnaabu's son, one prophet Emmanuel Bugure Nnaabu, who was his spiritual father.
01:13:15 So the son of Bugure Nnaabu is a prophet and then he, what do you call it, a spiritual father to he, Superintendent George Asare.
01:13:25 So it was one of the usual meetings that his spiritual father told him that, "Are you in the service? Are you aware that there's a scout for a new IGP?"
01:13:35 Then he said, "Oh, he wasn't aware."
01:13:37 Then he said, "Okay, I will introduce you to my father because you know my father is the former regional chairman of the MPP and he's an influential figure."
01:13:45 So it was, that was the first time he was, according to his accounts, he was introduced to Chief Bugure Nnaabu.
01:13:53 So there was another meeting that Bugure Nnaabu, per his accounts, invited him over to his house and that was where he asked him,
01:14:01 "So do you have any officer in mind that you would want to recommend for the position of the IGP because we are told, I mean, the information coming in is that the president wants to replace IGP Akufo-Danpari."
01:14:15 So that was where he mentioned COP Alex Mensah and COP Alex Mensah is his boss so he has worked with him closely before so he knows his capabilities.
01:14:25 So that is where the meeting started.
01:14:28 So that was the second meeting.
01:14:29 The third meeting was when he was to present COP Alex Mensah's CV.
01:14:36 So he gave out the CV.
01:14:38 Then later there was a meeting that was scheduled, according to Superintendent George Asare.
01:14:42 On 19th of June, Chief Bugure Nnaabu called him like 13 times to come for the meeting but he couldn't answer.
01:14:51 Then later his boss, COP Alex Mensah, also called him so he didn't understand why the calls were coming.
01:14:57 And then he followed up to the office of Bugure Nnaabu at Osu and then that was where the first tip or the tip that we are hearing was reportedly recorded.
01:15:06 So when he was going there he was suspicious. "Why is the man calling me several times like that?"
01:15:12 So that was why he was alarmed and according to him, he also armed himself before going to meet Bugure Nnaabu because he knows that he's a politician and anything could come up.
01:15:23 They were also having a suspicion that...
01:15:25 So he suspected that a recording like that could happen.
01:15:28 Could happen. So he also armed himself.
01:15:30 In fact he has told the committee that he has a video and I've already seen snipers of the video on social media.
01:15:37 I spoke with his lawyer. His lawyer said he has not been drawn to his attention yet but he saw something like that.
01:15:43 So he was now questioned on the administration of the IGP Dan Parry, which he maintained that he had a lot to say but wouldn't want to say them in public.
01:15:56 He requested for an in-camera hearing just like the case of COP Alex Mensah to spill the beans.
01:16:02 He says he has a lot to say and tell the committee because all is not going well in the Ghana police services and he thinks that the committee needs to know.
01:16:11 Alright, there is more that you tell us but we have your report which is a wrap of how yesterday went ready.
01:16:19 Let's take a look at it now. When we return there is more for us to share with you on this public hearing into the plans to oust the current IGP, Dr George Akufo Dan Parry.
01:16:30 Police officer, Superintendent George Asare, who is collaborating, claims that the IGP engineered their conversation with star witness Bugri Nabo to be recorded.
01:16:44 In spite of his request to give his testimony, in-camera alleged Daniel Bugri Nabo was used as a conduit by the IGP to trap them.
01:16:54 He has however denied portions of the tip. He claims they are adopted.
01:16:59 But later upon further enquiries, remember I'm a policeman, for investigations I'm very smart, but that side, when we meet in-camera, you will know who did the recording, who was sent by who, and on what promise to who. You will get it when we meet in-camera.
01:17:26 Further alleges a contract was awarded to Daniel Bugri Nabo by the IGP to procure over 40,000 boots for the Ghana Police Service as a reward.
01:17:35 He has lied on several occasions. I have alleged Bugri Nabo on tape. Everything he came to say here, on video, in his office, the same office. His relationship with IGP and contracts, 40,000 boots, contracts.
01:17:58 Mr Asare also revealed that Daniel Bugri Nabo suggested spiritual fortification for them to secure the position of the IGP.
01:18:08 Honourable Chair, like I said, that spiritual matter, it was in two ways, either Christianity or other faiths.
01:18:21 But he insisted, he insisted, please, Honourable Chair, he insisted that he has some malams, as I use those words interchangeably, or imams. Yes. Yes.
01:18:41 But Alfred Dakwa, who is lawyer for Superintendent George Asare, says he is satisfied with the probe so far because it has given his clients an opportunity to clear his name in the public.
01:18:53 Had already been crucified. And at least today he's been able to at least say his side of the story. And I think that's the most important thing now.
01:19:02 Would you be surprised if the committee doesn't invite the IGP? His name keeps coming up. Would you be surprised as a lawyer if the committee doesn't invite the IGP?
01:19:11 I think it wouldn't even be fair to the IGP if he's not invited because allegations have been made against him. It's important that, I mean, principles of natural justice, he also gets the opportunity to also say his side.
01:19:26 Do you think your client has a case for what's allowed in the court? He doesn't need to have a case. He was invited as a witness so he came to say his side of the story.
01:19:35 It's not really about the Republic against him or he against somebody. His name came up and I think he came to explain how all these things happened.
01:19:44 Meanwhile, there is an emergence of a new take the Ad Hoc Committee is considering to scrutinize. Chairman of the committee, Samuel Atachia said they will consider even an in-camera hearing and invite all persons of interest in the probe.
01:20:01 The first audio is not authentic in terms of some aspects, but they admitted that some of them were authentic. Now, we've had the benefit of a tape on the assumption that it's authentic.
01:20:18 The members of the committee will have to internalize the tape and it is also transcribed and look at it. That will give us the ideas as to what to do.
01:20:30 First of all, do we bring all the stakeholders together with their lawyers for cross-examination and cross-firing to take place?
01:20:40 We will listen attentively and when they finish, we will have our turn. Are there matters which should not come into the public domain because of national security implications?
01:20:52 We will do long in-house or in-camera hearings. For now, all four witnesses including Daniel Bugrinabu, COP Alex Mensah, Superintendent Emmanuel Ejebi, and Superintendent George Asare have since been released.
01:21:10 The Parliament Ad Hoc Committee will continue in an in-camera hearing of this probe from Parliament House Samuel Mbura.
01:21:20 Welcome back. Samuel Mbura is here.
01:21:24 Samy, the in-camera hearing comes off today, right?
01:21:27 That is not certain. The committee, what the chairman said, they are going to internalize the new tape that has emerged and then they will decide the way forward.
01:21:36 That is where they will invite the lawyers of the witnesses and the witnesses themselves for them to scrutinize it.
01:21:44 If need be, they ask further questions because some of the witnesses have already indicated they want to give an in-camera testimony on this whole issue.
01:21:53 Details of that will be communicated.
01:21:55 But what we do know is that there is another interested party, the committee, that some police officers have also requested to make an input into the probe.
01:22:06 The committee chair confirmed that and that they will also open it up to any person of interest or anyone that is mentioned in the course of the interrogation to also come and give the information.
01:22:17 Mind you, this committee is not just limited to the leak tape alone. They are on a fact-finding mission.
01:22:25 After that, they will present their report.
01:22:27 A fact-finding mission into what?
01:22:29 Like you said, the Ugandan police service is not under trial.
01:22:33 However, the entire conversation is not limited to only the leak tape.
01:22:37 They were constituted to look into the leak tape.
01:22:39 However, the dimension is expanding.
01:22:42 So every member or any person that is of interest to the tape would be mentioned.
01:22:48 So after collating the views and the evidence that they gather from this investigation, they will put it in their report, add recommendations.
01:22:55 A reason is said that possibly the IGP could be invited to also give answers because so many things have been said about him.
01:23:04 And at least it is fair for them to also hear from him.
01:23:08 So the committee is really expanding the work or the investigation but not limited to the four witnesses captured in the alleged tape there.
01:23:18 Interesting.
01:23:20 This one says, "Watching from Southeast Nigeria, Arinzo Nwankwo Azaya sent this one in.
01:23:26 Grateful to you for joining us from Nigeria."
01:23:29 So as for today, there won't be any sitting?
01:23:34 That we are not setting.
01:23:36 The committee said they will start an in-camera hearing.
01:23:39 So we are yet to find out from them when exactly that will start.
01:23:43 But we know very well that the media will not be allowed to be part of it.
01:23:47 But being around the committee, what has been the extra thing you've heard that we haven't heard?
01:23:54 Well, everything has been captured in public.
01:23:56 I think the committee has given all of them a fair hearing on the issue and they have been legally represented.
01:24:02 All witnesses who appeared before. It has not been a hostile environment.
01:24:06 After the sitting, you see that they come to greet one another.
01:24:09 Despite the grilling of these witnesses, you see that they go to have a third-by-third conversation after the meeting and all that.
01:24:18 So it has been an environment that has been created for them to come and help them unravel these findings or these allegations that have been captured in the leak tip that has gone viral.
01:24:32 But the probe sort of revealed that all is not well with the police institution.
01:24:39 Is that something that is shared by the committee?
01:24:42 Well, the committee has expressed interest in getting to know what the exact problems are in the Ghana Police Service.
01:24:48 COP Alex Mensah said that right now, the junior ranks and different ranks in the Ghana Police Service from top to down are not happy about the allegation about the administration of Akufo-Danpare.
01:25:00 A reason they want to open up more.
01:25:02 Second has to do with the promotions.
01:25:05 You know, I was told and the committee chairman, Samuel Atatia, confirmed that some officers have sued IGP Danpare over promotion issues.
01:25:17 And these issues were also captured by the witness that appeared before the committee.
01:25:23 So it has actually been an interesting sitting so far.
01:25:27 And we are hoping to see or waiting to see how the entire story will progress.
01:25:33 Well, it's very, very interesting.
01:25:35 And we're able to tell how many of the police personnel who have sued the IGP for what's happening.
01:25:42 But it's interesting that all of this probe is bringing out how the police institution is in itself.
01:25:50 I mean, we'll see what will become of the institution going forward after the probe.
01:25:56 But lawyer Bobby Banson is a private legal practitioner.
01:25:59 He's joining us on phone.
01:26:01 Good morning to you. Thanks for joining us.
01:26:03 Good morning, Samuel, and thanks for having me.
01:26:06 With all the probe that's been happening, what has been the take away for you as a lawyer?
01:26:13 Huh?
01:26:15 Well, because you added that caveat as a lawyer.
01:26:20 Let me be.
01:26:22 Well, that's a question I have.
01:26:24 Okay, okay, okay. Let me remove the lawyer from there.
01:26:27 What has been the take away for you?
