Ubuntu Times

Ghana’s Quest For A National Cathedral Has An Immoral Foundation

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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June 17, 2022

Ghana’s Quest For A National Cathedral Has An Immoral Foundation

The burning cross of the Ku Klux Klan registers starkly as I think about Ghana’s National Cathedral project. What was meant to be a symbol of faith and morality may end up a scar on not just the Ghanaian Christian community, but the entire nation.

Recent developments around the project, comprising leaked documents and remarks from government officials, have heightened the fears that the Ghanaian people could ultimately end up bearing the cost of this unholy convergence of church and state in a secular republic.

The project raised some eyebrows when it was first announced in March 2017. Reason dictated that Ghana focus on more pressing deficits in other areas of society. However, this project had significant backers, with figureheads of Ghana’s Christian community coming out in support. At the time, the Akufo-Addo administration was also yet to wade into the pool of scandal and graft.

To keep the cynics in check, we were told the cathedral, which is expected to seat 5,000, have a series of chapels, a baptistery, a music school, an art gallery, and Africa’s first bible museum, would not primarily be funded by taxpayers’ money.

Instead, the government was going to rely on donations to fund the pledge Ghana’s President Akufo-Addo said he made to God ahead of his 2016 election victory. The only thing the state was going to offer towards the project was a 14-acre piece of land — land on which some state institutions, judges, and even a diplomat had to be relocated.

The earliest estimate of the cost of the project that Ghanaians were given was $100 million. At the time, I had zero confidence the project was going to have enough donations for substantial work on the project. And sure enough, in the 2019 budget, the government announced that it was going to provide seed money for the project.

Fast-forward to 2022 and Ghanaians remain unclear on how much in donations the government has raised towards the project. We do know that the cost of the project has shot up to $350 million and that the government has been pumping much more state funds into the project than its earlier utterances suggested.

Some leaked documents and past commitments from the government indicated that it may have so far spent over GHS 250 million on the project. As part of this amount, GHS 36 million ($4.4 million) has gone to the architect of the project, the western-acclaimed British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye (whose name also came up in the questionable attempt by Ghana’s Parliament to build a new chamber). As has been noted by observers, questions have to be asked about why he was paid money for a project at such an early stage.

The money going into the project feels like an even harder slap in the face as Ghanaians contend with the crippling inflation that birthed a cost of living crisis. But the rising fuel costs and food prices are just the things that are easy to spot because they affect all Ghanaians on a daily basis. There are other pressing concerns like the decrepit healthcare system littered with abandoned projects and the unacceptable deficits in education.

Broken furniture in Ghana basic school — Many basic schools in Ghana lack key infrastructure for teaching and learning. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

As a Christian, the relative silence from the prominent pastors and Christian leaders who endorsed this project has been deafening. It is the latest chapter in my frustration with the church in Ghana for not using its influence in Ghana to hold the political class to account.

Nicolas Duncan Williams, one of Ghana’s most influential pastors, even played the card of common partisan foot soldiers, accusing critics of the project of favoring the opposition. “Some of you love your political parties and are more loyal to your political parties than you are to the bible and the cause of Christ,” the charismatic preacher said in 2017.

It is not enough to argue that the cathedral will bring glory to God when we are certain the political class has given up on any sense of morality. Even if the church in Ghana is unconcerned by the government’s misguided priorities, it should be concerned by the half-truths told about the funding of the project and the lack of transparency and accountability.

I wonder if the board of trustees of this project, comprising the who-is-who of Ghanaian Christianity, feel any shame. If we weren’t comfortable saying it before, we can boldly say the hoard of charismatic preachers that the government, including Muslim elements within it, has leaned on for legitimacy are complicit in Ghana’s moral decay and ultimate underdevelopment.

The politics of religion in Ghana stinks. Christianity has seemingly been warped; almost like white supremacists have defiled the cross Christians hold dear in the past. Nana Akufo-Addo can ride on the popular slogan of the “Battle is the Lord’s” to rise to power, but not account for the tens of millions of dollars that he and his cohorts used to fund their campaigns.

Ghanaians seem desensitized to the grave injustice the Cathedral will come to represent. An immoral government is what we have known all our lives and come to expect. We can easily point to scandals, uncompleted hospitals and schools under trees as evidence of its corruption.

If all goes to plan and the national cathedral is ready in 2024, we will unfortunately also have a national edifice to point to when highlighting the corruption of the church.

Despair Has Become The Daily Bread Of Ghanaians Amid Cost Of Living Crisis

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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May 24, 2022

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Despair Has Become The Daily Bread Of Ghanaians Amid Cost Of Living Crisis

Regardless of the circumstance, the average Ghanaian’s favorite platitude is “we are managing.” Be it a rough patch in school, scraping for the rent or struggling with a rickety car, the ordinary Ghanaian is likely to still point to the light at the end of the tunnel. The first months of 2022 have changed that.

You needn’t point to the 13-year high in inflation (23.6%) or other data points to know that. All you require is a quick trip through town, where the hike in fuel prices, transport fares and food prices are pummeling Ghanaians into submission. For example, Ghana’s Statistical Service noted that in April 2022, rising food prices accounted for 50% of inflation.

Ghana’s cost of living crisis isn’t just about rising prices. It also has to do with static incomes and depreciating savings. Everything is going up except salaries. Then there’s the small matter of a government that has not helped ease the misery of Ghanaians with its insincere posturing.

While key factors driving up the cost of living are global, Ghanaians are frankly tired of officials that hold up the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently, the war in Ukraine, as the reason for the prevailing despair.

What would be a change of pace will be for the government to acknowledge failings in critical areas during its six years in power. We are a far cry from the days when Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo, proclaimed that his administration had “the men” to protect the public purse, secure an economic turnaround and usher in an era of industrialization and prosperity.

Now, all Ghanaians have are slogans like ‘One District, One Factory’ and ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ that elicit scorn instead of hope. For most Ghanaians, we live in a utopia of development and progress – but only on paper, because we are great at identifying problems and formulating inspiring manifestos and development plans. The reality, however, feels like a gyre of curses and misfortune.

The buck always stops with leadership. What Ghanaians see when they look to theirs for empathy and direction is a complete lack of it. Consider the picture of citizens commuting in chunks of tetanus on a daily basis as President Akufo-Addo came under fire for obscene amounts spent on a luxury jet for travel.

The symbol of government insensitivity in recent months has, however, been the new and controversial 1.5 percent tax on all electronic transactions above 100 Ghana cedis ($13). For those already paying income tax, one understands why the levy is considered cruel double taxation. But the government’s commitment to the taxes on fuel is the bigger cruelty for me.

Fuel is viewed as having the most consequential ripple effect on the cost of living. Part of this is because the tax build-up of finished fuel products, sometimes described as nuisance taxes, make up about 29% of what Ghanaians pay. When fuel prices go up, so do transport prices, and then food, and then commerce becomes the wild west.

In one of the more infuriating recent developments, public school feeding caterers, who serve vulnerable and poor kids, have had to protest to demand an increase in the current daily allocation of 0.97 Ghana cedis ($0.13) per child. Unconscionable.

Just when Ghanaians thought things could not get any worse, the utility companies distributing electricity and water popped up like horsemen of the apocalypse, indicating they want a 148% and 334% increase in tariffs, respectively. With a lot of Ghanaians and businesses already stretched thin, this could be a killing blow.

Ghana’s social emergency is all too real, and it is high time the current government acknowledged how false promises have intensified this crisis. Flagship programs that were supposed to address fundamental issues like food security are bearing rotten fruits. Ghana wouldn’t be depending this much on imports and crippling the Ghanaian cedi if a policy like ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ was working.

Because of this, Ghana’s main agricultural worker’s union talks like Ghana an Old Testament famine is about to befall Ghana. Who can blame them? As the weeks go by, I doubt them less.

But as Ghanaians hold the government to the fire and demand accountability, they must also hold a mirror to themselves. Perhaps it is time Ghanaians finally prove Kwame Nkrumah right for saying “Ghanaians are not timid people… They may be slow to anger and may take time to organize and act. But once they are ready, they strike and strike hard.”

Like the distressing scenes in Sri Lanka, we must not swat at this crisis with despair. Instead, our feet should become one with the streets as we voice our anger at the government’s incompetence and demand a leadership that treats its people with dignity.

Military Takeovers A Reminder Of Africa’s Ailing Ballot Democracies

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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February 18, 2022

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Military Takeovers A Reminder Of Africa’s Ailing Ballot Democracies

On February 12, most of Ghana woke up to the news that one Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a figurehead of one of the West African country’s most significant protest movements, had been arrested.

His crime? A scathing post on social media that criticized the government while recklessly proffering support for a coup. It earned him a questionable treason felony charge.

His call for a coup came against the backdrop of rising costs of living in Ghana and the government’s attempts to compound this with unpopular tax measures being opposed by the masses.

Amid the tensile political climate in West Africa, where Mali, Guinea and most recently, Burkina Faso, witnessed the overthrow of governments, Barker-Vormawor’s comments have been described as unwise.

But his sentiment cut to the core of the disease festering across parts of Africa, of which coups are a mere symptom.

Ewald Garr, a governance analyst, bored this down to broken democracies run by a political class that is out of touch with its people.

“When there is unresponsiveness, you see people begin to lose trust in their elected leaders and once people begin to lose trust in the elected leaders, you see frustration and despondency,” he explained.

He noted that the disease we should be looking to cure is the broken perception of good governance across the continent.

“All these things [coups] are arising is because our institutions are not well composed. Our governance system is just weak,” he said.

The simple diagnosis of the problem is matched by the casual air surrounding the recent military takeovers.

Take for instance the Burkina Faso coup, where military officers appeared on state television and announced the military overthrow like it was a weather report.

But for the people, who had been fading in a drought of despair, the announcement of a coup was like a forecast of rain. It brought joy.

This has played out in Mali and Guinea over the last two years, as well as beyond West Africa in Chad and Sudan.

The specific contexts of the coups have differed in each country, with alarming insecurity being cited by coup leaders in Burkina Faso and Mali, amid the threat from jihadists.

But there have been some constants that cut across, foremost among them economic hardships, inequality and a lack of empathy by the ruling class.

Even more worrying is the fact that these constants are ripe in countries that are hailed as beacons of democracy, like Ghana.

For Dr. Afua Yakohene, a research fellow at the Legon Center for International Affairs and Diplomacy, it is clear that “all the conditions that called for coups in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali are right here in Ghana.”

It has also been hard to ignore the fact that these coups were met with overwhelming approval from their mostly-youthful populations.

Consider the situation in Mali, where thousands have rallied in support of the junta after sanctions meted out on the West African country.

Dr. Yakohene observed that these countries have “frustrated masses; a large youth bulge that is unemployed.”

These people are most likely frustrated by the “lack of dividends that they hoped democracy would deliver,” she added.

Settling For Elections

The bar for democracy has been noticeably lowered for African countries.

It is increasingly being equated to relatively incident-free elections with no scrutiny of what happens in between polls.

A ballot cast in an election — The worth of Africa’s democracies has been reduced to the conduct of elections. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

But Dr. Yakohene stressed that “the holding of periodic elections is just the tip of what democratic states must be.”

“Many west African citizens even have come to not appreciate elections, so there is voter apathy and there is low turnout during elections.”

This could be traced back to the end of the Cold War and the fall of the iron curtain.

With the victory of the West over the Eastern Bloc, the idea of democracy became a necessary benchmark for countries seeking aid and development.

“It gradually pushed many African countries to adopt the policies of democracy,” Dr. Yakohene recalled. “Some leaders realized that if you need loans, and you need aid, and you want to satisfy the expectations of the western leaders, hold elections.”

These elections can be nothing more than ticked boxes because West Africa has witnessed a number of situations where political power has almost become a birthright.

Consider the example of Togo, where Gnassingbé Eyadéma was President from 1967 until his death in 2005, after which he was succeeded by his son, Faure Gnassingbé. Yet, Togo claims to be a democracy.

Dr. Yakohene described this as a form of “autocracy and monarch-cracy” that was cultivated out of the West’s insistence on the adoption of democracy, however superficial.

This very international community is often silent when there is clear evidence that democracy is subtly being undermined, with arbitrary amendments to term limits or voter suppression. But it sounds an alarm when coups occur.

The same could be said about regional bodies like the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which also turns a blind eye to abuses of power and democracy by its own members.

The community’s chair, Ghana’s President Akufo-Addo, has himself faced criticism for attacks on free speech and voter suppression following Ghana’s bloodiest polls in 2020.

Nana Akufo-Addo delivering a speech — Ghana’s President Akufo-Addo has been the Chair of ECOWAS since September 2020. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

ECOWAS has been instead known to spring to action and propose sanctions when it should rather be in a lab working to find a cure for the disease spawning these coups.

This cure lies simply in committing to the basic tenets of democracy, said Mr. Garr.

“What ECOWAS should be doing is having strong institutions that are able to diagnose the poor governance.”

