 |
| Dr Kwesi Aning |
By George Nyavor
Calls for a major clampdown against the activities of
illegal miners have been shot down by a security expert, Dr Emmanuel Kwesi
Aning.
According to the Head of the Department of Research at
the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra,
those calling for the forceful attack on the activities of illegal mining
(galamsey) have failed to appreciate the magnitude of the current situation.
“What we are saying is galamsey is not; because galamsey
is artisanal illegal mining. Quite a bit of what we are seeing now has moved
beyond artisanal mining to actually involve some heavy equipment; even the
locally manufactured equipment being used have moved beyond artisanal mining.
“The hard school that says go in and wipe them out does
not seem to understand the sheer number of guns owned by these people, and we
are not talking about locally-made guns alone. We are talking about fairly
sophisticated weapons,” he said.
He was speaking on the current affairs programme, PM
Express, on the Joy News channel on Multi TV.
A media campaign against the destructive activities of
galamsey is gaining traction as pressure mounts on government to stop end the
problem
The activities of the small-scale miners have caused
severe pollution to the country’s fresh water bodies and destroyed arable
lands.
The Ghana Water Company has shut down some of its
treatment plants as key water sources have been heavily polluted with heavy
metals beyond acceptable levels for purification.
While some have called for an immediate frontal attack
against the miners polluting the water bodies and destroying vegetation, others
have suggested a more cautious approach in order to achieve lasting results.
Dr Aning backs the latter approach.
“We have allowed this [destruction by galamsey] to
happen over time because of how we have used intelligence; because of our
failure to apply the laws of this country.
“We just don’t need to clear these people out, we need a
conversation. A conversation that says ‘what is the extent of the problem? Who
are the core miners? ‘Who are the people who supply them with hard chemicals?
Who are supplying the guns the bullets, education, food, sex...all the
ancillary business that is around [galamsey]?’”, he told PM Express host, Nana
Ansah Kwao IV.
“I don’t think we should use violence to sweep these
matters under the carpet,” he adds.
He suggests that while the calculated approach to ending
illegal mining is being pursued, the government must make sure that mining at
known illegal mining sites ceases.
Source:myjoyonline.com
Editorial
GALAMSEY
We
fully agree with Dr. Kwesi Enin of the Kofi Annan Peace –Keeping Centre that
the problem of Galamsey cannot be shot to death by bullets.
The
problem has its social, economic and political dimensions and the approach to
eliminating it ought to be dialectical.
The
Insight also knows that the problem mining presents to Ghana would not go away
simply because Galamsey has been eradicated or minimized.
What
needs to be done is a cost-benefit analysis of mining in Ghana which will point
to the way forward.
In
our view, the Mining Act in its current form enables mining companies to
degrade the environment.
The
review of the mining law must be treated as an urgent matter if we are to
overcome the problems in the sector.
Local
News:
BA makes headway in national immunisation
By
Dennis Peprah
The
Brong-Ahafo Regional Directorate of Health Services in 2016 made significant
achievements in the national immunisation exercise.
The
region, according to the directorate achieved almost 100 percent success rates
in all the 13 diseases with polio, measles and tuberculosis recording the
highest figures.
However,
the directorate expressed concern about the intermittent shortage of vaccines
for yellow fever, which was a great impediment to the exercise.
Mr
Amofa Boateng, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Disease Control Officer, made this
known at an orientation meeting between the Directorate and the regional
chapter of the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health (GCNH) on immunisation in
Sunyani.
He
said lack of funding was a major setback that confronted the national
immunisation exercise every year saying that it was difficult to reach 38
Island communities in the region due to lack of funds to hire commercial boats.
Mr
Boateng who is the Regional Coordinator of the Expanded Programme on
Vaccination said most of the vehicles and motorbikes used for the exercise in
the various districts were grounded and needed urgent repairs and replacement.
Dr
Gabriel Gbiel Benarkuu, the National President of the GCNH, called for the
establishment of a national immunisation fund to support the exercise.
He was
worried that without the fund, it would be difficult for the country to
continue to undertake the immunisation as Gavi, the major funding partner would
pull out in 2022.
Dr
Benarkuu who is also the Chief Executive Officer of MIHOSO International,
observed that it required strong political will and commitment for the fund to
be established and rallied the support of the legislature.
He
said Gavi and its donor partners provided $36 million dollars annually for the
national immunisation exercise and their pulling out would be a great loss to
the nation.