01:26:28 So I can feel free to talk.
01:26:31 Exactly. Feel free. Yeah.
01:26:33 Well, the first question I ask myself is whether or not the probe should have been held in camera and not in public.
01:26:42 You know, we are dealing with security issues, national security issues.
01:26:46 We are dealing with discussions that border on the top hierarchy of the Ghana Police Service, including the IGP.
01:26:54 Now, we know that once it's held in open, we cannot discount the fact that almost every police officer, whatever rank, will be interested in the outcome.
01:27:08 Now, some of these things are coming out.
01:27:11 Whether they are true or whether they are not true, they'll create perception.
01:27:16 You will have people within the police service that will not like the IGP.
01:27:21 You will have people within the police service that will like the IGP.
01:27:26 Now, the publicization of some of these comments from persons that have appeared before the committee, whether these comments are true or not, would feed into a certain narrative, whether for good or for bad.
01:27:42 And no matter the outcome of the probe, the consequences of it, in terms of it affecting the morale of members of the police service, either right or wrong, cannot be whittled down.
01:27:57 And so I was hoping that they would first have the probe not in public, but then behind closed doors.
01:28:05 Secondly, I'm asking myself what is the end game.
01:28:09 So when they are done with the probe, the recommendation, what are they going to do?
01:28:16 Because it's only the president that appoints the IGP.
01:28:19 The other members of the police service, depending on their rank, are appointed by the IGP or appointed by the police council or so.
01:28:29 And so what would be the end game of the committee?
01:28:34 These are some of the questions that I've been asking myself. And listening to some of the things that are being said by the persons that have appeared before them, I think that no matter what happens, we have to have a serious look at the police service.
01:28:51 And then maybe the police council should also be given either more powers or, if they already have the powers, should be able to get involved in some of these things so that they do not degenerate into something that would be out of control.
01:29:06 So, I mean, you've been asking yourself about the end game.
01:29:11 You've said that there should be some, I mean, this should lead to probably a reform of the police service.
01:29:19 But what is your reading of what the committee will be, you know, listening to the questioning, their responses given?
01:29:28 What's your reading of what possibly could be the recommendation by the committee?
01:29:34 I think that without prejudice to the final outcome, from what I have heard so far, like I said, I think there should be a way where the police council should be empowered to receive complaints from officials or officers within the police service on some of these things.
01:29:59 For example, a public notice that some officers have sued the IGP for allegedly not following established protocols or their code of office or conduct when it comes to promotion.
01:30:14 And they are now in public domain, discaptioning it.
01:30:18 So, I think that there should be a way where the police council should be empowered to receive complaints from officials or officers within the police service on some of these things.
01:30:38 I think that the police council in the police service may be affected, but if it's handled in that manner, I believe, with the police council being given the authority, having a form of...
01:30:51 I know the police have its own internal procedure for handling disciplinary issues, but these are not necessary disciplinary issues.
01:31:01 These are issues affecting the governance of the police service.
01:31:05 I think that the police council should have some form of authority to be able to resolve some of these things by alternatives and by disciplinary resolution.
01:31:16 Now, the police service itself, from this hearing, comes across as one that is very unstable.
01:31:25 I mean, from the outside, we wouldn't know, but once this hearing has opened up the service to all of us, we are getting to feel that the service is not that united.
01:31:37 How do we, I mean, aside giving more powers to the council, how do we cure the failings of the institution as it's been pointed out to us through this hearing?
01:31:48 You are echoing the sentiment I shared.
01:31:53 You said categorically that some of these hearings, the revelations coming out of it, point to one thing, that there is no unity in the police service.
01:32:02 And you as an ordinary person who expects that the police service will be able to provide security within the country, and if there is no unity, the chain of command may be broken at the point in time.
01:32:15 The ordinary person may be affected.
01:32:18 I believe that when this is done, the executives, which have, I think, overall responsibility of the police service, and the minister in charge,
01:32:29 they should be able to sit all the persons affected down, should be able to resolve their personal differences, and then come up with a joint statement for the public
01:32:39 to reassure us that all differences have been resolved, the police is united as forever, and whatever remedies or recommendations that ought to be implemented to ensure that there is no repetition of these affairs would be done.
01:32:54 I believe that would give us some level of assurance that whatever the problem was, there is some attempt to resolve it.
01:33:04 All of this thing is coming due to the appointment of the IGP.
01:33:10 Must we continue with the protocol, or it should change?
01:33:18 That the president will appoint the IGP?
01:33:20 Exactly.
01:33:23 You know, I keep saying that we should be able to build strong institutions, so that irrespective of who heads that institution, the structures are there such that they cannot be influenced by the executives.
01:33:42 And so, if the president appoints an IGP, the IGP should be appointed from within the structures that have already been built, devoid of political influence,
01:33:55 so that whoever becomes the IGP has already had these values of the police service, service of integrity instilled in him, such that he sees his appointment as an elevation or a crowning of his years of undiluted service to the police service,
01:34:16 and that he does not owe allegiance to whoever appointed him, but to the constitution and the people of Ghana.
01:34:22 So, the appointment by the president, I believe, is in consultation with the Council of State.
01:34:29 I know what the Supreme Court has interpreted consultation to be, but if we take that authority from the president, who would we give to appoint the IGP?
01:34:39 Who would we give it to?
01:34:40 Definitely to be given to an institution or somebody that is also headed or constituted by a human being.
01:34:47 And so, for me, the focus should not necessarily be on who appoints, but that we invest in building structures right from your entry level up to the highest rank.
01:35:00 It should be on merit, so that you know that you didn't enter in the first place because of political affiliation, and your promotion to whatever rank should also not be because of political affiliation.
01:35:12 If we start that from the root, whoever becomes IGP should not be a problem because we know that the structures are so built and so strong that that person has no chance to corrupt it.
01:35:24 Very interesting. The police who seem, and again, you know, when it comes to the appointment, if Bugri N'Abu had not set out to receive the CV of someone who is qualified, and what have you, probably this could have been cured.
01:35:46 And that's why it's important that we find a way to probably cure this way of looking for an IGP, where a party fanatic who is known to be close to the Paris Derby will set out to go and look for someone to lobby for.
01:36:08 Now, at the end of the probe, how do we get all the parties to reconcile? Because I see that COP Mensa and the IGP, as well as the superintendent, reconciling them will be quite a hectic job. How must that be approached?
01:36:26 Well, we have, like I said, the police council, we have the council of state. I believe that they are made up of persons that have the necessary experience and expertise and the temperament to be able to resolve some of these things.
01:36:40 I do not think that whatever problem between them is unresolvable. I mean, they are human beings, they are in this country, we have certain values, we have certain cultures that I think that should be in books to be able to resolve their differences.
01:36:55 And I think that having the police council or the council of state constitute a committee or something like that, just to meet them to resolve these issues, would not be out of place. I'm very confident that we will find a resolution to their impact between them.
01:37:09 Alright. So, what will be your expectation of how this should be? We are told that the police, the committee is watching or listening to another lead tape, and then they will decide whether to bring in the IGP himself to have his day or not. What will be your expectation of what the conclusion the committee will be arriving at?
01:37:35 I think the committee, I expect them to invite the IGP. I mean, he's the head of the institution. They are a fact-finding committee, and so if allegations have been made against somebody, it's only fair that that person is given an opportunity to respond to those allegations and stick to the side of the story.
01:38:01 They are not operating like a court where an allegation has been made and so he who accepts must prove. That is not how the committee is operating. They are operating as a fact-finding committee. So, once the IGP has been mentioned as somebody who organized the recording, I believe so, that was the allegation made against him. And he's reached the king. It's only fair that he's given an opportunity to respond to these allegations. So, I expect the committee to invite him.
01:38:27 Okay. Alright. Grateful to you, Loyal Bobby Banson, for joining us with your perspectives on this matter.
01:38:34 Thank you. Thank you very much for having me.
01:38:36 Loyal Bobby Banson is a private legal practitioner there, and this is still the AM show. You can join us with your thoughts on this particular matter. Go on to our Facebook page and leave your comment there.
01:38:50 We'll take a quick break. We still have more to share with you. You remember that development where an NGO wants to put up a center that would deal with childhood cancers. It's a conversation that you have to look forward to. But we'll be back with more. Stay with us.
01:39:09 [music]
01:39:36 Welcome back. Let's talk about education. We know that the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana, CTAG, declared some strike action about some weeks ago.
01:39:50 And we are hearing that there is some development in that. We've been joined by the president for CTAG, Prince Obengiwa. Good morning to you, sir, and thanks for joining us.
01:40:01 What's the latest on your strike?
01:40:04 Good morning to you and your cherished viewers. Yes, the latest development is that we have called off the strike action.
01:40:14 Okay.
01:40:15 And it follows the directive given by the National Labor Commission last Wednesday, asking us to, or directing us to, call off the action. Because in the opinion of the National Labor Commission, they had compelled the government to, as it were, provide evidence of full compliance.
01:40:37 I mean, bringing timelines or providing them with timelines when those that are yet to be complied, to be complied. So some of them are processes.
01:40:46 So in the opinion of the National Labor Commission, we have to call off the responsibility of ensuring compliance would then be carried by the National Labor Commission.
01:40:58 Okay.
01:40:59 We did not agree totally with the ruling. But as a law-abiding institution, you go to court, you may not have it all. It's a win-win situation.
01:41:09 But I don't agree because it wasn't only the allowance issue or the payment of the conditions of service that, I mean, court has declared the action.
01:41:18 The staff audit, which is yet to be made known to us, the report, the all-year-round compensation, but it provided timelines to all those fines.
01:41:30 So when the decision was taken, believing in our bottom-up approach and the fact that the acquisition belongs to the rank and file, and that they even authorized the action and we, the leaders, are ten times longer, have to carry on the action.
01:41:43 We needed to start this with them. So we got every member in every college to vote on the decision, whether we should comply with the NLC's directive or we should press on with the action.
01:41:54 After successful voting across the 46 colleges of education in Ghana, a majority overwhelmingly decided that we have to comply with the NLC's directive.
01:42:07 And democratic as we are, we have to go with that. We would like to use this opportunity to thank our members across Ghana for their solidarity shown during the period.
01:42:18 At a point that we even lost salaries, we saw that there was hope ahead. We saw that there was a need to sacrifice further. We wish to thank them.
01:42:28 We wish to also thank the Utah President and his Secretary, Professor Nunu, for the solidarity shown. It's important to place on record that our last appearance at the NLC, Professor Nunu and his Secretary defied all odds, stopped whatever they were doing and followed it to the National Liberal Commission.