He doesn’t think the continent has been learning from mistakes that date back to the ‘60s, where there were 26 successful coups on the continent in the wake of independence movements.

Mr. Garr is of the view that some re-orientation and a stronger commitment to engaging citizens in the process of governance is the most important step to finding a cure for the conditions that birth coups.

“It is the lack of transparency and the lack of the basic tenets of democracy in our countries that is steering all these coups we are seeing,” said the analyst.

As simple as the solution sounds, there is a clear lack of accountability and lack of political will across the continent that gives Mr. Garr little cause for hope.

“As a continent, we have a very long way to go because most African countries still can’t see the importance of good governance,” he says. “They only see elections.”

Growing Military Footprint In Civilian Affairs Threatening Ghana’s Democracy

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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September 8, 2021

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Growing Military Footprint In Civilian Affairs Threatening Ghana’s Democracy

Cletus Awuni was on his normal rounds on the afternoon of July 1 when the alarming news came his way.

Some soldiers were on the rampage in Wa, the capital of Ghana’s Upper West Region.

They were beating up some residents of the town and putting others in positions of duress after a phone belonging to one of the soldiers had been stolen.

Cletus, the Public Relations of Officer of the region’s Coordinating Council set out to investigate the brutalities and perhaps put a stop to it.

But in a blink, he too became a victim.

“In the course trying to find out why they were brutalizing people, I got myself also assaulted,” he recalled to Ubuntu Times.

When he got to the scene, Cletus had tried to capture the incident on video.

He was in a car with his phone up ready to film the human rights abuses when some of the soldiers turned their attention to him.

“About eight of them pounced on our vehicle and opened the door and tried to pull me out and they beat me up,” he said.

The conduct of the soldiers was a surprise to Cletus.

He said this was the first time he had heard of such an occurrence in his part of the country, which is known to be relatively quiet.

“The relationship between the citizens of the region and military has been very peaceful. In fact, no one has even noticed the presence of the military in the region.”

However, when the rest of Ghana heard the news and saw images of the actions of the soldiers, this was the latest instance of a worrying trend.

The country was already on edge after a more lethal instance of human rights abuses by the military.

The Wa incident followed soldiers opening fire on some protestors two days earlier in Ejura, a town in Ghana’s Ashanti Region.

The protestors were angry over the death of an activist in the area, who is believed to have been murdered because of his criticism of the Akufo-Addo administration.

Six people sustained gunshot wounds, two of whom died having been shot in the back. One of the wounded, a 16-year-old boy, lost a leg.

The subsequent outrage prompted the formation of a commission of inquiry to probe the circumstances that led to the military deployment to a purely civilian matter.

Escalation Of A Worrying Trend

Soldiers in Ghana can be seen responding to distress calls in schools, manning checkpoints, and fighting crime like police officers, among others.

A security consultant, Col. Festus Aboagye, has been one of the voices in the desert long decrying the growing footprint of Ghana’s military in civilian affairs.

“Why bring ourselves to a point where every issue should have the military in front line deployment? It is not appropriate,” he said to Ubuntu Times earlier in the year, when soldiers were again in the news for the wrong reason.

In the case of Ejura, testimony from the commission of inquiry has revealed that there were multiple breaches of protocols and drills meaning the military intervention was unlawful.

This is in addition to clear evidence the soldiers “were not equipped or did not intend to engage in any crowd control,” observed Col. Aboagye.

These incidents remain a major threat to Ghana’s democracy as we know it, he reiterated.

“The democracy that we have is very fragile; just a veneer. It is just on the surface.”

This damaging footprint of the military in civilian affairs has gotten significantly larger in the last 12 months.

Soldiers storm Ghana's Parliament — No one has answered for the deployment of soldiers into Ghana’s Parliament. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Soldiers deployed to opposition strongholds ahead of the 2020 election were accused of being tools of voter suppression.

They were also used to police the election itself and an attempt to disperse an agitating crowd with live bullets at a polling station led to the death of two persons.

To cap off a turbulent election cycle, in one of the most shocking scenes since Ghana returned to civilian rule, Ghanaians were left with open mouths at the sight of soldiers streaming into Ghana’s Parliament to confront brawling legislators.

Cry For Accountability

When soldiers are engaged in human rights abuses, there is generally no accountability to the public.

For instance, no attempt has been made to find and sanction the security personnel who opened fire on the crowd at the polling center leading to the two deaths.

“Up till date, not a single person has been held to account or is standing prosecution for their roles in those murders,” Mensah Thompson, the Executive Secretary of Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability, stressed to Ubuntu Times.

For him, it is a reminder that there are never any significant outcomes in terms of accountability of security agencies when they abuse power.

Even with the inquiry into the recent actions of the military in Ejura, Thompson feels there is no cause for excitement.

“What we want to see is a more robust attitude towards military brutality,” he said. “The government has been lax and this emboldening military men to engage in more brutalities.”

The lack of robustness has been reflected in the posturing of the committee probing the actions of the military in Ejura.

The committee at times appears unfocused and for people scrutinizing its work, like Col. Aboagye, the committee does not seem well prepared.

“I doubt whether the committee will establish substantive findings,” he added.

The committee has at times appeared more interested in the accounts from victim’s families and some media personnel who had limited knowledge of the events on the ground.

But the military personnel seem to have been treated with kid gloves, having questionable statements go unchallenged.

One of the officers in charge claimed the dead protesters could have been killed by friendly fire from fellow protesters but have presented no evidence to that effect.

This is in contrast to damning footage from the media showing soldiers aiming and firing on fleeing protesters.

Whilst commanding officers were invited to testify before the committee, soldiers who discharged their weapons were not even called to answer for their actions, to Col. Aboagye’s dismay.

“The people who were on the ground, the soldiers, all of them should have been called [especially] the ones who fired,” remarked the consultant.

Growing Partisan Shadow Over The Military

As alarming as the conduct of military personnel has been, fears are that it is only a symptom of the bigger problem; the flooding of security agencies with political party footsoldiers and militia.

In 2019, a law was passed to criminalize the erstwhile practice of political parties forming units sometimes described as militia or vigilante groups.

The governing New Patriotic Party and the opposition National Democratic Congress were the main culprits of what was viewed as a major threat to Ghana’s peace.

At their worst, vigilante groups were seen storming a courtroom to free prisoners or beating up police at the seat of the Presidency.

But since the law was passed, Thompson fears the security services have replaced the vigilante groups.

“Unfortunately, the government did not disband its militia but rather found a way to absorb them into the security agencies,” he noted.

The governing party has a monopoly in this regard since it controls recruitment into security agencies.

This is seen as one of the reasons accountability has been hard to come by, and why the families of victims in Ejura may not see justice.

Beyond Ejura, the list of victims of human rights abuses at the hands of security agencies is likely to grow longer and Thompson warns that partisan strings controlling Ghana’s security agencies must be cut.

“If we want to maintain the peace and order in this country, it is important that we depoliticize our security agencies.”

Ghana’s Supreme Court Upholds Akufo-Addo’s Election Victory

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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March 8, 2021

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Ghana’s Supreme Court Upholds Akufo-Addo’s Election Victory

Ghana’s Supreme Court has upheld President Akufo-Addo’s victory in the December 2020 presidential election after dismissing an election petition filed by the opposition leader John Mahama.

Mr. Mahama, a former President, had filed the petition asking the court to annul the results of the elections and order a rerun because of alleged irregularities.

He argued that neither he nor President Akufo-Addo attained a clear majority because of the omission of one constituency from the provisional declaration of results by Ghana’s electoral commission.

Mr. Mahama’s petition also highlighted errors in the initial declaration of results which the electoral commission admitted to.

But the nine judges hearing the case unanimously affirmed that President Akufo-Addo had obtained more than 50% of total valid votes.

It also held that the electoral commission’s mistakes and subsequent corrections of the declared results did not significantly impact the outcome of the polls.

“The error committed by the commissioner cannot void the declaration,” said Ghana’s Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah in his ruling.

The court maintained that the declaration of the results was therefore legal.

According to the electoral commission President Akufo-Addo garnered 51.59% of the votes while Mr. Mahama got 47.37%.

Mr. Mahama’s case was criticized by observers for not providing compelling evidence.

This was again affirmed by the court which found the petition’s allegations of irregularities to be lacking substance.

“The court expected the pink sheets to be exhibited to prove the claims. Allegations of wrong aggregations of votes were not proved,” said the Chief Justice.

Mr. Mahama’s case was considered so weak by the two respondents, President Akufo-Addo and the electoral commission, that they declined to defend themselves whilst remaining confident of victory.

The former President’s lawyers had wished to subpoena the head of the electoral commission, Jean Mensa, for cross-examination but were prevented from doing so by the court.

Reacting to the verdict, which he said he disagreed with, Mr. Mahama was critical of the Supreme Court’s decision not to allow the cross-examination.

“Whatever the reasons for not allowing Mrs. Mensa to testify or answer questions, it leaves an embarrassing stain not only on our justice delivery system but also our nation’s electoral system,” he said.

“Everything was done in this trial to prevent the Commission from accounting to people in whose name they hold office,” added the former President.

Despite the misgivings, Mr. Mahama said his side will abide by the ruling.

“We will be law-abiding and do nothing to compromise the stability of the country.”

The Ghanaian Christians Working For The Salvation Of A Dying Earth

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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March 4, 2021

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The Ghanaian Christians Working For The Salvation Of A Dying Earth

Before jumping into her first sermon for 2021, Rev. Agnes Philips took time to stress something to her largely middle-class congregation in the Legon Interdenominational Church. Concern for the environment.

“We are stewards, not owners; caretakers, not proprietors,” a pamphlet she brandishes reads.

Watching from home because of the Coronavirus pandemic, 70-year-old Dr. Robert Otsyina derives some satisfaction from fellowshipping in a church willing to engage with environmental conservation.

Caring for the environment has been dear to him for three decades as he worked for the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) as a researcher in Tanzania.

Just as dear to him, especially in the last 15 years which he returned to Ghana, has been his Christian faith.

It hadn’t been until 2015 when he formally joined the Legon Interdenominational Church and connected with its albeit relatively-small environmental action.

And Dr. Otsyina is not averse to starting small, as he lauds the consistency of his church’s moves to combat plastic waste with a recycling program.

Whilst grateful for such opportunities to participate and think about ways to preserve the environment within the context of his fellowship, Dr. Otsyina knows the Church in Ghana as a whole needs to reorient its followers for change on a national scale.

But there is a lack of awareness for the earliest mandate from God to Christians that concerns him.

“I think Christians don’t really understand this. They don’t see protecting the environment as a significant responsibility,” he remarks. “God didn’t just put Adam and Eve in the Garden but he gave them the task to take care of the land.”

On the other end of the generational spectrum, 24-year-old Daniel Anyorgyia, a journalist and environmental activist, faces similar concerns with the Church in Ghana.

Reducing carbon emissions and developing solutions to climate change and renewable energy are things he has been thinking about over the past four years.

The same can’t be said of his church.

“You hardly hear anything on environmental conservation,” he laments of Deeper Life, the church he fellowships with.

Protecting the environment really should be a basic way of fulfilling key Christian edicts, he stresses.

“If churches are not looking at how to conserve the environment as a way of caring for another, that means there is either a knowledge gap or no one seems to care.”

Ghanaian activist — Daniel Anyorigya has spent most of his adult life working to protect the environment. Credit: Daniel Anyorigya

The church in Ghana wields tremendous influence with over 70 percent of Ghana’s population professing to be Christian.

This influence grows when narrowing in on some mega-churches which command allegiances of hundreds of thousands nationwide but are criticized for settling for the prosperity gospel instead of using their reach to consistently force social change.

Ghana’s environmental situation has worsened in the last five years.

The prevalence of illegal mining has threatened food and water security and resulted in the loss of forest cover to devastating effect.

Using remote sensing and satellite data from the University of Maryland, Global Forest Watch estimated that there was a 60 percent increase in Ghana’s primary rainforest loss in 2018 compared to 2017. That was the highest in the world.

The loss of forest isn’t exclusive to illegal factors though.

Currently, activists are on edge because of the Ghana government’s decision to mine bauxite in the Atewa Forest Reserve which is one of the world’s Key Biodiversity Areas that harbours extraordinary wildlife and provides water for millions of Ghanaians.

These are some of the issues Dr. Otsyina would like drummed home within Christian circles but he laments that “the awareness is just not there.”

He thinks the Church may be Ghana’s last hope for saving the environment as he notes the little faith he and most Ghanaians have in the government.

“More focus and actions should be directed towards sustainable environmental conservation. The Church should work closely with the government to save the environment.”

For as much as is demanded of the Church, there are a number of environmental activist groups that base their work on biblical principles.

Foremost among them is A Rocha Ghana, which has been on the vanguard of protests to preserve the Atewa Forest Reserve.

Emmanuel Turkson, the Creation Care officer at A Rocha Ghana, says a crucial part of their work has been trying to change the mindset of churches.

“We use scripture references as an approach to integrate environmental action into their whole mission,” says Turkson.