Dr
Benarkuu called for effective partnership between the directorate and the
coalition as well as the major players in the health sector for intensified
community campaigns to increase demand for immunisation.
GNA
Finance Minister must resign – Minority
 |
| Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu |
By Miriam Hayford
The
Minority in Parliament is demanding the resignation of Finance Minister Ken
Ofori Atta over alleged conflict of interest.
The
opposition MPs claim a close associate of Mr. Ofori Atta was offered a deal to
buy more than 90 percent of the country’s $2.25 billion bond. The investor,
Trevor Tref-game is also the chairman of the Enterprise Group, a company
closely aligned to businesses belonging to the Finance Minister.
The
Minority accused Mr. Ofori Atta of conniving with his business partners to have
easy access to the bond, in a deal they described as not transparent. MP for
Bolgatanga Central and Member of the Minority’s Finance team Isaac Adongo
told Starr News the Minister has not been honest.
“Parliament
is the only institution that is mandated to check reckless activities such as
this with the Executive. Parliament should therefore be interested in this
transaction so that we can get to the bottom of this smelly deal. And to be
thinking about the fact that within three months we have already accumulated
three billion dollars and this are the kinds of fishy deals we are going to
experience over the next four years we must nip it in the bud and if Finance
the Minister is properly advised will resign his post and save the people of
Ghana the shame that he is bringing upon us,” the lawmaker stated.
But a
deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei Asare, dismissed the allegations, adding
that there is no conflict of interest and the minority is only throwing dust
into the eyes of the public.
She
added: “It was nothing done in secrecy and what the minority is
seeking to do is to throw dust in the eyes of the public. There is no conflict
of interest here and there are more important things to discuss. Ghana has been
doing business with these people for more than 10 years now”.
Source:StarrFMonline
Nothing untoward happened with gov't's $2bn
bond issue – Oppong-Nkrumah
 |
| Ken Ofori Atta, Minister of Finance |
By
Abubakar Ibrahim
Deputy
Information Minister Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah says "nothing untoward"
happened with the $2.25 billion bond issued by government to arrest
Ghana's suffocating debt burden.
Speaking
to Joy News, he said the issues raised by the minority in Parliament over
the bond are aimed at taking the shine away from the successes chalked by
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo within 100 days in power.
The
Minority at a news conference in Accra Tuesday called for a Parliamentary probe
into a local bond issued by government in March 2017.
Former
Deputy Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, who addressed the press
conference said the bond had only two investors taking part in it,
adding, it was “shrouded in secrecy to the extent that Ghanaian investors
were denied the opportunity to participate in the deal.”
Ato
Forson raised conflict of interest allegations against the Finance Minister
Ken Ofori Atta.
According
to him, Trevor G. Trefgarne, a director at Franklyn Templeton, the
institution that bought 95% of the bond is also a Director at Enterprise Group
Limited, a company Mr Ken Ofori-Atta is co-founder of.
He
claimed Trevor may have influenced the manner in which the bond was
issued.
Cassiel
Ato Forson, said the deal requires parliamentary inquiry and chided the
minister for putting himself in a conflict of interest position.
He
threatened to proceed to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative
Justice (CHRAJ) which is the "conflict of interest jurisdiction" if
the Parliamentary probe is not satisfactory.
However,
Joy News' checks revealed that contrary to claims by Ato Forson that Mr
Trefgarne was named as a Board of
Director in a December 31 2016 audited document by the
Franklyn Templeton Investment Funds, his name was no where to be found
in that document.
Reacting
to the claims by the NDC, Mr Oppong-Nkrumah said the allegations by the
minority are baseless and lack merit.
“Mr Forson
said they have reason to believe [that there was conflict of interest
situation], what reason?" he quizzed.
“If
you look at our debt profile in times past, as far back as 2016, the Franklin
Templeton, which is one of the organisations which took up the second bond
issued in March has been taking up government bonds," he explained.
Mr
Oppong-Nkrumah said the Templeton Investment Limited absorbed about "GH2
billion of Ghana’s debt prior to the recent transaction."
He
said the March bond issue was not done under any secrecy, but openly
announced and issued to which the Templeton organisation had a series of
engagement with the Central Bank, Finance Ministry, IMF, World Bank and their
local brokers.
"For
anybody to suggest that something untoward happened simply
because Trefgarne who is a shareholder in Enterprise also happens to be a
shareholder of one of Franklin Templeton's funds and was in no way associated
with this deal and proceed to say that just because that something untoward has
happened is a bit disappointing," he said.