01:42:46 They were part of our team. We also would like to thank the TUC General Secretary, Dr. Ban and Mr. Kwanche for their pep talks and then bits of advice and strategies they shared with us.
01:42:59 We would like to thank everybody and the media, particularly Joy, I mean, families. You've been fantastic. She was very generous. She was carrying our story far and what a view.
01:43:09 We understand that some allowances have been paid to you. Is this true? How many months does this allowance cover?
01:43:20 The conditions of service, in fact, it was supposed to have been paid up to last month. But because in their opinion we were not in school last month and they decided to freeze our salaries, that one wasn't passed.
01:43:35 So all the arrears, all the accrued arrears on the conditions of service, that one has been paid. But as I said, that wasn't the only bone of contention. That was only one of the four orders given by the National Liberal Commission.
01:43:51 So you pay the arrears and the others are standard. It's like going to school and scoring one over four and claiming you are the best candidate. But the good news is that we've compared them to provide timelines to each of the orders and how it will be provided.
01:44:06 Which we are willing to serve the media with a copy when the document is ready. So we all use it as a tracker to track how those things are being done, how the timeline they have provided themselves will go by the timeline.
01:44:19 Okay. We spoke to the NLC yesterday and the Executive Secretary was saying that once you had declared a strike on the basis of allowances, they were expecting you to call it off once the monies have been paid.
01:44:35 But you're also telling us that it goes farther than that. What assurance do you have then that the Labour Commission would ensure that government obeys the ruling that it gave?
01:44:47 Well, we are talking about documents. I did not hear what the National Labour Commission's Executive Secretary said, Mr Fudo Samwa, my big brother and friend. I didn't hear what he said.
01:44:59 But he has it on his desk. He knows the orders contained in the May 2 ruling. First to proceed with what every individual or what any individual will prescribe.
01:45:14 The orders were there. Four things to be complied with by the government. The allowance was just one of the four things. So each one of them carries equal weight to us. All of them are important. So it's not only about the allowance.
01:45:29 Okay. So as we speak, if we go to the colleges, will we see the teachers there teaching?
01:45:37 Yes, we finished the next meeting and came out with a decision yesterday. We are going to the office to officially write the NLC and also write a directive to the members and copy the principles.
01:45:51 And you agree that over the period people have had to travel. We didn't know when this whole drama was going to end. So people are already at their stations.
01:45:59 So it's fair to give the people up to Thursday to move to their stations so that by Thursday, Friday we should start work. So the principle we have resumed, and people have been talked to, to move down to their stations. That's normally how it's done.
01:46:17 So indeed, your salaries for August were forfeited or have been forfeited?
01:46:26 Oh yes, the salary was not paid, but we still maintain that we are not like other professions like medical doctors or people in there. When you go on strike, the patients you were supposed to have seen, you wouldn't see.
01:46:43 And when you go back, you are going to see fresh visions. In our case, the students are there. We have course outlines to complete.
01:46:50 So we are going back and we'll teach the students. It means that the work we didn't do during the period for which our salaries got frozen, we have to do the work.
01:46:58 So it's totally logical that the salaries are restored. And indeed, the National Labor Commission also said we should call off the action for them to intervene in other matters, including discussions that will lead to the freezing of the frozen salaries.
01:47:14 So can you give us, you know, a recap for us, what these other conditions are that you expect government to implement?
01:47:24 Well, we are supposed to pay the ring of the National Labor Commission. Having worked throughout the year, we deserve one month's compensation for deserving members. And then that one, they have said they are going to pay by October.
01:47:41 And that's the timeline they provided. They are collecting data on that one by 15th of September. And then by October, it should be paid. We are also supposed to be given three weeks leave each of the teachers because we worked throughout the year.
01:47:57 And we are compensating it. The labor law requires that we rest. The money cannot buy the rest. So we should be given three weeks to rest. We are waiting for timetable for that duty, that leave rota to be provided by each of the principals.
01:48:13 And we are waiting for the internal arrangements to be made for the members to enjoy that. That is also one. We are waiting for the staff audit that is supposed to establish the relativities between the qualification we hold and other qualifications, same qualifications that other colleagues hold in other tertiary institutions to pave way for the pay we use to extend allowances that are being enjoyed in other tertiary jurisdictions to our members in equal measure.
01:48:41 We expect that staff audit to be out in a given timeline. Each of the issues, you don't want the public to know the same properly. Each of them is equally important. So these are the other three things that are left. And then we expect that the National Labor Commission will agree that at the end of the day, all those things will be fully complied with.
01:49:07 >> Okay. So you said that for the one month compensation, they said it would be ready by October. But you didn't give us the staff audit. Have they given any timeline that they will be able to complete it?
01:49:21 >> The staff audit, they said it should be in by the 1st of September. Yesterday we had information that they had released this and it had gone to the minister. So the minister will have a look at it first. After which it will come to the colleges and then we'll begin conversation on it.
01:49:41 So we're expecting that anywhere from now it should be in. But at the time given, the timeline, it ought to have been with us on the 1st of September. That was the time in the documents of the National Labor Commission.
01:49:57 >> Okay. So once today is fair, your expectation is that the minister will go through what has been put out there and then the implementation will start. Is that it?
01:50:07 >> Yes. That is what we are hearing. Even though at the National Labor Commission it wasn't mentioned that it will get to the minister's office before it comes to us and then we knew it would come to us on the 1st.
01:50:20 So right now we've been told that it's going to the minister. We know that it's part of the process. It's normal that sometimes it's the minister. But our hope is that it shouldn't sit there for long for another action to be triggered before it's done.
01:50:34 >> We want to use it to let in labor relations. It doesn't send good signals. When, for instance, workers get the impression that it's only through a looter that things are done. It's not good.
01:50:50 >> We look at the allowances that have been paid. We can see that the strike, it wouldn't have been paid. We did this negotiation with the 21st. We went for a meeting in Accra about 27 times.
01:51:10 We didn't have any conclusion until we finally had to go to the National Labor Commission to compare them to trigger compulsory arbitration. So that we would do that before it was done. The thing came out 2nd of May for immediate implementation. It was there up until the strike action.
01:51:30 So what signal does this send to workers? We should know that when we go on strike, if anything loses, a lot of things could have been done in the colleges within that period that we have gone on strike. So some of the actions, the inactions of the employers, sometimes they have to sit up and do things right. That is my humble opinion and suggestion.
01:51:55 >> All right. Thank you very much for joining us here. We expect that by Thursday all of you will be in the classroom to teach our wonderful teacher trainees. Grateful to you for joining us. All the best.
01:52:07 >> Thank you.
01:52:09 >> Prince Obenghema is the president of CTAG, the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana. They have called off their strike action and they expect their members to be in the classroom from today for complaints to be in by Thursday.
01:52:25 So that is the latest. If you just joined us, the Colleges of Education Teachers Association, CTAG, have called off their strike action because government has given them timelines with which they will be implementing their request that they put before government.
01:52:43 Again, the government has also paid the allowances that they owed them. Great news for our friends in the colleges of education throughout the country.
01:52:55 This is still the AM show. We will take a quick break. When we return, what is the effort that some people are putting in to ensure that they fight childhood cancers? There is a bigger conversation coming up next here on the show. Stay.
01:53:11 [ Music ]
01:53:37 >> All right. So welcome back. It's still on the AM show. Let's talk about something that is quite worrying for all of us, childhood cancers.
01:53:46 Now, we understand from our producer that Ghana records over a thousand pediatric cancer cases every year.
01:53:56 Those children, one of them could be yours. So if there is a way by which we can care for them, all of us must join it.
01:54:06 And that's why it's with excitement that I'm welcoming into the studio Dr. Tanya Trippett.
01:54:12 She is a pediatric oncologist and the president for Wish for Life. Hi.
01:54:19 >> It's a pleasure being here today. Thank you so much.
01:54:22 >> It's a pleasure to pass through. What motivated, you know, your decision to undertake this drive to care for children with cancers?
01:54:32 >> I think when you see children experience a disease that's life-threatening and they take it on full force and are resilient and most importantly can be cured, then it really has been a source of inspiration for me to help in whatever way that I could possibly do.
01:54:50 >> Oh, so not just managed, they can be cured.
01:54:54 >> They can be cured. So in the United States and in Western Europe, we're looking at cure rates that are 85% of children that are diagnosed, complete treatment, are cured of their disease.
01:55:05 So there's no reason why children in other countries who don't have the resources that we have cannot have the same access to the same quality of care.
01:55:16 When you look at many of the low to middle income countries, the cure rates are much lower, so it's close to 20%.
01:55:23 So these are diseases that children are dying from that we know how to cure.
01:55:27 And so this is a part of our effort to just reach our hands out and across the ocean to provide a help and a resource and more importantly a treatment center that we hope will help and change things.
01:55:40 >> So is it the affordability that is making places like ours have around 20% cure ability?
01:55:47 >> Sometimes it's access to the site, maybe a distance away from where the patient lives.
01:55:54 Also the affordability for young families who are struggling with finances.
01:55:59 It's hard to pay for the cost of the medicines and all of the resources that are required to cure their illness.
01:56:08 >> So what does Wish for Life bring?
01:56:10 >> So what Wish for Life brings is a number of things.
01:56:14 First of all, a facility that has the state of the art equipment for diagnosis.
01:56:19 Early detection is very, very important in establishing that high cure rate.
01:56:24 So the earlier the cancer is detected in children, the more effective our ability to treat it is.
01:56:31 And what Wish for Life will bring is the newer diagnostics into the region to make it accessible to all children, both in Ghana and also throughout the continent of Africa.
01:56:43 In addition, we would bring newer medicines that are effective in treating cancer.
01:56:50 And so we've joined in partnerships with a number of the pharmaceutical companies to bring those medicines into the region.
01:56:57 And these are medicines that have been proven to be effective.
01:57:01 We will bring that.
01:57:02 And then, in addition, the resources for support of family members, residential facilities to support the family at the site.
01:57:12 So if they live a long distance away, they can live on the campus and just walk to receive treatment every day.
01:57:19 And then have that emotional support system that's necessary to help them for the child to heal and for the family to stay intact.
01:57:28 And then, in addition, we have started an endowment in the United States to begin to look at offsetting the cost of care for children.
01:57:37 And so we'll partner with, obviously, the government with the National Health Insurance Scheme, which is now supporting all children with pediatric cancers.
01:57:48 But we'll provide an extra support on top of that to help families that need it the most.
01:57:53 So I get the impression that when the center is built, children who will be coming there would not have to cough up the money that would require.
01:58:03 That's the plan.
01:58:04 And so what we'd be looking at is a mixture of support.
01:58:08 We've created, in addition, a special micro-insurance that is specifically for pediatric cancer that we'd like to roll out and initiate.