And there has been some progress on a surface level as churches put environmental plans on paper.

But this seldom translates to actionable outcomes, Turkson notes.

“In terms of prioritization and commitment, you can tell that we are not really interested in prioritizing these actions.”

This notwithstanding, over the last decade, churches have been “opening doors to these conversations” and Turkson views this as a win.

He cites the Pentecost Church of Ghana, the Evangelical Presbyterian, and the Christian Council of Ghana for commendation in this regard.

Pentecost Church, which has a reach of over 4 million Ghanaians, has even gone on to develop a creation care course in its theological school.

And he further expects things to get better.

“There is no institution in Ghana which is able to change behavior and perception like the church.”

Beyond affecting the direction of churches, A Rocha Ghana is on hand to offer support to smaller environmental groups, especially those with religious inclinations.

Turkson was on hand when a group made up of young Catholics, Christians Advocating Respect For the Environment, took time to engage students in the Accra Traning College in a tree planting exercise.

Seth Akagla, the Chairperson of the group, thinks of only nourishing the earth when the call to stewardship comes to mind.

“Having dominion over the world doesn’t mean that creations should be objects that we have to exploit but subjects that we need to protect.”

Tree planting — Seth Aklaga (R) takes baby steps towards a greener Ghana with a tree-planting project. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Seth is proud of the work organizations like his and A Rocha Ghana do to keep Ghana green.

He perhaps wishes they made more noise about it.

“The only challenge is that they [faith-based environmental groups] don’t trumpet the things that they do with regards to environmental protection.”

Whatever publicity he is able to drum up for his group’s advocacy, it still won’t trump the potential gains the organized Christianity could make.

His charge to them is simple.

“I believe that in the next five years, we should have environmental protection groups in all churches in Ghana.”

As Christians look forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ, there is a tension between escatology and the need to breathe life into a dying earth.

That the church is known to filter issues on climate change, which is causing devastating changes in weather patterns, through teachings on the end-times irks Daniel.

“Outbreak of diseases, the pandemic, famine, droughts; these are things that the church will label as the second coming of Jesus Christ,” he says.

Moving forward activist hope the keyword for Christians is balance; balancing the concern for eternity and their temporary existence on earth.

“We need to find a middle ground where we have religious leaders communicate effectively on environmental conservation with their congregants by highlighting issues like climate change,” Daniel says.

Ghanaian Women Band Together Under The Shadow Of Sexual Violence

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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February 23, 2021

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Ghanaian Women Band Together Under The Shadow Of Sexual Violence

A group of women gather on a synthetic lawn one Sunday in Labone, a suburb of Accra.

Clad in sports gear, they pick up little tricks from an instructor to defend themselves from attackers who may be twice their size.

Despite the roundhouse and elbow strikes being taught, the surface goal of the class was simple – give yourself a chance to run.

With a society that stacks the odds against women, there are few options better than running for women faced with the threat of sexual and gender-based violence.

The idea of self-defense classes in Accra is rare, so the quirkily named The Boring Talkative support group saw an opportunity to add another layer to its advocacy with this move to empower women who are justified in their fears.

Just how hostile is Ghanaian society towards women?

This is a question that at times prompts comparisons to horrific accounts of violence against women in notorious countries like South Africa or India.

Some have called this a subtle form of gaslighting that ignores an insidious problem that prompted the various forms of advocacy from The Boring Talkative.

Farida Yusif, the founder of the Boring Talkative, wanted to create a safe space for women with her group, especially women victims of physical and sexual abuse, and make sure they were heard.

“We are constantly faced with threats of someone trying to attack us,” she said to Ubuntu Times after a second meeting of the class back in 2020.

By the strict definition, one could set a watch by the kinds of sexual violence women and girls in Ghana face daily.

Unwanted sexual comments or physical contact all count as sexual violence. The former is rampant online.

Incidents of sexual and gender-based violence are grossly underreported and the police is not able to effectively investigate cases.

In a lot of instances, some victims are even priced out of justice.

As at 2019, doctors were charging 300 to 800 cedis ($51 to $137) to fill out police medical forms for rape victims and 1,000 to 2,000 cedis ($171 to $343) for medical opinions in legal processes.

Idrissa Hamdiya, a school teacher in Accra, was one of the participants in the self-defense class and she is very aware of these threats to women and the role they play in propping each other up.

For her helping survivors of sexual violence isn’t just about coping with trauma.

“Statistics show that for most people who have been raped once, the probability is high that they are going to get raped again,” she notes.

“When we talk about ladies who go through sexual harassment and all that, first we have to help them heal emotionally and we also have to teach them to defend themselves.”

Self-defence class — The women are constantly reminded by their instructor that the goal is to create an opportunity to run. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Idrissa seemed impressed with her experience in the class and wished more women had such an opportunity.

She, like some of the women in the self-defense class, was mindful of their privileged position.

They didn’t need reminding that they were but a drop in the bucket of a larger fight.

Ghanaian society needs a new awareness of the threat posed to women if it is to get safer, stresses Farida.

She says her ultimate goal is “to educate people and reorient our society and help us unlearn certain attitudes that oppress women.”

On the other side of Accra in Haatso, Doreen Raheena Sulleyman, a journalist and women’s advocate, was nursing her second of two daughters, having recently delivered.

She is worried about the Ghana she will have to bring up her daughter in and is especially vexed by the casual grooming of children, some barely old enough for pre-school.

Doreen recalled to Ubuntu Times she once had cause to dress down a male shop keeper who spoke inappropriately to her daughter.

This is a pathway to sexual abuse she is hyper-aware of and one she will never indulge.

“Those things agitate me. They get on my nerves easily,” she says.

With her journalism, she has tried to highlight the issue of gender violence both on and offline.

She has found that state institutions like the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit have not only done little by way of enforcement but not offered much support to reporters striving for in-depth coverage.

For example, there doesn’t appear to be any recent organized data on gender-based violence according to suggestions from a police source to Ubuntu Times.

“It would be most disappointing if that were the case,” the source said with worry.

Recently in Ghana’s Parliament, the Minority leader also complained that relevant committees had not been privy to any crime data since 2016.

The most visible data on sexual violence available appears to be from a UK-funded report commissioned by Ghana’s Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection signboard — The commitment of Ghana’s Ministry for Gender to protecting women has been questioned by critics. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

It showed that 30 percent of women (older than 15) experienced sexual violence at least once over their lifetime.

Doreen also works outside of mainstream media because support for her passion is lacking from the architecture of established media organizations.

She also questions the ethics of mainstream media in reporting on sexual and gender-based violence.

This hasn’t gone unnoticed by observers.

A 2018 research article by BMC Women’s Health came to the conclusion that media framing of violence against women was in Ghana “episodic in nature” and normally reported without wider social context.

The article also raised concerns with the victim-blaming language that was largely used in the news articles.

It is common to see news reports that recklessly put out the identities of victims of gender-based violence.

Doreen on the other hand says she once went as far as preparing a Non-Disclosure Agreement for victims of sexual violence she once interviewed for a story.

“They didn’t request for it but I just wanted them to feel safe, to feel secure, to feel okay to pour everything out,” she says.

Like The Boring Talkative, she too believes ultimate safety for women will come when Ghanaian society unlearns the norms that foment a hostile environment for women.

For this to happen, the state will have to take charge with shaping narratives, she says.

Private media may be popular but it seldom commits to issues like gender-based violence unless there is a sensational angle.

“If it is not bringing them [private media] money, they will not worry themselves about it,” Doreen remarks.

That leaves the state which owes its women a safer society, she insists.

And this will come about through better education – education that is so far non-existent.

“The Social Welfare Department is there. The Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit is there and I don’t even know what they are doing,” Doreen says with frustration.

She further ropes in Ghana’s National Commission for Civic Education and Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection in this regard.

In as much as she distrusts the press’ handling of matters of gender-based violence, people outside metropolitan areas really only have broadcast media as their main source of information.

And the state media is best positioned to cast the widest net given its obvious reach and influence outside metropolitan areas.

“Whatever they hear from the news they believe it so they rely on the media for so many things,” reminds Doreen.

“Why can’t the Ministry of Gender set up a TV channel specifically for education on sexual violence? They can get people to educate in numerous languages being spoken across Ghana.”

Issues bordering on sexual conduct have never been mainstream in Ghana and as things stand, no conversations on sexual and gender-based violence in public schools or even churches and Doreen says this needs to change.

She tries to do her bit when she can.

“The culture of silence has a huge impact on us. Me, I try as much as possible to talk to my age mates who have children and other women,” she says.

“When it comes to issues of gender-based violence, I am not shy about me. It invigorates me.”

Beryl Darkwa, a fellow coordinator of the Boring Talkative’s activities also believes the buck stops with the state.

“For us to see proper change; for us to feel the change we are hoping for, the state must help. The state must step in,” she says.

“Like it or not, sexual and gender-based violence is also a Ghanaian problem. It is not just a Ghanaian women’s problem.”

Support group — Farida (L) and Beryl (R) encourage the women to open up about some unpleasant experiences. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

In the meantime, as we wait for some significant change, women like Farida, Beryl and Doreen want to encourage victims to speak out more.

“We should be able to normalize talking about the trauma that happens to us because if we don’t do it, more people get away with these things,” Beryl says.

With the lack of support from the state, the only allies women probably have are themselves.

Though Beryl feels shared fears and traumas connect women, it is also a “sisterhood” that gives her hope.

“Even though they are individual traumas. It is something every other woman can relate to. So it is important that women band together.”

A Nation Left Stunned As Ghana’s Unprecedented Hung Parliament Begins On A Violent Note

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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January 11, 2021

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A Nation Left Stunned As Ghana’s Unprecedented Hung Parliament Begins On A Violent Note

On the morning Ghana’s new Parliament was set to be sworn in, there was unexpected rainfall amid the dry season across the country.

It would have been almost fitting for Ghana’s new democratic dawn had everything gone according to plan.

But as the showers put the dust at bay, for the time being, Ghana’s new legislators had been in an almost five-hour deadlock over voting processes to elect a new Speaker of Parliament.

The 2020 election left Ghana’s Parliament with no clear Majority after the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) won 137 seats each, with one independent MP.

Tensions started from the onset of the sitting before midnight on January 6 when the NDC legislators trooped in early to occupy the Majority side of Parliament.

Most of the NPP MPs who came later on decided to indulge their colleagues but a few of them got agitated with one of them getting into a shoving match with NDC MPs.

The tone had been set for the evening.

MPs fight in Ghana's Parliament — Opposing Legislators square off in Ghana’s Parliament. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

After heated debate over the status of an opposition MP-elect who had been barred by a court from taking part in the inauguration of the new Parliament, what followed was a standoff over the voting process for the Speaker as the NDC insisted on a secret ballot in the belief that there were some NPPs MPs planning to stray from the party line.

For hours, scuffles broke out, led by the NDC legislators’ Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, who tried to make sure his opposing Whip was not policing ballots.

At the situation’s most intense, brawls broke out with NDC MPs ransacking the voting areas and snatching the ballot box on live TV.

Armed military and police personnel then stormed Ghana’s Parliament adding to the chaos in what was one of the most jarring and shocking occurrences since Ghana returned to democratic rule.

A security analyst, Col. Festus Aboagye told Ubuntu Times the military intervention was unacceptable and further evidence that Ghana’s democracy was on tenterhooks following the 2020 election.

Col. Aboagye was already unhappy that the military was used to police the polls.

Their presence in Parliament made it clear to him that Ghana’s democracy, which is consistently hailed by the international community, is actually becoming more violent.

“Everything that was happening in the House was a pure question of law and order, not a security situation as if some terrorists had crashed into the House and held hostage the Parliamentarians.”

“Why bring ourselves to a point where every issue should have the military in front line deployment? It is not appropriate,” he adds.

The opposition leader, John Mahama also condemned the chaos, mainly the invasion by the military personnel.

“The recent use of the military in civil democratic processes has become a major worry and gives the impression that this administration is continually seeking to resurrect the exorcised ghosts of our military past,” said Mahama in a statement.

The military and police were in the chambers for about 15 minutes before marching out after the NDC MPs refused to back down.

They chanted “we shall resist oppressors’ rule” whilst hooting at the soldiers.

When things calmed down and voting began, Ghana had officially gone almost five hours without a Legislature because no Speaker had been elected to swear in the new Parliamentarians.

The aggression of the NDC MPs appeared to pay off as they started celebrating during the counting as it became apparent their nominee for the Speaker position, Alban Bagbin had the most votes.

The situation escalated after one NPP MP, Carlos Ahenkorah, snatched some sorted ballot papers due to be counted and tried to run out of the building with them.

The NPP MP was stopped by some NDC MPs beaten up before Parliament security intervened.

A brawl in Ghana's Parliament — NDC MPs try to hijack the ballot box as they fight to ensure a secret ballot. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

For a research fellow with the Institute of Democratic Governance, Ewald Garr, the whole evening “shows how low we have descended as a country.”