He
said if the minority wants a bi-partisan parliamentary probe, they can go
ahead and make a case on the floor of parliament and they are also at liberty
to go to CHRAJ.
Source: Myjoyonline
Stop celebrating average performance – CPP
tells NPP
 |
| Professor Edmund Delle |
The
Convention People’s Party (CPP) has called on the ruling government to stop
celebrating its self-acclaimed 103 achievements within 100 days in power and
focus on a bigger picture.
“The
CPP rates the 100 days of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s
government as an average performance, Ghanaians voted for rapid change in
the social-economic-political sphere and not an average performance.”
Professor
Edmund N. Delle, the CPP Chairman, told newsmen in Accra last Monday that
Ghanaians needed to feel and see rapid economic transformation.
“The
ordinary Ghanaian is still faced with increment in transportation fare; spare
parts dealers are yet to reap the tax incentives mentioned in the 2017
Interbank exchange rate
He
said Ghana started the New Year with a rate of GH¢4.2077 to the dollar;
GH¢4.3741 to the euro; and GH¢5.1559 to the pound Sterling.
Now
the Ghana cedi is hovering around GHc4.2103 to the dollar; GH¢4.4755 to the
euro; and GH¢5.2732 to the pound sterling.
Prof.
Delle said those were the issues the government must confront, since any
turbulence on the financial market affected every local activity.
“The
January 7 inauguration day plagiarism debacle and the activities of the party’s
affiliate riotous groups, Invincible Forces and Delta Forces, put Ghana’s name
in the bad light in the international community. These are major issues
Ghana must purge itself of immediately.”
The
CPP leader also challenged the government to tell Ghanaians about the economic
cost of running a huge government of 110 ministers with their special
assistants.
He
said: “It is ironic that while the government is trying to reduce the number of
public sector employees, it is rather increasing the number of ministers and
functionaries who draw from the public purse.
Prof.
Delle observed that the sense of purpose and urgency which the CPP brought to
national development had essentially been missing since 1966: “It is time the
Ghanaian government restored it.”
“Our
people can wait no longer. The state has a binding commitment to use its power
to promote high rates of `economic growth and development, as well as ensuring
that the wealth thereof is shared equitably among Ghanaians – north and south,
east and west.
Reassert control
“We
must reassert control over our natural resources and national interest for the
sustainable and equitable development of our country. The state has a moral and
constitutional duty to promote equal opportunity and equitable rewards for all
Ghanaians, irrespective of age, gender, ethnic, religious, political or other
background.
“The
NPP Government must as a matter of urgency work together with all Ghanaians to
create a prosperous, just, safe, caring and united society, where there is
adequate food and shelter for all and there are ample opportunities for every
Ghanaian to develop their personal and social potential to its fullest.”
Prof.
Delle urged President Akufo-Addo to take charge of the government and party:
“The President has the political will and good intentions to govern the country
but must watch activities of both ministers of State and party leaders to
ensure that they all conform to his strict leadership style.”
The
CPP Chairman also tasked the leadership of the NPP “to stop behaving as a party
in opposition and start appreciating the task and the mandate Ghanaians have
entrusted to the party for the next four years”.
Responding
to questions, Prof. Delle explained that the CPP would continue to offer
constructive suggestions to the government, saying: “Most often it is the one
behind who sees that the path is not straight. As a party we will hold the
government to task, we will not sleep as an opposition party”.
He
said: “Whether we voted for the NPP or not, in accordance with our democratic
dispensation, NPP under President Akufo-Addo is in charge of the governance of
this country for the next four years. We must all play our active role to
ensure that Ghana succeeds.”
United front
Prof.
Delle, therefore, called for a united front to propel the country’s
development.
“We
must reduce the element of partisan politicking and focus on the national
picture and work together to build the nation,” he said.
Foreign
News:
INDIA
When black was no
bar: How Africans shaped India’s history
By Manimugdha
S Sharma
Behind
the high walls of a lost fortress in what is today south Delhi blossomed the
love story of Delhi’s first woman ruler and her Abyssinian general. Historians
are divided if it was love or just a strong bonding, but popular literature has
forever paired Razia Sultan with Jamal-ud-din Yaqut. Yet it was this love or
bonding that doomed both. The powerful Turkic nobles in Razia’s court loathed
the meteoric rise of Yakut from being a slave to becoming Amir ul
Umara(premier noble). We don’t know if he was hated for the colour of his skin,
but the Turks did pejoratively refer to him as the “habshi” (someone
from Al Habsh or Abyssinia, the modern-day Ethiopia) and considered him
inferior to them. That bias has continued in Indian society and manifested
itself in racial attacks in our times. But now, an exhibition aims to
rediscover the role of Africans in India and
bust centuries-old myths.