01:58:17 And in addition to that, support for families that just can't afford coverage for their health care, but at the same time need those resources.
01:58:27 So nobody should be left out.
01:58:29 That's the most important thing.
01:58:31 No one should be left out.
01:58:33 I'm told you're now going to construct the center.
01:58:38 Yes, that's correct.
01:58:39 So we're in the first stage.
01:58:41 We'll be moving now to the enabling works phase, which is utilizing the land that has been given to us from the HM Nation.
01:58:49 And what we'll begin to do is just start to clear and put the fencing around.
01:58:54 So we'll start that shortly after this week.
01:58:58 But what is the challenge confronting?
01:59:03 I mean, you've mentioned the money aspect of it.
01:59:07 But when you take out money, what is that challenge confronting the treatment of childhood cancer in Ghana?
01:59:13 The biggest challenge, and it's the same as in the U.S., is awareness.
01:59:17 Persons being aware that children can experience cancer, to remove the stigma that's associated with it, which it's not a disease that is caused by doing something wrong or also by it being contagious.
01:59:33 But removing the stigma.
01:59:35 And then the other big challenge is infrastructure.
01:59:38 In order to establish high cure rates, it means that the equipment, the medicines, the whole infrastructure has to be there in full capacity.
01:59:49 And that's the part that's the biggest challenge, is creating the facility and the resources to be able to maintain it over time, to make it sustainable over time.
01:59:59 Okay. And is this sustainable?
02:00:03 So this is what we're working on.
02:00:04 We've united and joined hands with some of the major companies throughout the world.
02:00:10 And we've asked them to be a partner.
02:00:13 And by being a partner, that means helping to advocate for childhood cancer and supporting us in education, helping us with resources and equipment that we'll need.
02:00:24 And in addition, widening the visibility so that we have access to the full support.
02:00:31 We're also engaging the business community throughout the world.
02:00:34 We have a number of business associates in the United States, also in Europe and in Ghana and throughout Africa.
02:00:42 We're helping to support us to look at economic strategies and models that will help to make the hospital come to fruition and be affordable and sustainable.
02:00:55 Sometimes they say prevention is better than cure, right?
02:00:59 Is there a way?
02:01:01 The tough part about childhood cancer is completely different than an adult cancer.
02:01:07 Adult cancers are oftentimes stimulated by the lifestyle that you have.
02:01:12 In children, the cancers are completely different.
02:01:15 So we know that they can occur spontaneously.
02:01:18 We don't know exactly the reason why, but it's not based on lifestyle.
02:01:23 Oftentimes it's based upon the genetics, what triggers changes in normal cells to act like cancer cells.
02:01:30 And the cells that pediatric cancers arise from are similar to the tissue of a child when they're inside of the womb of the mother.
02:01:38 And those cells grow very rapidly.
02:01:42 The same happens with pediatric cancer.
02:01:44 So we're still studying, trying to understand the reason why these cancers occur.
02:01:49 And then more importantly, targeting medicines that are specific to each child's cancer.
02:01:55 We call that personalized medicine.
02:01:57 Okay.
02:01:58 Because sometimes we see adverts of young children needing around $200,000 to go through a certain treatment.
02:02:06 And all of this, with the establishment of the center, will be taken care of.
02:02:10 Yeah.
02:02:11 What we'll be working on is reducing those costs.
02:02:13 So a number of the ways that we're looking at this issue is making the center a nonprofit institution.
02:02:21 So that cuts, reduces the cost of care.
02:02:25 In addition, outside of the United States, the cost is cheaper for delivery of medicines.
02:02:31 The cost of medicines is much cheaper.
02:02:34 Also, utilizing state-of-the-art equipment here in the country at the rates that the country is presently needing is actually far more cheaper than in the United States.
02:02:47 Oh, really?
02:02:48 So you're looking at, on the average, in the published data from here, $9,400 is the cost.
02:02:56 When you look at the comparator in the United States, it could start at $150,000 and increase.
02:03:02 Oh, okay.
02:03:03 So it's a big difference.
02:03:05 And so we see that as an important distinction that we should make, that these are diseases that are curable but also affordable.
02:03:14 And so we'll look to make that happen.
02:03:16 Okay. I pray it happens.
02:03:18 As we are on the show today, if maybe businesses are watching, what should be the role that all of us should play in making this possible?
02:03:28 I think what we need is the resources and the know-how to look at an economic model that's effective with multiple strategies, multiple revenue streams that will come in.
02:03:40 We need both the knowledge and also the financial support.
02:03:44 So we're looking for partners that will want to join in.
02:03:47 And what we would ask them to do is to have a heart for children first.
02:03:51 Secondly, to help us to use the business knowledge that they've used to increase their revenue so that we can look at an effective way of managing the revenue so that all children can be treated.
02:04:03 And then finally, I think that giving a hands-on approach is really important.
02:04:09 Getting involved in the center, adopting some of the portions of the center, and making sure that it's sustained over time.
02:04:18 Okay.
02:04:19 So creating those relationships within the community that are grounded within the economic community.
02:04:26 And once the center is set up, then like you said, awareness creation to draw even the people who are farther off in the hinterlands to know that there's something like that so they can take advantage of.
02:04:39 Yes.
02:04:40 Do we anticipate the number of children we can take care of in a year?
02:04:44 In a year, we're looking at the bed capacity is 100 beds, but we have outpatient facilities for residents, and it's 160 beds that will have so close to 300 children per year at the center.
02:04:58 Our plan is over a period of three to five years that we escalate those numbers.
02:05:04 So we'll increase the bed capacity by further growth of the center to 250, and then we'll expand the residential facilities.
02:05:12 So what we would like to do is to be able to offer services not only to patients in Ghana, but looking at Nigeria, Benin, Togo, the surrounding regions, and having an access that's an international access to care that would be available.
02:05:28 So this is why we need the community support in the business.
02:05:31 Okay.
02:05:32 So when are we looking at this coming to life?
02:05:34 So we will push to start construction at the beginning of the year of 2024 with a two-year plan for build.
02:05:42 Okay.
02:05:43 So 2026.
02:05:44 Six.
02:05:45 It will be operational.
02:05:46 Yes.
02:05:47 All right.
02:05:48 I guess we'll be with you along the step, every step of the way, so that people will get to know where we are with this, because this is quite miraculous, right?
02:05:55 You have to spend $100,000, and with this, I will probably end up spending zero.
02:06:02 That's a miracle.
02:06:03 That's a goal.
02:06:04 That's a goal.
02:06:05 And if I can finish my career with, I wanted to finish my career doing what I love without being paid, but more importantly, providing that access to all children.
02:06:15 Okay.
02:06:16 All of my children in the United States, if they've survived their illness, and those that have not, have never wanted another child to experience what they've experienced.
02:06:23 Oh.
02:06:24 And so that's why we call it the Wish for Life Foundation.
02:06:26 Oh, okay.
02:06:27 So it's a wish for all children on behalf of our world's children to not experience cancer, or if they do, to be cured.
02:06:35 Okay.
02:06:36 Interesting.
02:06:37 And so you wish to spend the rest of your, when you retire, you'll be in Ghana to do this?
02:06:43 Yes, that's for sure.
02:06:44 I'll be back and forth.
02:06:45 Oh, you love Ghana, huh?
02:06:47 I love it.
02:06:48 Okay.
02:06:49 Thanks for coming through, yeah?
02:06:51 And thank you for having me.
02:06:52 And all the best.
02:06:53 But before we go, probably we have a last word for those who are watching us.
02:06:56 Sure.
02:06:57 What I would say to everyone is no child should be denied the chance for a cure of their cancer.
02:07:03 If we have it within our power to unite our collective voice and to share our alliances to make this happen, this is the most important thing.
02:07:12 Okay.
02:07:13 Dr. Tanya Trippett, thanks for coming.
02:07:15 Thank you for having me.
02:07:16 And all the best.
02:07:17 I appreciate it.
02:07:18 Thank you.
02:07:19 All right.
02:07:20 This is a worthy cause that all of us should support.
02:07:22 If you're out there, you can support them.
02:07:26 I'm sure you have to get in touch with them so that we can all come together and make this a reality.
02:07:30 If someone wants to connect with you, how does the person do it?
02:07:33 So if you look at our website, www.wishforlife.org, there's a way that you can access and send a message to us, and we'll be responding quickly.
02:07:46 And we have a leadership team that will be reaching out to the community, also giving access here to how we can work together.
02:07:54 All right.
02:07:55 Thank you so much.
02:07:56 Thank you so much.
02:07:57 Well, so kindly get in touch with the Wish for Life Foundation and let us all come together to see what we can do.
02:08:05 Well, yesterday we began a certain conversation that really struck me.
02:08:11 When I got to hear that, I never imagined that there's a forest somewhere that someone may be in doing illegal mining now.
02:08:20 But we are told that there are a lot of forests in Ghana that people are mining illegally in them.
02:08:25 And when you see the video that we showed you yesterday, I mean, it will prick your conscience that something ought to happen in this country.
02:08:33 We'll have that conversation coming up next here after this.
02:08:37 [Music]
02:09:03 So welcome back. And let's talk more about this documentary there, Forest Under Siege.
02:09:11 Now, we're told that several forests are under the, you know, overutilization of illegal miners.
02:09:23 The illegal miners have invaded these forests and have degraded them.
02:09:27 Now, Ghana says we want to be a champion of climate change.
02:09:31 But the carbon cover that we're looking for are provided for by these, you know, forests.
02:09:37 So if these forests are being depleted, then of course, where are we going to get the cover from?
02:09:43 That's a conversation that we need to have.
02:09:46 Again, we know that illegal miners have invaded these, you know, forests when we do have the Forestry Commission to protect them.
02:09:57 Let's bring in Elizabeth Alua-Va. She's executive director for the Ghana Environmental Advocacy Group.
02:10:04 Elizabeth, good morning.
02:10:06 Hello. Good morning, Elizabeth.
02:10:14 Good morning. Good morning. How are you? Do you hear me?
02:10:17 Yeah, I can hear you now.
02:10:19 I'm not well because of the sort of distraction that some of our forests are, you know, experiencing.
02:10:29 What can you point to being the fact or the factor that has led to us being where we are?
02:10:40 What has led to us being where we are?
02:10:45 I think we have just looked on and allowed our forests to be pillaged.
02:10:52 When I got the invite to speak, initially I was like, what new things am I going to say to make any difference?
02:11:02 Because as Ghanaians, we have become, what do you call it?
02:11:07 We have become, right now nothing moves us anymore. We have become numb to everything that we see.
02:11:15 So I wasn't too sure what was going to be new for me.