The MPs are only “thinking about partisan interests and not the national interest,” he tells Ubuntu Times.

Hours later, the frustration of what he called infantile behavior by the MPs was still in his voice.

The hung Parliament has increased the need for more consensus-building than in past Parliament were there have always been clear majorities.

President Akufo-Addo, who’s swearing-in later on January 7 hinged on the election of a Speaker, had earlier been stressing the need for both sides of Parliament to work together.

But Garr, like many Ghanaians watching, was left upset by the fact this Parliament failed at the first hurdle.

He, however, notes they can learn from this nadir.

“We should see it as an insight into the future. There is definitely the need for our Parliamentarians to be a bit more consultative, build consensus on issues, and put Ghana first,” says Garr.

After the chaos, Bagbin was elected Speaker and swore in the new MPs. It was the first time Ghana has had a President and a Speaker from different parties.

Later that day, President Akufo-Addo stood before Parliament to be sworn-in as President but his first address as President for the next four years made no mention of the embarrassing breakdown of law and order earlier.

The government is yet to officially comment on the incidents though there are some suggestions that Parliament will probe the incident.

It also remains unclear who ordered military incursion on the chamber of Parliament.

Garr shied away from saying he was disappointed but said he wished President Akufo-Addo would have condemned the chaos and “spoken about it to show that he abhorred what happened.”

Ghana’s Opposition Leader John Mahama Heads To Court To Force Re-run Of Polls

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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January 4, 2021

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Ghana’s Opposition Leader John Mahama Heads To Court To Force Re-run Of Polls

Ghana’s main opposition presidential candidate in the December 2020 elections has filed a petition at the country’s Supreme Court seeking to annul President Nana Akufo-Addo’s re-election.

John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) refused to concede the election to President Akufo-Addo claiming electoral irregularities.

According to Mr. Mahama’s petition, he argues that neither he nor President Akufo-Addo attained a clear majority because of the omission of one constituency from the provisional declaration of results by Ghana’s electoral commission.

He is now asking the Supreme Court to order a re-run of the presidential election for him and the incumbent.

According to the electoral commission President Akufo-Addo garnered 51.59% of the votes while Mr. Mahama got 47.37%.

Following changes to election adjudication guidelines, the petition hearing is expected to last for at most 42 days — a far cry from the eight-month-long hearing in 2012 when President Akufo-Addo, then in opposition, unsuccessfully challenged his election defeat to Mr. Mahama.

The judgment in the hearing is expected latest by February 10, 2021.

President Akufo-Addo is proceeding with his transition and is yet to comment on the legal challenge from his opponent. His party has also just held a thanksgiving service in commemoration of the election victory.

In a public address after filing the petition, Mr. Mahama stressed that his challenge of the election results was not a mere manifestation of a desire for power but “because of a dedication to principle and a commitment to democracy.”

He said he was only chasing “the removal of doubt.”

“I want all of us to know that our elections should be free, fair, and safe and that we do not have to settle for a process that leaves us confused and with more questions than answers,” said Mr. Mahama.

The weeks leading to the petition have been marked by protests nationwide from the opposition.

These protests have been met by calls from some observers for Mr. Mahama to opt for court action and not civil disobedience.

There were fears that the protests could transition to violence because of clashes between protesters and police.

The Institute of Democratic Governance has been part of calls to the NDC and Mr. Mahama to air its grievances in court.

A research fellow with the institute, Ewald Garr, told Ubuntu Times the eventual resort to an election petition was the best possible outcome given the circumstances.

“For IDEG, we have advocated that instead of violence, they should use legal means to pursue some of these so the NDC going to court is in order.”

“The most important thing is not to engage in acts of violence that could destabilize the country. Nobody wants to see that,” said Mr. Garr.

Ghana President Akufo-Addo Wins Reelection As Opposition Rejects Results

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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December 10, 2020

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Ghana President Akufo-Addo Wins Reelection As Opposition Rejects Results

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has won reelection in the West African country’s eighth straight democratic election.

Akufo-Addo of the center-right New Patriotic Party obtained 51.3% of the vote in the December 7 election.

He beat his main contender, former President John Mahama of the center-left National Democratic Congress, who polled 47.4% of the vote.

There was only one constituency outstanding when the Electoral Commissioner, Jean Mensa, announced the results that sparked celebrations among Akufo-Addo’s supporters nationwide.

But hours after the declaration of results, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said Mahama’s party had rejected the results.

“We roundly reject and outrightly reject the declaration of the sitting president as the winner of the 2020 elections,” he said. “In due course, our flagbearer will brief the nation and the international community.”

The two front-runners were separated by a little over 500,000 votes.

Out of a total electorate of 17 million, more than 13 million ballots were cast as Ghanaians also chose legislators for the next four years.

The parliamentary race was tighter than expected and the governing party in danger of losing its majority in the Legislature when results are finally declared.

Akufo-Addo supporters — Supporters of President Akufo-Addo poured onto the street to celebrate his reelection. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

This was the third time the Akufo-Addo and Mahama had faced each other in a presidential election after first facing each other in 2012.

In his victory speech, Akufo-Addo, 76, set his sights on reviving an economy that was grounded by the Coronavirus pandemic.

“My immediate task will be to begin the process of reversing the effect COVID-19 has had on our economy and on our lives,” he said. “Before the pandemic struck, Ghana in recent years was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, I give you my word, we will regain that reputation.”

Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party campaigned on the need to continue projects it had started, most notably consolidating the free senior-secondary school education policy.

Observers, however, expect the Akufo-Addo’s record on corruption to receive much more scrutiny in the next four years after a series of corruption scandals.

Akufo-Addo also faces an economy riddled with debt and revenue shortfalls with a debt-to-GDP currently at 71 percent.

Polling station — The electoral process has been described as free and fair by observers. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Mahama is yet to conceded defeat in the election which his party claims suffered from electoral malpractices.

The opposition leader accused the Akufo-Addo administration of using the military to suppress votes and aid rigging but the government denied these allegations.

Before the Electoral Commission came out with its tallied results, Mahama’s party had claimed victory and urged its supporters to hit the streets and celebrate.

“You cannot use the military to try and overturn some of the results in constituencies that we have won. We will resist any attempts to subvert the sovereign will of the Ghanaian people,” Mr. Mahama said at a press conference when counting was still ongoing.

This National Democratic Congress’ apprehension culminated in a peaceful demonstration at the Electoral Commission headquarters in Accra two days after the polls, amid heightened tensions.

Though the election will go down as peaceful, pockets of violence left five people dead.

The Police Administration announced that there had been more than 60 incidents since Monday morning, 21 of which were “true cases of electoral violence.”

The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers, CODEO said its officers reported 254 incidents during the voting process.

“While there were some challenges, these challenges were isolated and did not undermine the process’s overall credibility,” it said in a statement.

Frontrunners Expected To Emulate Their Past Selves As Ghanaians Prepare To Vote In Election

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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December 6, 2020

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Frontrunners Expected To Emulate Their Past Selves As Ghanaians Prepare To Vote In Election

Over 17 million Ghanaians are heading to the polls for an eighth straight democratic election on Monday, December 7.

Once again, the incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo and former President John Mahama are going head-to-head as overwhelming front-runners in a field of 12 presidential candidates.

This election is unique in the fact that the two main contenders have both been Head-of-State and are looking for their second term.

Mahama lost in the 2016 election in a comprehensive fashion to Akufo-Addo; almost by 1 million votes. He thus became the first incumbent to lose an election in Ghana’s political history.

Concerns over corruption, the management of the economy and an energy sector crisis sunk Mahama’s bid for a second term.

Akufo-Addo rode on his anti-corruption agenda and the promise of the full implementation of a free secondary education policy. He succeeded at the latter but not so much the former.

In the weeks leading up to the polls, the opposition party has tried to make corruption the main talking point since the resignation of Ghana’s Special Prosecutor because of alleged political interference.

The government has, of course, denied the claims of corruption and it remains unclear if the recent happenings could swing the election in Mahama’s favor.

Akufo-Addo has campaigned mainly on its education initiatives, while Mahama has tried to counter the educational gains by making promises of his own, including making tertiary education free for first years if he wins the polls.

Like past elections in Ghana, there has been a decided lack of substance in the political discourse with slogans and barbs dominating party and media agendas instead of policy.

The Coronavirus and its management, for example, has barely registered beyond the expected safety protocols at the polls.

There has been no presidential debate and the manifestoes presented by the parties have been shallow with many promises but little by way of plans for execution.

The truth is Ghanaians have always voted along ethnic lines with the dominant Akan ethnic group more likely to vote for Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the other groups more inclined towards Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The fascinating thing is that there is almost a 50-50 split between the Akans (who make up 47.5 percent of the population according to Ghana’s last census) and the other ethnic groups which accounts for the regular changes in power between the two.

No party has governed for more than or less than two consecutive terms.

As the election day nears, the only message that matches up to the campaign cacophony of the NDC and NPP is the call for peace.

Whilst reminders for restraint and peace are consistent across Ghana’s mass media, very few believe there is a threat of significant election-related violence.

Since its return to a multi-party system in 1992, international observers have praised Ghana’s elections, which are perceived as peaceful and the bedrock of one of Africa’s most stable democracies.

Ghana’s landmark 2000 election saw the first-ever transfer of power between two parties in Ghana’s history and this alternation between the NDC and NPP has happened two more times.

As the years go by, fewer Ghanaians are able to relate to the idea of a coup or have lived under military rule. Ghana suffered a series of military interventions in governance from 1966 until 1992.

But since then democracy has been the norm and peaceful elections are now being taken for granted amid a sub-region that has been plagued by significant levels of political instability.

However, the expectation of peaceful polls betrays the intense partisan tensions that precede elections and with the onset of new media, the partisan divide has been deepening further with more aggressive and toxic exchanges that have the tendency to lead supporters astray into eruptions of violence.

Disputes over the electoral roll are now election cycle curtain raisers, as well as accusations of electoral malpractice fired at whichever party is in government.

Voter Register — The electoral roll is never deemed perfect by the opposition party. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Concerns over voter suppression were rampant during the country’s controversial voter registration exercise after soldiers were deployed to opposition strongholds.

The registration exercise itself was marred by some violent incidents which resulted in death.

Take a step back, however, and while contentious, the electoral process has so far resembled something akin to peaceful.

No matter how heated things get, Ghanaians expect the frontrunners to what they have always done, be magnanimous in defeat and humble victory.

In 2016, when it was clear the election was lost, incumbent President Mahama quickly conceded and begun the peaceful transition process. His supporters followed suit.

Before 2016, Akufo-Addo had contested and lost two elections in photo finishes.

In the 2008 election, between Akufo-Addo and the NDC’s then-candidate John Atta Mills, no candidate received the 50-percent-plus-one of the votes needed to avoid a run-off election.

The run-off was held a few weeks later and the result came down to one constituency where voting was delayed.

There were fears of rigging and claims of electoral fraud which we have seen escalate into sectarian violence in other Africa countries like Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Akufo-Addo eventually lost by less than a percent and conceded despite his misgivings.

It was another close defeat for Akufo-Addo in 2012 after a heavily disputed election. Mahama had taken over from Mills, who died in office, and won with just 50.7 percent of the vote.

Although many international observers called the election free and fair, Akufo-Addo and his cohorts tried to overturn the election result in Ghana’s Supreme Court but the election results were upheld as expected.

Many believe, one of the reasons Akufo-Addo went to the Supreme Court was to calm his supporters who were outraged and ready to go on the rampage because they felt the election had again been stolen from them.

Akufo-Addo played his part in riling up his supporters and was criticized for making incendiary comments like “all die be die” ahead of the 2012 election.

This year Mahama says he will not accept the results of a flawed election and has already deemed the electoral process as such.

But when it is all said and done, we expect the conduct of the candidates to resemble what we have seen in the past. Peace will prevail.

Mahama and Akufo-Addo signed a peace pact on behalf of their respective political parties three days before the polls and were all smiles despite fiery back-and-forths on campaign platforms.

Their supporters will do well to remind themselves that the two parties have never chosen violence.

What Are The Main Concerns Of Ghanaian Voters Ahead Of Elections In December?

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Delali Adogla-Bessa

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December 1, 2020

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What Are The Main Concerns Of Ghanaian Voters Ahead Of Elections In December?

In every election year, concerns are raised as to whether Ghanaians vote along ethnic lines for the two main political parties (the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party) or if they are influenced by development and policy concerns.

Historically, general data points towards the former. The ethnic strongholds of the left-leaning NDC remain the Volta Region and Northern parts of Ghana, which it wins easily during polls. The much denser Ashanti and Eastern regions of Ghana always turn out for the NPP.

Regions like the Greater Accra Region, where I reside, are less homogeneous and are certain to play the role of kingmakers. No president has won power without winning the Greater Accra Region, which has the highest voter population with 3,529,181 out of the total of 17,029,971.

With funding support from USAID/Ghana, the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) conducted a pre-election survey to gauge the most pressing concerns of citizens. I looked to document the reflection of these findings in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana with photographs over the past year.