The
exhibition is aptly called ‘Africans in India: A Rediscovery’. It’s been put
together by the Schomburg Center of the New York Public Library and has been on
at the IGNCA. It retraces the extraordinary achievements of Africans in India
since the 1300s. Considering the recent spate of racial attacks on Africans in
the capital, this exhibition seems very well-timed; but more than that, it
offers a rare glimpse into the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Indian society
that drew as a magnet people from across the globe, slaves and scholars alike.
“It’s
a mere co-incidence that our exhibition has started off at a time when the
media is abuzz with stories of racial attacks on Africans in Delhi. But we do
hope because of it, people will understand that Indians and Africans have
co-existed since time immemorial,” said Dipali Khanna, member secretary of
IGNCA.
One
of the many exhibits is a Mughal painting depicting a group of people sharing a
light moment. Two of them are Africans. This painting hints at a more
open-minded Indian society in the mediaeval period. “It amazes us to this day
how Indian society was so remarkably open in the past. It didn’t distinguish
between whites and blacks.
The
idea behind our exhibition was to showcase this multi-coloured picture of India
and the contribution the Africans made towards completing it. We chose the
title because the Indian masses today do not know much about the Afro-Indian
community. Through these stories people would know that Africans did not come
to India yesterday and will get an insight into the rich history of the
Afro-Indians,” said Dr Sylviane A Diouf, one of the curators of the exhibition.
The
journey of Africans to India was itself fascinating: captured by Arab slave
traders, they were packed into hell ships that came to India via the Indian
Ocean and its surrounding seas. They were bought by kings, princes, rich
merchants and aristocrats and were referred to as habshis or sides. But not all
remained slaves. Some like Yakut did make their own destiny. But while Yakut’s
was perhaps a story that didn’t end too well, others set examples worth
emulating.
Take
Malik Kafur for instance. This transgender slave was bought by Sultan Alauddin
Khilji’s general Nusrat Khan for a thousand dinars. Kafur caught the fancy of
the sultan and rose through the ranks, becoming his deputy and entering the
history books as Nawab Hazar Dinari. In his last days, an enfeebled Khilji was
at the mercy of Kafur who effectively ruled Delhi and also played kingmaker
after the sultan’s death.
Elsewhere
in the Deccan, Africans were making an impact on the political landscape. The
splinter states of the Bahmani kingdom resisted the expansion of the Mughal
Empire to the south. One of the architects of this resistance was Malik Ambar,
the prime minister and general of Ahmadnagar state who was an African. Ambar is
believed to be the father of guerrilla warfare in India since he used his
Maratha cavalry to harass the Mughals with great effect. This had enraged
Emperor Jahangir so much that he never missed an opportunity to heap his
vitriol on Ambar. The exhibition has a painting showing Jahangir firing arrows
at the severed head of Ambar—an unfulfilled dream of the emperor realized only
on canvas.
The
Bijapur state had a clique of habshi nobles led by Ikhlas Khan, a
powerful general. The fact that he got the title ‘Khan ‘ (reserved
only for people of high birth at that time) itself speaks volumes for the glass
ceiling he and others of his ilk broke.
Some
Africans also managed to set up independent kingdoms, like the Siddis of
Janjira. The Siddis commanded Mughal navies and were respected by both Marathas
and the European powers. The Janjira state and its successor state of Sachin
survived until Independence.
“India
has been a long time meritocracy. Whatever your background, you could move up
the ranks. Nowhere else in the world have Africans been able to rule outside
Africa except India,” said Dr Kenneth X Robins, the other curator.
Despite
so many stories, so many layers and sub-layers of African contribution to
India, Indians don’t seem to know much about it. “Well even DU students of
African studies said they didn’t know so much about the African contribution
until they came here. So you can imagine how much the common man knows. What we
Indians basically need to do is revisit the past. The past will open our eyes
to our present and future, and maybe we will find our famed tolerance and
open-mindedness that we left behind somewhere back in time,” said an IGNCA
official.
Source:
Times of India||
No comments:
Post a Comment