02:11:20 But when I looked at your documentary and saw what Erastos has had to go through with his team,
02:11:27 in spite of the risk to himself, to continue to present to us what is happening to our forest, I had to come in.
02:11:36 So what have we done? We have looked on and allowed the most extensive destruction of our forest,
02:11:44 mostly the primary rainforest to be destroyed.
02:11:49 I checked up a few statistics and from 2021 to 20, from 2001 to 2022,
02:11:57 we have lost 1.53 million hectares of forest cover in Ghana.
02:12:05 This is a 22% decrease in whatever forest cover we used to have,
02:12:10 resulting in 843 metric tons of CO2 emissions that we could have stopped from happening.
02:12:20 And the top two regions, incidentally, are my own western region.
02:12:25 Right now it's western and western north, but for this period it's western region.
02:12:31 And then the Ashanti region. The two of them contribute to 58% of the destruction.
02:12:39 So we just looked on and our forestry commission has been, I think, the biggest culprit.
02:12:46 We just looked on and allowed our forest to degrade.
02:12:53 So if we have just looked on, maybe people are not getting, you know, it's not, we're not making it,
02:13:02 we're not breaking it down to get to their level.
02:13:05 Why must all of us as Ghanaians be worried, you know, or be concerned by what is happening?
02:13:15 We have to be. We have to be because, you know, some of this, especially the primary rainforest,
02:13:22 the virgin forest, we're never going to get it back.
02:13:25 No matter how many trees we plant, you know, it's a lot easier to take care of the land that we already have,
02:13:33 the forest that is mature already there, established, than to plant new ones.
02:13:40 You know, how many of the new ones we plant even survive?
02:13:45 How many of the new ones that we plant even survive?
02:13:48 And, you know, they will throw around statistics, we planted 10 million trees, whatever.
02:13:54 Do we really have those trees?
02:13:56 And do we know how much of that is going to survive?
02:13:59 So the onus is on us to protect what we already have.
02:14:03 Right now, green is actually making people a lot more,
02:14:07 countries are earning more money from their green vegetation than even the mining that we claim to be doing.
02:14:14 So we have to rethink, we have to move things around.
02:14:20 And then these monies that are earned come directly to the country, not to companies that are mining, right?
02:14:27 And therefore, that should be our focus, to earn more money.
02:14:30 Exactly. Exactly.
02:14:32 Something that Daryl said that really, really got to me was,
02:14:38 we are allowing private companies to not only destroy our country, our communities, and our future,
02:14:46 we are allowing them to make all that money, leave all that degradation there.
02:14:52 And then the government of Ghana goes to the World Bank,
02:14:56 takes grants or loans to supposedly come and fix these,
02:15:02 these things that private people caused.
02:15:08 They will come and fix this, I don't even know if they will even fix that.
02:15:11 They will take the money in the name of fixing it, use it for whatever they want,
02:15:15 and it's our children, ourselves, the very poor people that they are stealing from,
02:15:21 that are then going to have to pay these loans.
02:15:26 And even if it's a grant that we don't pay, you know,
02:15:29 a million dollars that is used to develop a school or develop a community,
02:15:35 it's better than using that money to supposedly go and fix something that a private person,
02:15:42 a private company did, most of whom are foreigners, by the way.
02:15:47 So, we are not really making anything out of this mining, supposedly,
02:15:54 the alluvial mining that we are doing.
02:15:56 You know, when we had our Koko, and I am a product of the Ghana Koko Scholarships,
02:16:03 when we had our Koko, it was owned by individuals mostly,
02:16:08 and it was for the greater good of Ghanaians.
02:16:12 But now, as we destroy our forests, individuals benefit,
02:16:17 and then it becomes, it comes to the detriment of the Ghanaians.
02:16:23 It just doesn't make sense.
02:16:31 So, is there an issue of regulatory authorities not doing their work,
02:16:39 or it is an issue of lack of employment, so rural communities would allow anybody
02:16:46 to pillage, you know, their natural resources at the detriment of the environment?
02:16:52 It's not about employment. Everybody who says that is just, that's just a small screen.
02:16:57 When our people did the Galamsey, they weren't using excavators,
02:17:04 so it's not about employment.
02:17:06 Right now, the Galamsey, that's what they were doing with their pickaxes and stuff,
02:17:12 even employed more people, it was more sustainable, because they were going underground.
02:17:18 And what they are doing now, with 10 excavators, you can clear how many hectares of a forest
02:17:24 within a week, even a week.
02:17:27 And within three months, they've degraded their place, they've left the holes,
02:17:32 they've left the pits unfilled, and then moved on to the next one.
02:17:38 So really, what kind of job is this creating?
02:17:41 It's not job creation.
02:17:43 It's just, you know, mindlessly destroying so that a few people are going to benefit.
02:17:49 And the one thing that has been the biggest problem for us is the so-called community mining.
02:17:57 I think that in some of our communities, I'm from Elambla, and in some of those communities,
02:18:03 you know, our DCEE and the people who are supposedly connected to the government,
02:18:09 they think of community mining and they think it's the panacea to the Galamsey,
02:18:14 forgetting that community mining is the biggest culprit.
02:18:18 Because, I mean, where has there been a community mine that has been nicely,
02:18:24 properly done according to the rules, and then, you know, and the land has been restored?
02:18:33 I haven't seen one.
02:18:35 The Forestry Commission has just looked on.
02:18:40 I recently circulated a letter allowing the Ahiasu East Forest Reserve,
02:18:47 giving a forest entry permit to a company to go and mine the Ahiasu East Forest Reserve.
02:18:55 It's like, you know, the person in charge of security taking a gun and then spraying the people
02:19:03 that they are supposed to protect. It doesn't make sense.
02:19:06 The regulatory regime in Ghana is not working.
02:19:13 The people who are supposed to be protecting our environment, protecting our forests,
02:19:21 the Forestry Commission, the Minerals Commission that is supposed to, you know,
02:19:26 oversee the people that they license, they just give their license and stay in their crap.
02:19:32 Even if they go underground, you don't really see anything that they are doing.
02:19:38 I cited a letter recently of the Minerals Commission requesting Okobe Mining to not mine certain areas.
02:19:46 I mean, it's a request.
02:19:49 The EPA, well, in your documentary, you know, the Forestry Commission was telling the Koko Yam farmer
02:19:59 to do this, do that, do that, while at the same time allowing several excavators in the forest to pillage.
02:20:06 You look at the trees that have been felled and left in the mud.
02:20:11 You know, these guys, they should all be strapped because whatever they are doing,
02:20:16 they are not really helping the country.
02:20:21 You mentioned the Western region.
02:20:23 I'm told that the Cape Three Point Forest Reserve is also going through the same treatment
02:20:31 where we have illegal miners mining in this forest.
02:20:36 What must local communities also do here?
02:20:41 That's a good one.
02:20:43 One thing I left out when it comes to the regulatory regime, our parliament.
02:20:49 Our parliament sat there and then approved a bill, LI2462, that is supposed to, what has it done?
02:20:59 It allows mining in globally significant biodiversity areas, which means Atiwa Forest can be mined.
02:21:08 It allowed no limit in how much of a forest reserve can be mined.
02:21:14 Before then, it was 2%.
02:21:16 You cannot mine more than 2% because our government wanted to allow more people to mine the forest reserves,
02:21:25 not just forests, the forest reserves.
02:21:28 They put in an LI that says you don't have a limit to how much of that forest you can mine.
02:21:34 And entry permit requirements and all of that have been relaxed.
02:21:39 When you mine a forest, there is no stringent requirement that you reforest, you restore it.
02:21:46 Our parliament went ahead and approved this at the blind side of most Ghanaians.
02:21:54 Now, then what is their role?
02:21:56 What exactly are they doing in that parliament?
02:21:58 They've all failed us.
02:22:00 When it comes to local communities, and this is where I have also come to realize with my organization
02:22:08 that the Ghana government, our parliament, they don't really care.
02:22:15 So, where does the onus lie?
02:22:18 The last stance that our people, our forests have, is our people, the local communities.
02:22:28 And they said you have to put your money where your mouth is.
02:22:33 Within my community, in Zambia in general, I've been very active on various platforms,
02:22:41 letting people know, and we see the effect of it.
02:22:45 Recently, just last week, together with our king, King Kekuaka III,
02:22:51 we have a written file to stop 1KNS mining and some individuals, including the chief of a community called Asenda, from mining.
02:23:07 This is community effort.
02:23:10 The people heard of it and then they notified us together with the Nzema platform,
02:23:16 that is called Nzema Konyele, like Nzema Union, and we've made sure that we raise funds from within the community,
02:23:25 Nzema's Home and Abroad, who care so much, to make sure that an injunction is filed.
02:23:31 We're waiting for them to respond.
02:23:33 Because, you know, nobody is going to help you.
02:23:39 They come in and they just come with our police, our security service, to destroy the forest.
02:23:47 You are a security person and you are there watching a community's livelihood to be destroyed,
02:23:55 forest reserves to be destroyed, and what do you get from it?
02:23:59 Our security services have let us down, our government has let us down,
02:24:05 sometimes our own chiefs have let us down.
02:24:08 So we as communities have to come together.
02:24:11 Right now, fortunately, thanks to social media, it's not that difficult to organize.
02:24:16 So we, on our own, are trying to do that.
02:24:20 As an organization, the Ghana Environmental Advocacy Group, we are working together with our sister organization,
02:24:27 Equal Conscious Citizens, and the support of Erocha and others,
02:24:31 to support those local youth, those youth who have stood up and said, "No, we can't let you destroy our communities."
02:24:40 Even then, it's a tough job because the security force in the communities, in the districts, in most cases, are working against us.
02:24:55 Well, we are on with Alua Vah, she's an environmentalist. We're talking about the destruction that our environment is witnessing.
02:25:04 Now, on Facebook, Dr. Peter Sam says, "Every Kitase, Ajamenti, Berikusu are all experiencing this destruction."
02:25:21 Okay, thank you for joining us with those comments. Keep them coming. I'll read it. I'll share it with the rest of our viewers.
02:25:30 We'll be getting Alua Vah shortly so we can continue with our conversation.
02:25:36 But the point is that you, all of us, have a responsibility, a role to play here to ensure that we safeguard our environment.
02:25:45 So, Dr. Peter Sam says, "Every Kitase, Ajamenti, Berikusu are all undergoing massive deforestation.
02:25:54 Developers are cutting trees to build houses. Stop tree cutting." Okay, thank you for that. Let me bring in this one.
02:26:03 Raymond Abiwo says, "Akufwado and his government are responsible for the destruction our forests are witnessing.