From the sample size, 51 percent of the electorate noted concerns with infrastructure development. This is normally a facsimile for roads, which are known to be below standard in most residential parts of Accra.

Eroded roads in an Accra suburb — A driver traverses a stretch of road that is heavily eroded. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

The government all but socially engineered citizen expectations by declaring 2020 the “year of roads” in a bid to boost infrastructure in that sector. It has been pointing to high profile projects as evidence of infrastructure successes.

The marquee project in the region is the $94 million Pokuase interchange which the government expects to be the biggest in West Africa. A major win for the government has also been the progress on the 7.5 km LEKMA road which has made commutes easier for many road users.

Work on the Pokuase interchange project — The Pokuase interchange is expected to be the biggest in West Africa when completed. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Work progressing on LEKMA road — After almost three decades, the LEKMA is close to completion. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Flooding in an Accra suburb — Many residents fear the rainy season because of the attendant flooding. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

But what has remained an infrastructure concern for decades remains the poor drainage network in Accra that has led to perennial flooding in urban areas, sometimes at the cost of lives.

But the drainage system is generally in the shadow of calls for better roads.

Workers on a road project — Infrastructure projects mean jobs are being created for residents in their vicinity. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

A trader in Accra — Ghana’s informal economy is the largest source of jobs and they are largely untaxed. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Men without work — Groups of able-bodied men without work are a common sight in Accra. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Closed shops — The pandemic disrupted businesses that had to comply with health safety protocols. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Barbershop — A barber looks forlorn having been deprived of a steady stream of customers because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

There is some overlap with the first concern of infrastructure and the second concern of unemployment (46 percent raised this issue) as road projects mean jobs in project areas.

Credible employment figures are hard to come by and whilst the state makes unverified claims about jobs created, there is no denying that the Coronavirus pandemic crippled many businesses. Before the pandemic, the state claimed it had created 2,204,397 jobs.

It is worth noting that Ghana’s economy is largely informal. The Ghana Statistical Service estimates that 86.1 percent of all employment is found in the informal economy; 90.9 percent of women and 81 percent of men.

Fifth on the list of concerns was the management of the economy (20 percent) which also has a bearing on job creation.

Secondary School kids — Schoolchildren walk into an uncertain future after spending over nine months out of school because of the pandemic. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

An empty school compound — School compounds, once vibrant with pupils are left barren because of the pandemic. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Children play football in Accra during what would have been regular school hours. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

The third most prominent issue for Ghanaians ahead of the polls was education (28 percent).

Whilst the Akufo-Addo administration has been praised for ensuring free-secondary education free, again the Coronavirus pandemic has left most children out of school for almost nine months.

This is expected to deepen inequality and entrench the learning crisis.

Concerns have been raised about the perceived deliberate reduction of Coronavirus testing in Ghana. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Bats in Ghana — With the pandemic in mind, researchers have reminded us that fruit bats in Ghana carry strains of Ebola hence the need for preparedness plans. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Blood pressure test — Hypertension, stroke, diabetes, and cancers are among the top 10 causes of death in Ghana. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

In a year defined by a pandemic, it is also no surprise that health is on this list.

Ghana has seen 323 deaths from the Coronavirus pandemic which is relatively low and most of the questions asked have been about the reduced testing by the state and the lack of significant support for the sciences to safeguard against future pandemics.

The pandemic may also have distracted from other pressing issues in the health space.

Water tanker — Many residents of Accra have to buy potable water from tankers on a weekly basis to ensure basic hygiene. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Residents fetch wastewater — Residents in an Accra suburb choose wastewater from a water treatment plant over buying from tankers. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Veronica bucket at a shop — The pandemic has meant almost every place of business has made running water available to the public improving hygiene. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Entrance to an eatery — Eateries have staff on hand to sanitize the hands of all patrons, something that was not done less than a year ago. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Social distancing at a polling center — Changes in health attitudes will be evident with social distancing on election day. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

There was no mention of sanitation in the survey probably because such conditions have improved greatly because of the pandemic.

It is worth noting that the bar was incredibly low in Accra the President continues to be mocked for his failed promise to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa.

But the lack of access to good clean water undoubtedly translates to an increased threat for diseases like cholera.

Opinion: Corruption Continues To Fight Back And Ghana’s Special Prosecutor Is Its Latest Scalp

Opinion

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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November 30, 2020

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Opinion: Corruption Continues To Fight Back And Ghana’s Special Prosecutor Is Its Latest Scalp

In an interview with a local radio station back in October, a director at Ghana’s Center for Democratic Development sounded the alarm over the lack of citizen concern on issues of corruption following a pre-election survey.

About a month later Ghana’s first Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, resigned citing interference at various levels of governance, even up to the president. In his resignation letter, Amidu said Ghana President Akufo-Addo had mistaken him as his “poodle”.

In a more recent and much more scathing letter, Amidu described President Akufo-Addo as the “mother corruption serpent” and not the “innocent flower of anti-corruption” he once thought.

With less than three weeks to a general election, this resignation is probably the final report card assessing the Akufo-Addo administration’s corruption fight and the state has failed woefully.

Before this resignation, the government was already seen to have bowed to the whims of graft. Akufo-Addo’s tenure has been littered with corruption scandals not followed by requisite prosecution and punishment. Akufo-Addo has been tagged “a clearing agent” by the opposition because of the number of officials implicated in acts of corruption who appeared to receive protection from the state.

Despite this, the Center for Democratic Development’s pre-election survey indicated that only 6 percent of the electorate considered corruption a concern though it has a latent effect it has on other issues like infrastructure and management of the economy which receive much more attention.

In contrast, in the center’s survey ahead of Ghana’s elections in 2016, 62 percent of Ghanaians backed the perception that Ghana was corrupt and 75 percent of the electorate said corruption issues would influence their vote.

This was reflected in Akufo-Addo’s victorious campaign where he defeated the incumbent, John Mahama, handily. As far Akufo-Addo and his cohorts were concerned, corruption flowing through the veins of the Mahama administration. This was not far from the truth.

But four years on, it would appear that Ghanaians sat distracted in the back of the anti-corruption bus as the Akufo-Addo administration fell asleep at the wheel. More cynical observers will tell you that state actors were actively complicit in acts of corruption.

The timing of Amidu’s resignation is its own flaming red flag. He recently completed a corruption risk assessment on a controversial state agreement to leverage Ghana’s mineral royalties for developmental projects.

Among other things, Amidu concluded that this deal, the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transaction, violated multiple laws whilst the appointment of transaction advisors, which included a firm with ties to the Finance Minister, also flouted the law and did not meet the “fundamentals of probity, transparency, and accountability.”

Amidu claims the President directed him to hold off acting on this assessment. This was the last straw for him.

“We disagree on the non-partisan independence of the special prosecutor in the performance of functions of my office in preventing and fighting corruption and corruption-related offenses,” he said in his resignation letter.

The presidency denied the interference claim but confirmed that the President indeed met the Special Prosecutor earlier in November to discuss the deal which meant a line had been crossed.

If Akufo-Addo really respected the idea of independence, there would be absolutely no reason why he would be meeting with the Special Prosecutor in private, much less in such sensitive times.

Accompanying Amidu’s resignation were concerns about how well-resourced his office was. He and his deputy had not been paid any emoluments since 2008 and this was only rectified (by a presidential directive) after his resignation.

There is also the adjacent chatter over Amidu’s office space, or lack thereof, and utilization of budget allocations for recruitment among others. He has been operating out of what is generally a three-bedroom apartment and has been unable to hire more staff to ensure the efficient running of his office.

Amidu’s office had been offered a bigger building by the state but he deemed it unfit for human occupation.

As of September 2019, he had only three senior staff and nine junior staff. It is thus no surprise that, of the GHS 65.69 million transferred to Amidu’s office, only a little of over GHS 5.22 million had been utilized, according to the Presidency.

Some consider the under-utilization a slight on Amidu and more critical persons accuse him, incorrectly, of loafing about on the job. Amidu complained about his working conditions multiple times, including alleged interference from state actors, but he was told he whined too much and did little work.

That said, had Amidu not complained and created a ton of receipts from himself, he would be perceived in a much worse light now. “Why didn’t he speak up,” his critics would have asked.

Given his apparently dire treatment by the state, one legitimate question can be asked: Why didn’t he resign earlier?

Amidu tries to answer this in his resignation letter pointing to his commitment to fighting corruption over the years; even in his capacity as a private citizen. In his words, he was never an anti-corruption entrepreneur but a “non-partisan anti-corruption crusader.”

His track record of integrity was the reason his announcement as Special Prosecutor in January 2018 was met with much joy in the earlier days of the Akufo-Addo administration. How innocent we were.

Ghanaians had voted for change and the setting up of the Special Prosecutor’s Office was to be the beginning of the end of corruption’s stranglehold on Ghanaian governance.

But as it turns out, we were just characters in the fable about the scorpion and the frog. Corruption stung again and it hurt.

If I fault Amidu for anything, it staying too long in the job because it was clear quite early on that the state was not prepared to lay the foundations for an independent vanguard in the corruption fight.

Indeed, Amidu was appointed by the President, like the heads of other anti-graft offices before his that lacked bite so were we really expecting one plus one to equal three this time around?

Despite the constraints, Amidu pursued cases against multiple government officials, past and present but the Agyapa deal and the purported hurdle the President put his way is one he refused to jump. That Akufo-Addo may have stood in his way was probably a shock to him.

When Barack Obama visited Ghana three presidents ago, he stressed the need for strong institutions. Ghana is yet to take his advice. It is because of strong institutions that the United States of America did not collapse completely under the galactic weight of presidential incompetence.

Ghana tends to prioritize building personalities and not institutions but history has shown us that personalities are no match for the partisan state capture that permeates all arms of governance.

Lest we forget, Ghana’s Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo, another man perceived to be on the vanguard of the anti-corruption fight, was forced on an over-150 day leave in what amounts to a sacking. This was after he challenged with key state actors in another controversial deal.

No matter what faults one lays at the feet of the likes of Amidu and Domelevo it is ultimately a question of who the Ghanaian people should be giving the benefit of the doubt.

The Akufo-Addo administration should have been breaking its back to make sure the first Special Prosecutor’s tenure was successful, leaving absolutely no room for fault.

In my book, the buck always stops with the President because of the amount of power vested in the Executive by our constitution.

It is not that Amidu’s success would have meant a net-positive for the Akufo-Addo administration in the corruption fight. Rather it would have offered some hope that an institution could adequately fight corruption.

But Amidu’s resignation means there is still no light at the end of the tunnel.

The Budding Movement Urging A Voter Boycott Of Ghana’s General Election

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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November 17, 2020

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The Budding Movement Urging A Voter Boycott Of Ghana’s General Election

It is a scorching Thursday morning around one of the biggest malls in Ghana’s capital city. Two members of the Economic Fighters League (EFL) stand on a sidewalk with placards glistening in the sun. Three weeks to the country’s general election their message to Ghanaians is simple – do not waste your time voting.

It is a message the riles up a soldier passing by. He confronts them with a tone that would have some think the protestors were calling for an armed insurrection. Their message is much too incendiary this close to an election, he feels.

The placards the youth wield simply ask if Ghanaians have been getting the development they vote for. The soldier thinks these young men, one of whom was born in 1998, are taking Ghana’s 28 years of a stable democracy for granted. Go around Africa, people envy our peace and stability, he says.

There have been instances of soldiers taking the law into their hands and acting with impunity. For a second, it looked like the confrontation could escalate. He had already fired a warning my way, wary of my recorder and camera.

One of the men pushing the no vote campaign, Arimiyaw Wusama, stresses that the group he belongs does not stand for violence and insists on his right to protest. Some onlookers also jump to Aremeyaw’s side and back his sentiment. In warm Ghanaian fashion, smiles eventually win the moment.

A number of passers-by had already said they had no plans of voting and happily posed for photos with the placards. They had no qualms with the message.

Campaign for voter boycott — An onlooker stands up to a soldier who was unhappy with the call for a voter strike. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

The EFL is aware of the existence of such persons. The past year has been awash with reports from communities that have threatened to boycott the polls of developmental concerns. “No road, no vote” is one of the more popular refrains amid cries for better infrastructure. Some communities even threaten to chase away campaigning politicians.

There will be 12 candidates on the presidential ballot in Ghana’s December 7 election. The first two names on the ballot are the incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and former President John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

These two are more than likely to come first and second on the results sheet when it is all said and done. The only real drama will be in what order.

The NDC and NPP have had a stranglehold on the political sphere since Ghana returned to civilian rule in 1993 and the 10 other parties will once again be merely along for the ride.

For people like 22-year-old Abdul Salam, Aremeyaw’s fellow “Fighter”, the NDC and the NPP are two sides of the same coin; defined by cronyism, corruption, and seeming contempt for the people they govern.

After seven peaceful elections, Ghana is seen to have passed the test of a stable democracy. But the bar should be much higher than simple transitions of power, the EFL argues. And the NDC and NPP have proven unwilling to meet the high standards it and other Ghanaians have set.