02:26:14 Once power changes hand, Wuntumi must be charged to pay for the destruction he has caused to our forest reserves.
02:26:20 Ghana needs about $20 billion to fix the damage done to our forest." Okay.
02:26:28 I've edited some of your words because some of them are not friendly to the airwaves.
02:26:34 Good morning. Joy, watching live inside Shiana Katoe in the Upper East Region. Okay, grateful.
02:26:42 You can go on to Facebook and leave your comments there. I'll share that with the rest of our listeners.
02:26:48 So, Aloha. Great to have you back. I wanted to speak in Zuma with you, but I guess that we can speak it after.
02:26:56 You were making a point about what the community can do. You said our chiefs, some of our chiefs have failed us,
02:27:02 and therefore we have to do things in order to safeguard the environment when the line dropped.
02:27:08 Yes. So, what we are doing in my community, especially in Elambula, if you remember,
02:27:14 the DCE went live in March 2023 to say that he has secured 300 acres of land for community mining as a means of providing jobs.
02:27:26 And so, right now he's started, you know, community after community, just bringing people in to go and do the so-called community mining.
02:27:36 So, one place they've started is Asenda. And, you know, Asenda is marked between the, you know,
02:27:44 the Akobra River that has been destroyed beyond restoration, the Shubile of Pamankroma that has been destroyed,
02:27:54 and then a few other streams. So, we said no. The people there themselves said no, we are not going to allow this.
02:28:01 And then they came to us, our Nzuma community group, and then with also the support of the Ghana Environmental Advocacy Group,
02:28:10 the platform that I have, and then we connected with our king, King Kikwaka III, and right now a rate has been placed on them.
02:28:18 So, they have built their, you know, they have built their shed and all of that ready to operate,
02:28:23 but then the rate has been filed to prevent them from doing that. These are regular people who have come together and done this.
02:28:30 You cannot watch your community, because you are sitting in a car, never even been to your home community, to just sit idle.
02:28:38 We have to organize around our communities, mobilize the people, and then support them to stand up and fight for their communities.
02:28:48 You need to go there, even if you're never from there, go see where your grandmother grew up as a child.
02:28:54 Walk the path that she walked, and feel for the people that are there. Do the least you can to help them.
02:29:01 We are encouraging them, sensitizing them to know that we have no other home to go to but those communities,
02:29:09 and once they are gone, they are gone. The mercury and cyanide, how are you going to take that out of the land once it's been in it?
02:29:17 It will be decades. We can't allow that. So we are mobilizing, using my own community as an example,
02:29:24 and I'm asking everybody, everybody, those in the communities, to do the same.
02:29:31 Our chiefs, again, and I must tip my hat off to Otumfo for what he started doing.
02:29:39 Otumfo, your region, together with the western region, accounts for the most forest loss.
02:29:47 In many places, it's still going on. Adansea, Adokwa, those areas, Manfe, some places that the people are helpless.
02:29:58 So please, don't wait for the small, small chiefs that are not doing their job.
02:30:04 The bigger ones also within your ranks, call them out. Take back your community, because this destruction, it doesn't help.
02:30:13 It doesn't help at all. There are some very good chiefs that are helping out.
02:30:19 There's a chief in a small town called Jima in the Awoyun district.
02:30:28 He is sick, he is frail, but he said, "You are not going to buy me or my community with any money."
02:30:36 So that community within the Awoyun district, there's no community mining.
02:30:41 They have a signpost there, "No community mining, no Gallam sick." They are thriving.
02:30:46 Let's do that.
02:30:48 Let's bring in Darrell Bosu, who is deputy director at Arocha Ghana.
02:30:52 Darrell, you've been in this for quite some time.
02:30:56 It looks like we are not winning.
02:30:59 What must change about this whole fight to safeguard the environment?
02:31:06 Good morning, Kojo.
02:31:09 I would like to send my greetings to the audience, as well as to my little mate on the line.
02:31:16 I think you asked a very, very important question.
02:31:18 I recall that somewhere in 2021, there was this small-scale mining dialogue organized across the region.
02:31:29 One of the key recommendations coming from those dialogues was that we need to bring those partially exposed persons to focus.
02:31:39 And even prior to that, we saw Act 995, which was an amendment to the existing Minerals and Mining Act,
02:31:46 really making it even more stringent and deterrent in terms of the fines and penalties for people who are found culpable in engaging in legal activities,
02:31:55 particularly focusing on people who are politically connected, the financiers, the people who are bringing the equipment and all of that.
02:32:02 I think we put in place the necessary legal mechanisms or framework to ensure that we really nip these matters in the bud.
02:32:11 But what we have seen time and again is that our government has failed in making sure that this is done.
02:32:18 And for me, if we are going to take any action that is going to be decisive enough to bring about a halt to this kind of menace,
02:32:26 then we need to go back to the drawing board.
02:32:30 By really referring to our existing legal framework and making sure that we implement them as we should.
02:32:37 What I'm however sad to say is that I have not seen that commitment on the part of this government
02:32:43 to take the same laws they have implemented or enacted and work with it.
02:32:49 And that is how we keep seeing the kind of impunity that we are seeing all over the place,
02:32:55 without any action being taken against them, even though there are clear legal provisions that say that this constitutes a crime against the state.
02:33:05 So if you ask me, I would say we need to start working with our laws,
02:33:10 but at this moment I don't have confidence in the leadership to bring about that change.
02:33:15 We need to change the leadership leading the time.
02:33:19 And this comes across almost most of the agencies that are responsible for ensuring that we regulate mining,
02:33:27 we ensure that the areas that are supposed to be protected from mining are also excluded as we should.
02:33:33 It includes all the people who are in charge of positions and are responsible for that.
02:33:39 I will quote a president saying that if you see your MCE who is found culpable, you are going to lose your position.
02:33:46 We've not seen that happen at all, and again we have not seen people, seniors or deputy directors or whoever,
02:33:54 who are actually supervisors or superintendents over some of these legalities.
02:33:58 Until we do that, we'll keep coming back to this discussion over and over again.
02:34:04 So for me, I think there's a leadership gap, and I don't see that being presented to us by this current administration.
02:34:12 It's very abysmal in terms of the way they handle the whole issue.
02:34:17 Do you have confidence that any leader could help us achieve the sort of protection of the environment as we look out for?
02:34:33 What must citizens do to ensure that leaders do what they have to do in protecting the environment?
02:34:40 I think leaders can take action. If you get a good leader, they might take action.
02:34:48 We had that confidence in our president, Nenna Akufo-Addo, in terms of when he said he was going to commit to protecting our natural heritage on the 7th of January 2017.
02:35:04 But we have not seen that happen now.
02:35:07 And what we need to see more is that, I think, like Elizabeth said, we need to see citizens rise up without fear or favour,
02:35:17 and take back our communities, take back our own rights into our own hands.
02:35:22 And this has to do with pursuing both legal action, doing that legitimately, using existing provisions in the constitution,
02:35:30 using the existing legal framework, and also standing on the demands and provisions of the UN declaration that a healthy environment is the right of every citizen.
02:35:41 And already our constitution guarantees us that right.
02:35:45 So I think that citizens should rise up and demand that their leaders are accountable to them in respect of the way they manage the environment for the benefit of all.
02:35:56 If we compel our leaders, they will always sit there and really slack and not do what is needed for us.
02:36:03 So I think that the demand from citizens should increase.
02:36:07 So far we have seen some semblance here and there, but I don't think it's enough.
02:36:13 We need to see more action from citizens.
02:36:16 I think a lot of the time we'll be more passive than very proactive in terms of these things.
02:36:22 We need to see more citizens rise up, not just leaving the five-killed few people,
02:36:27 but making it the concern of a few one of us in our communities, in the city and everywhere.
02:36:34 Just imagine, Kojo, if a mandate of concession was given for a place like East Lagoon,
02:36:40 you can imagine how many voices will rise up against that particular idea.
02:36:45 But what is happening in the rural area, very remote from where we feel we are having the best of life, we don't care.
02:36:53 But for right now, as you know, for every mandate of concession that is given out to a company, we take the money out of people's pockets.
02:37:03 Our river police are polluted, so we must pay the cost for treating that water for us to drink.
02:37:09 Our land for food crops are also now polluted, so we must pay the health cost of the exposure to heavy metals, contamination, all of that.
02:37:16 I think there is a lot that we must all do, and it is to start to see the citizens rising and really demanding our rights.
02:37:25 We have not been loud enough, and that's for me what is really drilling the fight against the left.
02:37:31 Our leaders are just being very ceremonial about it, and until we demand and ask them to be accountable for the actions they have committed themselves to,
02:37:41 we are not going to make any new rules on that.
02:37:45 Fenton Jacob is writing on Facebook. He says, "To me, to solve these problems, we must use what I always call community engagement.
02:37:56 In that way, Kalamse would stop within two months."
02:37:59 Have we explored this angle, engaging the communities and letting them understand, like Elizabeth has been portraying,
02:38:07 we are losing our primary forest cover, which is posing a lot of danger to all of us.
02:38:14 Have we explored that angle where we make the communities see the need that they have to take this fight in their own hands,
02:38:24 because it bothers all of us, they, especially the communities where this happens?
02:38:29 I need to say that the fact that we are seeing more and more communities rise up and speaking against giving community money in their community
02:38:42 is a testimony to the fact that people know about the negative impact of Kalamse.
02:38:47 What is actually happening is that a lot of them are being forced to accept some of these activities happening in their communities.
02:38:58 We are using the state agencies, the police units, we are using the Minister of Land, we are using the Minister of Land and all of that.
02:39:09 We use that to coerce communities and we are using the decentralized political system, the constituency establishment in the community level
02:39:18 to push people, try to work on the opinion leaders and force the youth in some of these communities to accept it,
02:39:25 even where there is a clear objection to some of these things.
02:39:29 So there is a whole architecture in place by the government to ensure that those who resist will be forced in one way or compelled in one way to accept it.
02:39:39 So there is really a system going on that is actually perpetuating and compelling communities to even accept it even when they don't want to.
02:39:48 And this also bothers human rights abuses.
02:39:51 And this is where we see a lot of the rights of these communities not being respected, particularly where they say they are against community mining.
02:39:59 I'm sure you are aware of many cases in the country where some communities have said they don't want community mining,
02:40:05 but what we have seen later is that the police have gone to the community and we have had a lot of incursions there
02:40:11 and eventually you saw that the community mining was launched eventually in this area.
02:40:16 So there is something going on that is using the state machinery to push this diabolical agenda.
02:40:23 And until all of us support active communities that is under siege as a result of this machination,
02:40:30 we are really not going to get rid of this issue.
02:40:34 We need to provide support to every community.