Abdul Salam, full of energy and brimming with conviction, declares that only people like him, willing to boycott the polls, are really challenging the status quo and choosing change.

“People say if you don’t vote you can’t complain but it is the opposite. If you vote, don’t complain.” “You are the same persons putting them in those position of power so whatever they are doing, you have endorsed it.”

A clear conscience is important to Abdul Salam. He’ll sleep better when complaints about corruption and injustice color the next four years of governance.

The magic number the EFL has been eyeing is 4.8 million; the 30.6 percent of registered voters who stayed home on election day in 2016. Turn out dropped from 79 percent in the 2012 election. This has generally been attributed to voter apathy. However, no rigorous study has offered a compelling explanation.

A recent Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) pre-2020 election survey indicated that 6 percent of Ghanaians do not plan to vote, with a further 4 percent remaining undecided.

The EFL’s Commander-in-Chief, Ernesto Yeboah, would have you believe a significant portion of the 30.6 percent from 2016 are sick and tired of what he called the false consensus of the NDC and NPP’s dominance permeates all arms of government.

He hopes the active campaign being waged by the EFL will influence the perception of dwindling turnout numbers.

“They [the NDC and NPP] don’t constitute the majority that we are deceived into placing so much significance on,” says Ernesto, who did not disappoint in his meeting with me; donning his signature red beret that has drawn comparisons to Julius Malema of the Economic Freedom Fighters.

Ghana’s politicians are said to exist just to win elections thus a voter boycott is what will hit the political establishment the hardest, he contends. “Ballot boxes can get to the remotest villages in our country but yet development cannot get there.”

Before founding the EFL in 2016, Ernesto used to be part of the mainstream political architecture. He led the youth wing of the Convention People’s Party (CPP); a shell of the party Kwame Nkrumah led on en route to Ghana’s independence.

Before leaving the CPP, he had pushed for then-President John Mahama to be investigated for accepting a gift from a Burkinabé contractor who was later handed state projects to oversee. He was later suspended by the CPP for his criticism of Mr. Mahama.

The leader of the Economic Fighters League — Ernesto Yeboah has been one of the centerpieces of the simmering protest culture in Ghana. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

That feels like a lifetime ago and Ernesto’s heart is now with his political movement borne out of the fraught social structure that marginalizes women and the youth. These two demographics constitute the bulk of Ghana’s population.

Over 50 percent of Ghana’s 30.9 million population are women but they do not make up even a third of Ghana’s legislature – 37 out of 275. Also, an overwhelming 24.5 million Ghanaians are under the age of 40.

But that they are on the fringes of Ghana’s governance is one of their main reasons that there is a cause for pause, and in the EFL’s case, an election boycott.

“Where the vast majority of the people are not involved in decision making, you cannot call that a democracy and that is what we have our hands.”

“We realized very early on that not many of the issues that confront the people are actually on the front burner with regards to the way our political parties function and how the media also functions,” explains Ernesto.

Alongside the boycott, the Fighters have other demands: mainly a constitution that ensures a new electoral system of proportional representation to break the duopoly of the NDC and NPP.

The EFL believes voters deserve representation and that all political groups in society deserve to be represented in our legislatures in proportion to their strength in the electorate.

Even people not aware of the EFL’s vote boycott had purposed in their hearts not to vote. Law student Melody Vanderpuye-Orgle fits the mold of the Fighters’ main concerns; a woman and a youth.

She no longer wants to suffer the current political class which many feel have given up on any form of morality.

“Voting is a means of communicating who you would like to lead you,” she says, but sees no viable options in the final stretch of the campaign season.

“I don’t want to partake in whatever this is when I know very well no political party is capable of leading this country to where it is supposed to be.”

Melody gives an indication of one of the Fighters’ problems i.e. giving their message a wider reach. The EFL mostly comes to the Ghanaian media’s attention when there is significant friction with the state, with a focus on the state’s penal response.

In 2019, Ernesto was among a group of protestors whisked away in handcuffs when they disrupted Parliament’s proceedings in opposition to plans for the construction of a new chamber for legislators. That got the media sniffing at his heels.

As we speak, Ernesto is facing jail time for organizing a Black Lives Matter vigil-cum protest against police brutality in July. He was again dragged from this protest in handcuffs. Ironically, police opened fire on EFL members and sympathizers who had marched to the police station holding Ernesto to demand his release.

The Fighters pull inspiration from the final act of British occupation of Ghana when independence was on the horizon. Ghana used to have a thriving non-partisan protest culture but was “frightened into silence” because of a history of violence that met dissent under military rule.

Ernesto recalls Nii Kwabena Bonne, who in 1947 formed the Anti-Inflation Campaign Committee in Accra to challenge the inflated retail prices on imported goods by Europeans.

“They had their money and they held it. That was their power,” Ernesto reminds.

On social media, it is commonplace to see people disagree with the stance of the Fighters and others who choose not to vote.

A research fellow with the Institute of Democratic Governance, Ewald Garr agreed with the grievances of the EFL but describes the call for a boycott as “non-starter”.

“If you want change, you must vote for the change you want,” Garr says to Ubuntu Times in a phone interview. Surely one of the 10 alternatives to the NPP and the NDC offers some respite, he remarks, though the EFL begs to differ.

A voting area in Ghana — Critics of the Fighters argue that Ghanaians must vote for the change they want. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Their stance may not even matter because of their limited reach. Garr does not think the EFL has the gravitas to effectively mobilize and seemingly capitalize on the low turnout from the 2016 election.

“We already have the problem of voter apathy. It will not be them [the EFL] causing it,” he says.

Garr even throws a challenge to the EFL; telling them to throw their hat in the political ring. “Instead of running away from that responsibility and blaming others, they should rather come to the table and play ball.”

Ernesto is not deaf to calls to join active politics but he is not above admitting this uncharted territory for him and his fellow Fighters. They are playing the long game; building from the grassroots and waiting patiently for Ghanaians on the fence to see reason and jump on EFL wagon.

“We don’t have any experience in mobilizing and organizing a revolution but as young as we are, we are ready to learn and ready to make our own mistakes and we aren’t doing very badly at all.”

The accusations that a voter strike is unpatriotic seem to cut at Ernesto. I can’t tell how deep. Wary of the criticism, he does not want the Fighters’ call for voter strike to betray their devotion to Ghana.

“When workers go on strike, does it mean they are lazy? Does it mean they love their job less?” he retorts.

“We are holding our power in order to protect the future we love so much.”

Ghana’s Former President Jerry Rawlings Dies At 73

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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November 12, 2020

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Ghana’s Former President Jerry Rawlings Dies At 73

Ghana’s former President Jerry John Rawlings has died at the age of 73.

He came to political prominence on the back of two coups, in 1979 and 1989, before twice being elected president after Ghana’s subsequent return to civilian rule.

Mr. Rawlings’ family confirmed his Thursday morning death which was “after a short illness.”

In a statement, Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, led tributes saying: “a great tree has fallen and Ghana is poorer for this loss.”

The president also directed seven days of national mourning during which all flags are to fly at half-mast.

Tributes for Mr. Rawlings also came from key figures on the African continent.

“The entire African continent will sorely miss the sterling qualities of the great leader,” Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement.

“Ghana, Liberia and Africa will miss a great leader,” Liberia President George Weah, tweeted. “Liberia remembers his immense contribution to the attainment and sustainment of peace during the dark days of our own history.”

“Africa has lost a stalwart of pan-Africanism and a charismatic continental statesman,” the AU Commission chair, Moussa Faki, also said on Twitter.

Mr. Rawlings’ death comes with less than a month to Ghana’s general election which will see the party he founded, the National Democratic Congress, come up against the governing New Patriotic Party; the former led by former President John Mahama and the latter led by President Akufo-Addo.

There are also 10 other candidates from smaller parties vying for the presidency including Mr. Rawlings’ wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings.

Rawlings’ Complicated Legacy

Reaction from citizens on social media highlighted the complicated political figure that was Mr. Rawlings.

Whilst there has been an overwhelming outpouring of grief, there were reminders about scars Mr. Rawlings left on the nation during his about-two decades of rule.

“It is forbidden to speak ill of the dead in our culture. It is, however, acceptable to say the truth about the dead,” prominent Ghanaian journalist, Nana Ama Agyemang Asante tweeted.

“JJ [Rawlings] came in 1979 – 40 years ago. Most of his fans are under 50, and never saw the terror. Or experienced the hard times he supposedly came to upend. So they can celebrate the recycled versions. Yes, he was complicated and yes folks who lost loved ones won’t be crying,” academic and lecturer Akosua Adomako Ampofo also noted.

I have nothing good to say about Jerry John Rawlings. He never showed any remorse for the abuses and killings carried out on his watch, or for failing to root out the corruption he claimed was justification for said abuses and killings.

— Soraya 🇬🇭 (@SorayaSpeaks) November 12, 2020

Mr. Rawlings’ first successful coup, regarded in Ghana as the June 4 uprising, saw eight senior military officers, including three former heads of state; Akwasi Afrifa, Ignatius Acheampong, and Frederick Akuffo executed amid claims of corruption and mismanagement against them.

General Akuffo had foiled an earlier coup attempt by Mr. Rawlings in May 1979 and jailed him.

Within a month, however, Mr. Rawlings was freed by fellow junior officers and quickly took charge of the Government in the uprising.

Mr. Rawlings, then a Flight Lieutenant, held fast to his pledge to ensure democratic rule, which followed shortly under President Hilla Limann who assumed office on September 24, 1979

Democracy was shortlived, however, with Mr. Rawlings’ second coup taking place on December 31, 1981.

”They were a pack of criminals who bled Ghana to the bone,” a 34-year-old Rawlings, said of the Limann administration whilst vowing to “clean up corruption.”

Mr. Rawlings also felt he had the backing of Ghanaians, who were in the midst of economic hardship.

”I am prepared at this moment to face a firing squad if what I try to do for the second time in my life does not meet the approval of Ghanaians,” he said in his speech marking the coup.

In the early years of his junta, Mr. Rawlings notably held on to leftwing policies of communist nations like the Soviet Union and Cuba.

But he eventually turned to the free market to breathe life into Ghana’s struggling economy.

Critics tagged his embracing of a neoliberal structural adjustment reform as him comprising and selling out of his early socialist ideals.

For a lot of Ghanaians at the time, Mr. Rawlings was synonymous with pure charisma, empathy for the working class, and a raging contempt for graft.

For his critics, however, Mr. Rawlings’ military takeovers were defined by authoritarian rule and human rights abuses.

The abduction and murder of three High Court judges remain one of the deepest scars from the Rawlings junta.

The three slain judges had notably reviewed cases of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, the first Rawlings junta.

As the Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), Mr. Rawlings would steer Ghana under joint military and civilian rule until January 1993, when he sworn-in as President after winning Ghana’s first democratic polls since 1979.

Mr. Rawlings is seen as laying the foundation for one of Africa’s most stable democracies, solidified by him peacefully handing over power to John Kufour, of the opposition party, in 2001.

Lagos Legislators Attack EndSARS Protestors Amid Push To Regulate Social Media

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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November 1, 2020

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Lagos Legislators Attack EndSARS Protestors Amid Push To Regulate Social Media

Legislators in Lagos faced public outrage this past week after backing calls to regulate social media following the role it played in mobilizing and coordinating protests against police brutality.

Some legislators accused purported bad actors of hijacking the protests and spreading fake news to fuel unrest in Africa’s most populous city.

Actor turned legislator Desmond Elliot was an easy target and seemed to bear the brunt of criticism on social media.

He blamed the crisis that engulfed the nation’s commercial capital on the activities of social media influencers.

“Social media though good has its negative impact… Please celebrities, social media influencers, stop the hatred already,” Elliot said in a speech before the assembly on Tuesday.

When given the chance by local media two days later to clarify his utterances, an emotional Elliot said: “I can see why people thought it meant regulating the social media space. That was not in any way what I meant.”

“I could never have called for the social media space to be regulated,” said the legislator.

Elliot’s high profile status may have distracted from more forceful comments coming from other state and legislative actors against the protestors.

“The problems came from the social media,” another Lagos lawmaker, Adewale Temitope, said. “The need to regulate social media has become more than necessary. Our influencers must be brought to book.”

“There’s a way this social media can be controlled. You can’t just post anything in the United Arab Emirates, for instance. It’s being controlled by the government,” fellow legislator, Wahab Jimoh, insisted further.

It would surprise few observers that Nigeria’s Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, was also in full support of the regulation of social media.

Appearing before a committee in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, he did not mince words saying Nigeria ought to toe the line of China as far as regulating social media was concerned.

This has been a longstanding crusade for the minister.

“When we went to China, we could not get google, Facebook, and Instagram,” Mr. Mohammed said. “You could not even use your email in China because they made sure it is censored and well regulated.”

The minister is convinced regulation is needed to combat the threat of fake news.

“We are sitting on a time bomb on this issue of fake news. Unfortunately, we have no national policy on social media and we need one.”

There have been past reports that the Nigerian government has plans for a “Protection from Internet Falsehood & Manipulation” Bill, also known as the “Social Media” Bill.

Mohammed denied knowledge of such a Bill when he spoke to German broadcaster DW back in January 2020.

Activists like Sanyaolu Juwon, one of the leaders of the RevolutionNow campaign believe such a Bill to regulate social media exists and has vowed to resist it.

Juwon described the plan to regulate social media as “dead on arrival” when he spoke to Ubuntu Times.

“They have been planning this over the years and they have always introduced this Bill year in year out but every time, Nigerian people are mobilized against this draconian Bill.”

Underpinning the concerns over freedom of speech online was the hostility towards the #EndSARS protestors.

Various levels of Nigeria’s governance architecture remain reluctant to acknowledge the killing of unarmed protesters by security forces, most notably at the Lekki Plaza in Lagos.

At least 10 protesters were killed at the Lekki plaza on October 20, according to Amnesty International. That day has been christened Black Tuesday.

Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari set the tone for this posturing during a national address when he did not acknowledge the widely-condemned use of force by the state.

Lagos Speaker Mudashiru Obasa was less subtle in his contempt for the protesters when called for a moment of silence in the House Assembly for “patriotic Lagosians” who lost their lives, “and not miscreants that were killed by Police.”

Speaker of Lagos' State House of Assembly — Lagos Speaker Mudashiru Obasa offered no sympathy for the unarmed protestors killed during protests against police Brutality. Credit: Lagos State House of Assembly

Some like lawmaker Mustainu Tobun refuse to believe any protestors were killed despite compelling evidence.

“Till today there’s no record of death. Till today we did not see any pictures,” he retorted during assembly proceedings.

One member of the House, Owolabi Ibrahim, did acknowledge the killings when he took the floor.

“We saw when the Police Force actively tried to reduce the number of our youth. I say that because they were shooting sporadically. We saw the videos. All of us saw it.”

The utterances from Lagos legislators are why the protest against police brutality morphed seamlessly into a stand against “impunity characterized by bad governance,” according to Juwon.

The activist was critical of Lagos Governor Jide Sanwo-Olu who he blamed for the violence he and other peaceful protesters faced at Lekki, among others.

“We were hunted down like mere animals,” he recalled, insisting that the governor must resign.

The violent crackdown notwithstanding, Juwon does not think the movement was crushed.

“The tragic events of Black Tuesday, the rising body counts and direct role of the police and military, has proven beyond reasonable doubt that the struggle against police brutality and extrajudicial killings is far from over and Nigerians no doubt will be returning to the barricades sooner than expected.”

Nigeria President Buhari Turns Blind Eye To Shooting Of Unarmed EndSARS Protestors In National Address

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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October 23, 2020

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Nigeria President Buhari Turns Blind Eye To Shooting Of Unarmed EndSARS Protestors In National Address

October 22 — Nigerians hoping for some contrition from their government were left fuming as President Muhammadu Buhari delivered an address to the nation that did not acknowledge the shooting of unarmed protesters in some of its cities.

While he said he was “deeply pained that innocent lives have been lost” in the Thursday evening address, there was no mention of what has been tagged Black Tuesday; a day defined by the killing of peaceful demonstrators at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos by security forces.

Human Rights group Amnesty International said the security forces killed at least 12 people in Lagos on Tuesday.

Some local media reported that close to 50 protestors were killed nationwide on Tuesday.

In what could be considered a slap in the face of victims of Black Tuesday, President Buhari made time to mourn “officers of the Nigeria Police Force who have tragically lost their lives in the line of duty.”

Despite the evidence and reports, President Buhari instead pointed fingers at persons he said had “hijacked and misdirected” the protest movement against police brutality.

His address was also littered with insinuations that the protests were being overcome by bad actors and that they were not operating “within the law.”

“So-called protesters have invaded an International Airport and in the process disrupted the travel plans of fellow Nigerians and our visitors,” he noted as an example.

“Certainly, there is no way whatsoever to connect these bad acts to legitimate expression of grievance of the youth of our country.”

President Buhari further demonstrated some concern for Nigeria’s reputation abroad warning of “deliberate falsehood and misinformation through the social media” purportedly meant to mislead international observers.

“To our neighbors in particular, and members of the international community, many of whom have expressed concern about the ongoing development in Nigeria, we thank you and urge you all to seek to know all the facts available before taking a position or rushing to judgment and making hasty pronouncements,” he urged.

President Buhari’s address then pivoted onto a more political lane where he touched on some policies and interventions his government had put in place including a “broad plan to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.”

He thus urged angry citizens to “discontinue the street protests and constructively engage government in finding solutions.”

“I would like to appeal to protesters to note and take advantage of the various well-thought-out initiatives of this administration designed to make their lives better and more meaningful, and resist the temptation of being used by some subversive elements to cause chaos with the aim of truncating our nascent democracy.”

The speech was met with scorn from some Nigerians on Twitter, where the #EndSars hashtag has been the rallying cry for protestors.

For some, it was a reminder that Nigerians continue their resolve for change.

Buhari is not different from Donald trump

— Lyta⚡️ (@official_lyta) October 22, 2020

When Scarlett Johansen plays president Buhari in his biopic, I really want her to convey the callousness of this moment.

— machine gun Kele (@kelechnekoff) October 22, 2020

if they can’t stop us Physically, they will stop you emotionally.
With the horrorful videos and pictures coming out from Nigeria and the Speech of Buhari.
It’s enough to weaken our spirit.
Please don’t give up
I thought we all agreed to be Protesting from home? Abeg 🙏 #EndSARS

— Baddoleesa (@baddoleesa) October 22, 2020

Unrest Following Black Tuesday

Reports on gunfire in urban areas and jailbreaks followed the Tuesday evening shooting of protesters in Lagos.

Lagos and other parts of Nigeria saw buildings set on fire and shops looted since the shooting.

This is despite the Lagos state government imposing an indefinite round-the-clock curfew on its about-15 million inhabitants.

The protests began about two weeks ago with angry youth demanding the disbandment of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

SARS was eventually dissolved on 11 October but that shifted the protestor’s attention to widespread reforms in the security apparatus. Others have called for President Buhari to resign.

Black Tuesday prompted global calls for the Nigerian government to end the violence and investigate Tuesday’s events.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said reports that lights were turned off and CCTV cameras removed at the Lekki Toll Plaza before the shootings suggested it was “premeditated, planned and coordinated”.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an end to police brutality in Nigeria following two weeks of citizen protests.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, he condemned “the violent escalation on 20 October in Lagos which resulted in multiple deaths and caused many injuries.”

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief also condemned the killing of protesters demonstrating against police brutality.

“It is alarming to learn that several people have been killed and injured during the ongoing protests against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Nigeria,” he said.

Statements from major regional bodies have however lacked bite and have been criticized as dishonest because of their framing of the protests as being violent.

While ECOWAS urged security agencies in Nigeria to act professionally, it also called on “all protestors to remain peaceful in the conduct of their demonstrations.”

In a statement on Thursday, the AU chairman, Moussa Faki Mahamat, “strongly” condemned the violence, appealing “to all political and social actors to reject the use of violence and respect human rights and the rule of law.”

Wounds Remain Fresh For Ghana’s Victims Of Atrocities In The Gambia

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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October 12, 2020

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Wounds Remain Fresh For Ghana’s Victims Of Atrocities In The Gambia

Time does not always heal all wounds.

The sense of grief in the 2020 documentary ‘I Cannot Bury My Father’ is palpable as we watch the Mensah family receive compelling evidence that one of its own, Peter Mensah, was among the 44 Ghanaians murdered in The Gambia in July 2005.

His crime: trying to seek greener pastures in Europe to help his family.

The subject of the documentary and the victim’s son, Isaac Mensah, recounts to his family testimony from The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) set up after Yahya Jammeh reluctantly stepped down as The Gambia’s president in December 2017.

It seemingly confirmed what they all knew deep down; that Jammeh had ordered the murder of his father and 55 other West African immigrants.

In July 2019, three former members of a paramilitary unit cum death squad, the Junglers, admitted that they and 12 others had carried out the killings on Jammeh’s orders.

Jammeh presided over a brutal regime characterized by endemic human rights violations, including the reports of extrajudicial killings and torture associated with the massacre.

Almost 15 years on, the distraught Mensah family mourns like the day it first received reports of its son’s death in 2005. As the title of the documentary indicates, a lack of closure remains a burden on the hearts of Peter Mensah’s loved ones.

“This is the case you heard from someone that your relative has been murdered and you did not have the chance of giving that fellow a befitting burial,” Isaac Mensah said when he spoke to Ubuntu Times about the enduring pain of his family’s loss.

“It is not easy to forget someone you really cherish most especially when you cannot bury the person; most especially when you cannot give the person a proper funeral.”

In 2009, the remains of eight individuals purported to be Ghanaian victims of the massacre were returned to Ghana by The Gambia for burial. There has been no independent corroboration of this fact. Isaac Mensah’s family also says it was not contacted for any possible DNA testing.

The Ghana government’s handling of this tragedy has long been suspect. Eyebrows were raised when, in 2009, The Gambia and Ghana also signed a Memorandum of Understanding acknowledging that the Gambian government was not complicit in the killings.

This was after a joint investigation by the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States concluded that Jammeh did not order the killings.

The Gambia also paid US$500,000 in compensation to Ghana and about US$6,800 (in cedis at the time) was given to each of the victim’s families.

The payment was all but a spit in the face for persons who desired, above all, justice.

Professor Kwame Karikari has been tied to this harrowing tragedy and the pursuit of justice almost since day one.

He was the Executive Director of Media Foundation for West Africa in 2005 when it was, coincidently, searching for a journalist who went missing under the Jammeh regime.

It has been a decade and a half and Prof. Karikari is fuzzy on some peripheral details as he recounts the early days of his involvement to Ubuntu Times. But the central thread of violence and human rights abuses his outfit followed remains as clear as ever.

Professor Kwame Karikari has been one of the lead campaigners for justice following the massacre. Credit: Media Foundation for West Africa

The missing journalist on the foundation’s radar at the time was one Chief Manneh. Its correspondent in The Gambia had been directed to a police station in Banjul as he followed the trail of this missing journalist. It was there he found some Ghanaians and Nigerians in cells who had been accused of being mercenaries.

These West African migrants may have been among persons who found themselves in detention after leaving Senegal’s capital Dakar in a pirogue. It ran out of fuel and came ashore in The Gambia after they lost contact with their guide. The travellers were then arrested, detained and tortured for a week in Banjul after which they were handed over to the Junglers.

Prof. Karikari recalled that his correspondent dug further for some security sources who indicated that other West African migrants had been murdered.

“In all of this, we learned more about these disappearances. So we issued an alert about this. That is how come it [the massacre] was publicized in the world. It was the Media Foundation that brought this up.”

In the years following the massacre, the foundation worked with the Commonwealth Human Rights initiative in a bid to get the Ghana government to take more of an interest in the case.

This eventually culminated in a series of fact-finding missions to The Gambia, the memorandum and the return of the eight bodies purported to be Ghanaian victims.

The wheels of justice have ground ever so slowly since and it wasn’t until 2016 that a ray of light emerged. Jammeh had been defeated in the country’s presidential election and was forced into exile in 2017 in Equatorial Guinea.

Campaigners suddenly smelled blood after this turn of events and the Justice2Jammeh campaign was born. It was a movement that set the tone for movements like the Justice for GH44, of which Prof. Karikari is the lead campaigner.

The terms of engagement for the group are quite simple, though Prof. Karikari is wary of the complex diplomatic machinations.

“Our cause is that the Ghana government must be up there in protecting its citizens and seek the trial of Yahya Jammeh.”

The diplomatic concerns are the reason the government’s actions, or lack thereof, are critical for the campaigners.

Human Rights Watch and Trial International are building a case to prosecute Jammeh but it remains unlikely that the former despot will be extradited from Equatorial Guinea for trial in Ghana as is desired.

The campaigners are still willing to try though.

“It is only pressure of civil society that will make the government go beyond diplomatic niceties and make formal claims for repatriating the fellow [Jammeh],” Prof. Karikari stresses.

Isaac has also been pulling his weight on the civil society circuit. He has collaborated with the African Network against Extra-Judicial Killings and Forced Disappearances since 2018 and he has had questions about the government’s desire to uphold one of the core tenets on Ghana’s coat of arms.

And Isaac is convinced he is doing his part as well as he can. He speaks like his father may still be watching him from around a nearby corner and his mission is the only thing that may offer his father “a peaceful rest.”

“I want him to feel wherever he is that his son is pursuing justice.”

But since the former Junglers’ confessions, Isaac has been at a loss as to the lack of impetus from the state machinery. “I don’t see any push from the Ghanaian government,” he laments.

The last time the government commented publicly on the killings was in August 2019 when Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister said the Akufo-Addo administration was fully committed to ensuring justice.