02:40:37 It doesn't matter whether they are close to Accra or not.
02:40:40 We need to support all communities that are coming under siege from community mining or illegal mining activities.
02:40:46 We shouldn't leave it to a few NGOs close to these communities to fight those battles.
02:40:51 We need to work together.
02:40:53 We need to work in solidarity to support all communities against these illegal activities.
02:40:58 And that is the only way we can deal with it.
02:41:01 The communities are aware.
02:41:03 They are fighting it.
02:41:04 They are standing up.
02:41:05 And you heard what Elizabeth talked about.
02:41:07 A lot of children, some children in the communities, some communities are rising up and they don't want it.
02:41:12 But eventually some forces are compelling them to accept it against their rights.
02:41:18 So I think there needs to be a holistic action from citizens, from respecting people's rights,
02:41:24 and ensuring that we really protect some of these communities that are coming under siege from this push
02:41:31 to get mining exploration activities or even community mining in all areas where government wants to.
02:41:39 Not rather in line with what the community wants.
02:41:42 But is it really about all community mining or it's about probably the alluvial forms?
02:41:51 You know, Kojo, it starts with, we say, all community mining.
02:41:58 It starts with, we say, let's do community mining here.
02:42:02 The fact is that you cannot do mining without using water.
02:42:07 Just go across the whole country and look at every community mining in terms of the location and what they are doing there.
02:42:16 Most of them, if not 100%, are located close to a river body.
02:42:22 And they are making use of the water, either diverting it, extracting water from the river,
02:42:28 or even eventually releasing their polluted water to go through the stream.
02:42:34 So if you really want to deal with it, then you really need to tackle where we are giving concessions for people to mine.
02:42:43 They don't make KYF say sometime last year that no mining around river bodies is a stream.
02:42:51 They are red, what, no-go areas, they are red zones.
02:42:54 What are we down to that?
02:42:56 We are still seeing people mining in these areas.
02:42:59 We even set up what you call river guards, something like that.
02:43:03 What are they doing?
02:43:05 So we just keep trying now one strategy that actually benefits the system, make believe that they are doing something.
02:43:12 But if you go around the country, our rivers are still polluted.
02:43:16 Nothing is changing.
02:43:18 So I think it's not a matter of whether it's all river or it's all community mining.
02:43:23 It's the way the mining itself is done, the way concessions are given out,
02:43:28 the way there is no accountability for the person taking the concession,
02:43:32 the way there is no posting of bonds for small-scale mining and community miners to rehabilitate the land.
02:43:38 It is not every place in this country that needs to be given out for mining.
02:43:43 If you follow the temptation of the fact that we have gold all over the country,
02:43:48 then we are going to see the case of one of the communities somewhere in Nigeria
02:43:52 where they are actually digging under their houses and a laboratory collapsed inside and a woman was trapped in there.
02:44:00 I think we can't let this happen.
02:44:02 It's actually shameful to see that in this time and age, we see Galante going on with this impunity
02:44:09 and we see a system also by government to push strongly whether communities like it or not.
02:44:15 I think we really need to go to the Draft Board and really ask ourselves whether we need community mining.
02:44:20 We have small-scale mining.
02:44:22 It was working perfectly, but for a lack of regulation and ensuring enforcement and compliance,
02:44:28 it got out of hand.
02:44:30 So what we are now trying to address by renaming it and calling it community mining.
02:44:35 But otherwise, it's all going to be made.
02:44:37 I have someone who works at the ministry who sent me this.
02:44:42 He says, "No community mining scheme is cited close to a river body."
02:44:48 So could it be that some people are trying to use that to perpetuate their crimes
02:44:56 by saying they are community mining when in actual fact they are not?
02:45:00 What does it mean by that?
02:45:02 You need to always get clarification on when you say not close to a river body.
02:45:07 I'm sure they will give us information that says, "Oh, it's about 15 meters away. It's about 20 meters away."
02:45:13 They will give us that information.
02:45:15 This is subject to evidence on the ground and it's not something we really need to look at.
02:45:20 But for most of the community mining initiatives out there, they are connected to rivers
02:45:26 because they need the water to do their washing.
02:45:30 And it's not possible. So if they are not using water, what are they doing?
02:45:33 They are digging boreholes and using that to wash their oil? Is that what is happening?
02:45:39 I think we need to really be realistic with the issue and then really deal with it.
02:45:43 If we say it is not this and it is that, how can we actually say there is no problem?
02:45:49 That we know there is a problem.
02:45:51 There are problems. Interesting.
02:45:53 Let me bring in Aloha Valle again.
02:45:56 So Aloha, we know that the solution is about the communities themselves, like what you've started doing.
02:46:03 How do we spread that so that other people elsewhere, like from where I'm coming from, I'm from Ahanta West,
02:46:11 Cape Three Point Forest, I'm told there are some illegal miners in there.
02:46:16 How do we get the communities along the path to say that, look, let us take it upon ourselves
02:46:23 to prevent anybody from entering this forest to mine?
02:46:27 You almost bring me to tears every time you speak.
02:46:36 For those communities, the one you are talking about in your area in Ahanta,
02:46:42 I can bet you that your chiefs along that route are in on it.
02:46:48 Because you see, in our traditional setup, if you take care of the ones where the government
02:46:55 and the people who are supposed to be in charge of the process are behind it,
02:47:01 other people, they won't just come in and go to the forest and start digging.
02:47:05 They know that they cannot do that.
02:47:07 They will come to the chief, they will come and see some elders within the community.
02:47:12 So we need to reach them.
02:47:14 And some of these people, we need to really let everybody know.
02:47:19 The ones that are hiding behind their palace walls to collect money and look upon
02:47:24 and let people come into our rivers and dredge and go to our forest,
02:47:28 we need to let the whole community know that this is what this chief is doing,
02:47:32 especially if they won't listen.
02:47:34 But otherwise, the community together with the chiefs should be able to mobilize.
02:47:39 We come in and educate them.
02:47:41 I'm sure by now everybody in every community knows that Gallam Sey or Community Minor,
02:47:50 whatever you call it, it doesn't end well for them.
02:47:53 We have shared enough messages, videos, pictures for everybody to know.
02:47:58 And anybody who says they can't see social media, so they can't see it,
02:48:03 they can just look at the stream, the small streams within their communities
02:48:08 to see that this is not going to take us anywhere.
02:48:12 They can come together and then stand together and then resist us.
02:48:17 So if our chiefs are aware and they are looking on, yes, we will be overrun.
02:48:22 Even when the chiefs are bright or in on it, the community should be able to stand up.
02:48:28 I got a message from Mansua Memphi.
02:48:32 She said she's not aware that these guys just about two months ago,
02:48:37 they've gone in, they've destroyed--they're actually mining in the stream that serves the people
02:48:43 with the promise of giving them bubbles.
02:48:46 The youth initially tried to fight it, but, you know, they have nowhere to turn.
02:48:52 It doesn't have to be like that.
02:48:54 It doesn't have to be like that.
02:48:56 And we, those of us from those communities, again, we need to support.
02:49:00 I'm literally saying these international organizations, even the World Bank and Co.,
02:49:05 they're giving money to this same government to supposedly reclaim the forests and stuff
02:49:11 that they have looked on, sometimes actively, for the destruction of.
02:49:17 So then I don't even know what the end game is.
02:49:22 Let's identify organizations that are helping these communities stand up
02:49:29 and support them to do more.
02:49:31 And then as we prepare for another election, you know, the sad thing in Ghana is that
02:49:36 the people with the passion don't have the power.
02:49:39 The people with the power don't care.
02:49:42 They don't have any compassion most of the time.
02:49:45 So people should stand up and get into political leadership, people who actually care.
02:49:54 If you care, get into political leadership and help your people.
02:49:58 And let me use this opportunity as well to tell the people on the ground.
02:50:02 You don't do the same things over and over and expect different results.
02:50:10 The people that come to you, take your vote, they go and then they mess you up,
02:50:16 whether it's destroying your forest, taking what should be coming to you,
02:50:21 failing to negotiate properly on your behalf, even when companies are coming over
02:50:25 and that sort of thing.
02:50:27 You have to change.
02:50:29 You have to change.
02:50:30 You have to encourage the people who actually care and speak up within your communities
02:50:36 to represent you in the district assembly, because that is right now where most of this is happening.
02:50:41 We need proper leadership down there.
02:50:44 And then all the way up to the top, you keep doing the same thing,
02:50:48 taking 250 Ghana cities, putting in place the same people that are destroying you.
02:50:54 You're not going to get anyone because they get the power and they forget about where they come from.
02:51:03 I hope the leaders are listening to us this morning to see, you know,
02:51:08 how the people are passionate about this environment.
02:51:14 So in just about wrapping up with you, Aloha, before I go, I bring in Darryl.
02:51:21 What will be your charge to the Ghanaian youth, for example, as we wrap up?
02:51:28 The Ghanaian youth, and I drop my hat off to a few youth in the communities that we've been working with.
02:51:37 Some Chrome youth, Atronso youth against Gallam saying community mining,
02:51:44 Egila, but in Zuma we call it Egila youth are mobilizing as well, and Zuma youth are mobilizing.
02:51:53 We need to take our communities back, because look, the people that are destroying it,
02:51:59 their children are not even living there.
02:52:01 Their children are not coming to come stay in the mercury and cyanide infested communities with you.
02:52:08 And they themselves are also going to be dying off, I mean, relatively.
02:52:13 They will die before you.
02:52:15 So you are going to bear the brunt of the destruction.
02:52:18 If you want to look on and watch the continued destruction just because you get a few cities today,
02:52:26 you are also culpable.
02:52:28 Let us stand up. Let's mobilize. Come together. Take back our communities.
02:52:35 These guys in Accra and these guys that, you know, you've given them power and they are sitting in Accra,
02:52:41 they don't care so much, because if they cared, they wouldn't, for instance, allow LI2462 to be passed.
02:52:49 And since we brought it to their attention, and here I'm making an appeal to the minority in parliament,
02:52:55 do something. We want to see LI2462 removed, suspended, canceled, and do something.
02:53:05 Speak up for your communities. Speak up for your communities. Support the people.
02:53:10 The police, the security forces that were protecting those people who were destroying the forest,
02:53:17 that Rastos has told us about several times, nothing's happened to them.
02:53:22 Look at, what's his name, Duka. Honorable Duka went to say that the cobra was being restored.
02:53:33 It was a palpable lie. Rastos exposed him. Nothing's happened to him.