“I can tell you that we are taking the matter very seriously because one murder of a Ghanaian is one too many,” she said.

Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey — Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has assured of the government’s commitment to ensuring justice. Credit: Ghana Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration

But actions speak louder than words. This is especially so for Martin Kyere, the sole survivor from the atrocity, who is sure to be the key witness if Jammeh is ever hauled to trial for the atrocities he oversaw.

The trader, now 39-years-old, has pressed on with the trauma of his near-death experience for the past 15 years.

He doesn’t go over the details of that July night in The Gambia where he leapt from the bucket pick-up truck and fled into a dark forest amid sounds of gunshots and cries of men being led to their death.

It is a story he has told over the years since he started his personal campaign for justice in Berekum, in Ghana’s Bono Region.

What Martin wants people to identify with now is his anger and heartbreak. He feels less Ghanaian as the years go by and questions the value of his life in the eyes of the state.

“There has not been a single day that the Ghana government on its own has even thought it important to call the victim’s families,” he says in a vexed tone to Ubuntu Times.

Gambia massacre victims visit memorial — Martin Kyere (center), Isaac Mensah (far right), and other victims of the massacre prepare to pay their respects to the 44 murdered Ghanaians. Credit: Isaac Mensah

Martin no longer has much trust in the Ghana government. He is certain the push for justice would have died down “if we left it with only Ghana authorities and the Ghanaian government alone.”

He is even more incensed when he reflects on the testimony of the former Junglers and unsurprisingly, Ghana’s current president, Nana Akufo-Addo, bears the brunt of this anger.

President Akufo-Addo was Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister 15 years ago when the massacre happened and has always touted himself as a proponent of human rights. These virtues have not manifested in any meaningful way in the mission to bring Jammeh to justice.

Martin actually seems insulted by the fact that on an anniversary year that should prompt introspection, the only things on President Akufo-Addo’s mind are votes and his re-election prospects ahead of polls in December.

A political class that has shown little value for his life does not deserve a ballot with his thumbprint on it, he surmises.

“Shamelessly, we have not seen our President, who is currently touring the country, saying a word about that [the killings] and he is coming to the people saying vote for me,” Martin fumes.

“If you see me going to vote that means I have lost my senses.”

Ghana’s Main Opposition Party Sounds Alarm To International Community Ahead Of Elections

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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September 30, 2020

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Ghana’s Main Opposition Party Sounds Alarm To International Community Ahead Of Elections

An election cycle has once again put Ghana’s democratic credentials under the spotlight as the main opposition party has questioned the commitment of the electoral management body to ensuring free and fair polls in December.

These concerns have compelled the opposition leader, John Mahama, to appeal to the international community and election observers “to focus their lenses on Ghana and arrive earlier in-country than ever before.”

He fears there is the “likelihood of continued greater challenges ahead of the election.”

Mr. Mahama, a former President, suspended his campaign tour to voice his concerns at a virtual press conference on Thursday, September 24.

His National Democratic Congress (NDC) has complained that the electoral process has been plagued with irregularities, the latest of which is the purported deletion of the names of registered voters in opposition strongholds.

“It is deeply troubling that the ongoing exhibition of the voters’ register has revealed significant omissions and in some other cases the deletion of the names of registered voters on a wide scale,” Mr. Mahama said.

The NDC has also consistently accused Ghana’s Electoral Commission of colluding with President Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to rig the 2020 general elections.

Mr. Mahama maintains that the controversial voter registration exercise in June and July was “characterized by bigotry and exclusion” perpetrated by the state security apparatus “which is now filled with vigilante elements loyal to the ruling NPP.”

Of concern to some observers will be Mr. Mahama’s continued insistence that he and his party “will not accept the result of a flawed election.”

The Electoral Commission has, however, denied the claims made against it by the opposition.

As far as it is concerned, its management of the electoral roll has been without blemish.

In a statement the commission released the night before Mr. Mahama spoke, it went on the defensive saying the opposition’s “allegations are unfounded.”

Provisional voter register — The NDC claims registered voters in its strongholds are being deleted from the provisional electoral roll. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

The commission remains confident that it “will bequeath the nation with a Register that reflects truth and integrity, a Register that is credible and comprises eligible Ghanaians only.”

Friction between the opposition party and Electoral Commission are almost rites of passage in a typical election year. Ghana’s eighth straight election since the last military government has been no different.

These frictions normally revolve around contentions over the credibility of the voter register.

Ahead of the 2016 election, President Akufo-Addo’s NPP, then an opposition party, called for the compilation of a new voter register, describing the existing one as lacking credibility because it allegedly contained foreigners.

Current Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia famously alleged at the time that there were more than 76,000 Togolese nationals illegally registered in Ghana to vote.

Now in power, the governing NPP maintains that Ghana is on the path to free and fair polls despite all the allegations.

A day before Mr. Mahama and the NDC conveyed their anxieties to the international community, President Akufo-Addo had used his address to the UN General Assembly to assure the world that Ghana’s election “will be transparent, free, fair, safe and credible.”

With the eyes of the world on him, President Akufo-Addo said he was looking forward to the December polls “passing off peacefully, with characteristic Ghanaian dignity.”

Perception May Be Trumping Reason As Tensions Build Around Nigerian Retailers In Ghana

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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September 6, 2020

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Perception May Be Trumping Reason As Tensions Build Around Nigerian Retailers In Ghana

On a calm Sunday in the business hub around the Nkrumah Interchange in Accra, a Nigerian immigrant, Junior Izuwu, has crept out into the open with his tabletop where he sells phone accessories and repairs electronics.

Sundays are slow days and human traffic is minimal. Business is unlikely to be good. But at least, Izuwu has some peace. There will be no state officials or Ghanaian traders to harass him.

He is one of the small fish caught up in the Ghanaian government’s attempts to enforce laws on retail trade mainly in the economic hubs of Accra and Kumasi. This has led to the forceful locking up of the shops belonging to foreigners engaged in unsanctioned retail trade.

The laws have been lax for so long that immigrant traders like Izuwu view their enforcement as man biting dog. Crackdowns over the last couple of years have been described as xenophobic in nature by some Nigerians. The lack of restraint from some Ghanaian traders has not helped the situation.

Whilst there is a sanctioned task force going round to check the registration of businesses for taxes, resident permits, standard controls, and the Ghanaian Investment and Promotion Centre (GIPC) permit for foreigners, Ghanaian traders have intermittently taken the law into their hands resulting in violent incidents.

“The last time they threw stones at us when we were gathered and everybody ran away then they locked shops,” Izuwu recounts to Ubuntu Times.

Seated in front of the locked shops of his fellow Nigerians, Izuwu demonstrates little understanding of the bigger picture and expects his government to intervene.

“For the Nigerian Embassy [in Ghana], I don’t know what they are doing. The way they are treating Nigerians here in Circle, it is not easy,” he says.

Nigerian immigrant in Ghana — Junior Izuwu makes a temporary home for himself in front of the locked shops of fellow Nigerian retailers. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

The GIPC permit appears to be the most stringent requirement. It demands that foreign traders have US$1,000,000 for trading activity with a minimum of 20 skilled Ghanaians employed while registering for the permit costs 31,500 cedis (US$5,446). The average immigrant in a largely informal sector cannot afford this.

Other than that, any enterprise not wholly-owned by a Ghanaian citizen cannot participate in the sale of goods or provision of services in a market, petty trading or hawking or selling of goods in a stall at any place, according to Ghana’s laws.

It is common to find some Nigerian traders and sympathetic Ghanaians citing ECOWAS protocols which allow for free movement across the West Africa sub-region. But its conventions do not supersede the sovereign law of individual states.

This is a point Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso, an international relations analyst, stresses to Ubuntu Times. “People always want to take advantage of the lapses in other country’s laws and exploit them. Period.”

Dr. Antwi-Danso expects zero compromises from the Ghanaian government as it looks out for the interest of indigenes and handles the grievances of Nigerian traders flouting the law.

“Retail trade is always reserved for indigenous people so it is made difficult to enter. There are no two ways about it,” he insists.

The clarity in this dynamic has been made murky by a recent back and forth laced with accusations between the governments of Ghana and Nigeria.

A major business district and electronics hub in Ghana — The Tip Toe Lane is a major business district in Accra home to many Nigerians and other foreigners. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

In the month that Ghana commissioned the African Continental Free Trade, Nigeria criticized the treatment of its nationals during the crackdown.

The Nigerian government in a statement last week complained about the “incessant harassment of its citizens in Ghana and the progressive acts of hostility towards the country by Ghanaian authorities.”

The statement, from Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohammed, also said its citizens in Ghana were being made “objects of ridicule.”

The statement followed Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey’s summoning of Nigeria’s chargé d’affaires to Ghana to complain about comments attributed to her Nigerian counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama.

Mr. Onyeama is alleged to have said that the crackdown on illegal foreign retail businesses was bid for votes by the Akufo-Addo administration ahead of Ghana’s elections in December.

Chief Kizito Obiora, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Traders in Ghana welcomed the signals coming from his government.

Speaking to Ubuntu Times from his Kumasi base, he said this response was the least he expected from his government. With a colorful analogy, he says: “no father will see that his children are being molested and he will just keep quiet. Any good father must surely take charge.”

Some anger simmers within Chief Kizito as he laments that the crackdown has revealed the “clear hatred of some Ghanaians”. He claims some Nigerian traders with the required documents are still being attacked and having their shops locked up.

A locked up shop belonging to a foreign trader in Accra — Some of the locked-up shops in Accra bear markers from task force enforcing the country’s laws. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

That said, he is aware of the need to enforce Ghana’s laws and is looking for some flexibility for the state.

“Our government has already advised us to be calm and continue to dialogue [with the Ghanaian government], which we have started,” Chief Kizito says.

That hope for leniency may have been quenched by a statement from the Ghana government responding to Nigeria’s earlier salvo.

A statement from Ghana’s Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah held that “there is widespread abuse and disregard for local laws and regulations governing retail trade by some foreigners, including Nigerians, which need to be addressed without discrimination.”

“It is important to note that the compliance exercise under reference is not restricted to either ECOWAS nationals or Nigerians for that matter, but extend to all individuals engaged in retail trade, including Ghanaians,” the statement added.

The discourse around the traders’ also brings to bear the larger concerns of the stereotyping Nigerians in Ghana as well as recent diplomatic embarrassment for Ghana.

Nigeria’s current concerns span beyond the handling of traders. The statement from its government also touched on what it called the “aggressive and incessant” deportation of Nigerians from Ghana, biased media reportage, and “harsh and openly-biased judicial trial and pronouncement of indiscriminately-long jail terms for convicted Nigerians.”

The Ghanaian government was also forced into a state of humility in June 2020 when armed men stormed the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana’s compound and destroyed buildings under construction.

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and other state officials were compelled to apologize over the incident. This incident also emboldened some Nigerian traders to protest against their treatment in Ghana.

Though Ghana has long had cordial relations with Nigeria, there have been past events that highlighted how fraught the bond between the two nations can be.

In 1969, then-Ghanaian Prime Minister, Kofi Busia, invoked the Aliens Compliance Order and deported an about 2.5 million undocumented African migrants. The majority were Nigerians.

In 1983, the “Ghana Must Go” period saw then-Nigeria President Shehu Shagari expel thousands of undocumented West African immigrants. About half of these were Ghanaians, who returned home with the iconic Ghana Must Go checkered bags.

The current Nigeria President, Muhammadu Buhari, also expelled some 7,000 Ghanaians when he was atop a military government from 1983 to 1985.

There is value in the larger context but it could also be considered as a distraction from what Dr. Antwi-Danso feels is a two-dimensional issue.

He describes some comments coming from Nigeria on the matter as “ignorant” and clouding a situation that is “purely economic and legal.”

“Those politicians in Nigeria making all these useless comments should rather dialogue. That is what we call diplomacy.”

Ghana and Nigeria have since proposed a committee to work towards regularizing the activities of Nigerian Traders in Ghana.

After deliberations between the leadership of both legislatures, they said they will “explore the possible passage of reciprocal legislation which could potentially be called the Ghana-Nigeria Friendship Act,” according to a statement from the two legislatures.

It shall propose a Ghana-Nigeria Business Council to provide a legal framework that hopes to be mutually beneficial to both countries.

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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Ghana’s Former President Jerry Rawlings Dies At 73

I have nothing good to say about Jerry John Rawlings. He never showed any remorse for the abuses and killings carried out on his watch, or for failing to root out the corruption he claimed was justification for said abuses and killings.

— Soraya 🇬🇭 (@SorayaSpeaks) November 12, 2020

Nigeria President Buhari Turns Blind Eye To Shooting Of Unarmed EndSARS Protestors In National Address

Unrest Following Black Tuesday

Wounds Remain Fresh For Ghana’s Victims Of Atrocities In The Gambia

Ghana’s Main Opposition Party Sounds Alarm To International Community Ahead Of Elections

Perception May Be Trumping Reason As Tensions Build Around Nigerian Retailers In Ghana

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