02:53:38 Nothing is going to happen under this government. So you come together, take back your communities,
02:53:45 and let's get a renewal, because at this rate, if there's no renewal at the base, within the communities,
02:53:56 they'll continue to take advantage of us, they'll continue to destroy us, and we will also have ourselves to blame
02:54:02 for looking on or participating in this destruction. Trust me, whatever you think you gain out of this destruction,
02:54:09 it's nothing compared to what's coming to you.
02:54:13 Elizabeth Alua Va, grateful talking to you.
02:54:18 [speaking in foreign language]
02:54:24 Exactly, exactly. Thank you.
02:54:26 Okay, all right. Darrell, so in terms of wrapping up, what would be your parting message,
02:54:32 the message that would get the Ghanaian youth to probably say, "This is my fight, and I need to take it up"?
02:54:40 Yes, I think we have seen all the environmental destruction around us, and we have also heard of the,
02:54:50 I would say, associated health issues. We have to really take it very seriously, because as we speak,
02:54:58 our health is seriously compromised already, because we are exposed to these heavy metal contamts already,
02:55:05 to the food that we eat, the water that we are consuming, and all of that.
02:55:09 So I believe that if you don't care about the environment, let's think about our health.
02:55:13 There are several cases of increasing incidence of kidney disease, and we've had medical scientists
02:55:21 confirm some of these observations and make their proper linkages. I think we cannot rest on this.
02:55:28 It doesn't matter how rich you become, but if you die in no time, then what is the point?
02:55:35 And I think this issue of health, and also for now and the future, is something we really need to think about.
02:55:42 Again, it has become more important, because as we know, we say we are really dealing with climate change,
02:55:49 we are dealing with biodiversity loss and all of that. These are all crucial for our future.
02:55:54 If we don't deal with the landscape, we'll have no environment tomorrow to claim to provide us food,
02:56:02 to provide us water. So I believe that every youth in this country should speak up,
02:56:08 should let their voices be heard, and should be seen to be supporting others who find themselves caught up
02:56:14 in some of these environmental degradation and destruction that is going on.
02:56:19 We cannot sit without being concerned about what is happening. It just won't be for our own good.
02:56:26 We need to do something about it.
02:56:28 Thank you very much. Darryl Bosu is Deputy Director for Arocha Ghana.
02:56:33 And Ndubava is the Executive Director for the Ghana Environmental Advocacy Group.
02:56:40 Well, Ralph, the fellow Ghanaian on Facebook says, "Let's go to Dunkwa on a fine and it environs."
02:56:47 Hmm, you cry seeing the water bodies.
02:56:50 Fenton Jacob says, "Leadership in those communities must be contacted first."
02:56:56 Okay, all right. Let me bring you, the viewer, into this discussion. This is about you and I.
02:57:03 It's about our future. It's about our environment. What do you think must happen?
02:57:07 Give us a call now and let's talk on this. 030221 1691. 030221 1691.
02:57:16 What are your thoughts? What do you think we should do going forward to deal with this matter?
02:57:25 Because, look, we've spent so many years talking about this. It still keeps happening.
02:57:31 If I go to the Western region, I think I need to go into that forest reserve to see for myself
02:57:36 and to see what I can tell the young people that we have to play our roles.
02:57:41 We need to ensure that we are safeguarding the environment for our tomorrow.
02:57:46 If you destroy the water body today and your parent would have to continuously buy sachet water,
02:57:52 and in some circumstances, some instances, some people cannot even buy the sachet water,
02:57:57 then what are you doing? Let's talk about this. 030221 1691.
02:58:03 Abdul, good morning to you, Abdul.
02:58:06 Yes, good morning.
02:58:07 What do you think we have to do?
02:58:10 Well, it is a continual education and, you know, talking to the youth,
02:58:18 because our government has already failed us on the fighting of illegal mining in this country.
02:58:27 Because, looking at what is happening, government has more information and resources to fight it out.
02:58:34 I'm sure in other jurisdictions elsewhere in Europe, it will be very...
02:58:39 even before you dig a mouth hole behind your house, you must take a permit.
02:58:44 And people are digging and destroying the river bodies in this country and nothing is happening.
02:58:51 How much has been spent on fighting illegal mining?
02:58:58 And how far have we come? If not because of your good outfit, I mean,
02:59:03 your platform has been hugely impacted on the fighting.
02:59:07 You have indicated yourself, you have made the whole world to know
02:59:10 what you have been doing in terms of fighting illegal mining.
02:59:13 But government has no commitment in fighting it.
02:59:16 And for that, we will judge what they are going to leave behind the youth of this country.
02:59:20 Thank you very much.
02:59:21 Thank you very much, Abdul, for calling.
02:59:23 You can also call us and be part of this discussion.
02:59:26 You've seen the destruction, the wanton destruction of the environment.
02:59:30 What should be done? What must happen? 030-221-1691.
02:59:36 Look, I went into a village in Ahanta, and there's a school there.
02:59:42 They couldn't even, the children cannot buy such a water
02:59:46 because the parents don't have the resources to do that for them.
02:59:50 So if you should destroy the water, how do you expect the people there to be drinking?
02:59:55 Anyway, let's go on to the phone lines now.
02:59:57 Hi, good morning.
02:59:59 Yeah, good morning.
03:00:00 Thank you for calling, sir. Let's hear you.
03:00:03 Yeah. Galamsea has actually become a menace rather than something beneficial to this society.
03:00:10 I think the institutions that are responsible for giving license to this mining,
03:00:18 sometimes I wonder if there is a comprehensive environmental impact assessment
03:00:25 on some of the projects that we award to these miners.
03:00:30 If there is a comprehensive impact assessment,
03:00:33 then they will also include the opinions of the communities where these projects are taking place.
03:00:41 If it is properly done, you wouldn't get to where we are putting today.
03:00:45 So I think the institutions must also include...
03:00:53 Okay. So the communities must be included in this fight.
03:00:58 What do you think can happen as well? I can pick about two more calls and I say bye-bye.
03:01:02 0302211691. What must happen? Let's hear from you.
03:01:08 How we can safeguard our environment. 0302211691.
03:01:14 Call us and let's have a discussion together.
03:01:16 Frank, thanks for joining us, Frank. Let me hear from you.
03:01:20 Good morning, sir.
03:01:22 Good morning, Frank.
03:01:23 Yes. Did you ever hear the phrase "leadership is cost"? Everything else is effect?
03:01:29 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes.
03:01:31 We were all in this country when the second president told us that he's putting his presidency on the line in the fight against the last thing.
03:01:39 What have we done as a people to demand accountability from him?
03:01:46 I think what we have in power is a group of wicked and evil misleaders and docile citizens.
03:01:56 We, the citizens, have become just too docile.
03:01:59 We are too quiet. If you march up in the streets and start demanding accountability and restoration of our forests, I think we're going to get somewhere.
03:02:09 The talking is just too much. We need to start acting.
03:02:13 OK. All right. Thank you very much for calling us.
03:02:17 I think. OK, so my team says I should wrap up here, but it's been a wonderful conversation.
03:02:24 I'm sure we'll continue wherever we are. The environment is ours and we should help in protecting it.
03:02:31 Now that there's even payment for carbon credit, it's about time that we safeguard our forest so we can generate revenue from it.
03:02:42 But from the areas where you live, if you see a destruction happening and you can gather some young people together and protect the environment, do it.
03:02:53 At the end of the day, the future is you. If you don't protect the environment today and the destruction continues tomorrow, the impact will be on you and your children.
03:03:04 So wherever you live, if you see someone destroying the environment and you can do something about it, please do.
03:03:10 Don't wait for anybody to come, because that's where we have gotten to.
03:03:14 We don't need to allow certain, you know, school plus people to keep destroying the environment at the detriment of all of us.
03:03:21 So take the fight into your hand. I mean, don't just go with colours or anything. No. Use your mouth. Use advocacy.
03:03:28 And keep talking about it and the light will shine at the end of the day, I'm sure.
03:03:31 So on behalf of the team, please, thank you for being a part of us. We'll meet again, God willing, tomorrow at NEST, its news desk. Good morning.
03:03:39 [Music]
03:03:42 [Music]
03:03:45 [Music]
03:03:48 [Music]
03:03:59 [Music]
03:04:09 [Music]
03:04:12 (upbeat music)
03:04:14 (upbeat music)

Recommended

1:45
I
Up next
Fair Work Commission says Electrical Union strikes put lives at risk during extreme weather, union denies claims
ABC NEWS (Australia)
1:53
Women to be induced from 28 weeks instead of getting abortions under proposed SA law changes
ABC NEWS (Australia)
2:38
NT Desert Song Festival bows out after 11 years of drawing crowds to the Red Centre
ABC NEWS (Australia)
0:58
Do You Choose A Book by Its Cover? More Than Half of Americans Do Just That
Buzz60
0:59
Here Are Travel Resources All Parents Of Young Kids Should Know About
Buzz60
1:01
Homeowners Do These Things Before Going On Vacation
Buzz60
2:01
Flooding did not pose threat to Hungary's only nuclear power plant
euronews (in English)
1:52
Experts skeptical of Zelenskyy’s victory plan
euronews (in English)
2:27
Scholz's SPD party narrowly survive regional election as coalition partners struggle
euronews (in English)
11:24
Nsoroma Herbal Clinic- Badwam Afisem on Adom TV (7-01-22)
The Multimedia group
31:55
Adom TV News (13-3-24)
The Multimedia group
18:59
Electricity Supply Cuts: Can 91 hospitals pencilled by ECG for exercise be saved last-minute? - The Big Agenda on Adom TV (13-3-24)
The Multimedia group
22:08
The Great Queens
The Multimedia group
18:44
Hassan Ayariga's Third Attempt at the Presidency: What's New? - The Big Agenda on Adom TV (13-3-24)
The Multimedia group
30:18
Adom TV News (11-3-24)
The Multimedia group
28:13
The Great Queens Chat Room on Adom TV (11-3-24)
The Multimedia group
20:12
Chaos in Parliament: Was majority leader justified in Naana Agyemang critique that caused furore? - The Big Agenda on Adom TV (11-3-24)
The Multimedia group
46:07
Obra on Adom TV (11-3-24)
The Multimedia group
46:53
Adom TV News (9-3-24)
The Multimedia group
1:36:44
Nnawotwi Yi on Adom TV (9-3-24)
The Multimedia group
34:08
Adom TV News (8-3-24)
The Multimedia group
36:31
Otan Nni Aduro Chatroom on Adom TV (8-3-24)
The Multimedia group
46:14
Obra on Adom TV (8-3-24)
The Multimedia group
28:26
Adom TV News (7-3-24)
The Multimedia group
21:13
NDC Running Mate: NDC unveils Proof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang as partner for John Mahama - The Big Agenda on Adom TV (7-3-24)
The Multimedia group