SOLDIERS ON RAMPAGE Beat Miners and Destroy Machines

Licensed small scale miners brutalised by unknown soldiers

By Duke Nii Amartey Tagoe

A combined team of some unknown soldiers and policemen numbering 400 have raided a mining community at Wiawso and Gwira Tumentu in the Western Region and committed some despicable atrocities.

The brutalities took place on Thursday 17^th December 2015 when Nana Amponsah, owner and manager of Okobeng Mining Company Limited and who claims to have the full backing of the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, attempted to drive out the small scale miners from a prospecting licensed concession belonging to West Star Mining Company Limited.

West Star Mining Company Limited had entered into an agreement with the miners and granted them a small scale gold concession under some terms and conditions.

Miners demand justice and protection from the state

Whilst many of the licensed small scale miners was beaten, large quantities of gold and money was extorted and fuel reserves running into millions of Ghana cedis were impounded and taken away.

According to statistics provided by the Prestea/Huni-Valley Branch of the Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners, “the operations of the licensed small scale miners on the concession have reduced the unemployment rate in Prestea and its environs drastically”.

Two of the affected miners, Mustapha Nuhu and Isaac Thompson, are licensed with the Ghana Minerals Commission and have consistently filed their Small Scale Mining License Monthly Returns Form to the commission.

A Changfa generator of a miner burnt by the soldiers

The form legitimizes the operations of the small scale miner by providing information to the Minerals Commission about the quantity of gold produced in a month, the type of equipment used in operation, the reclamation method adopted by the miner and the number of labourers employed.

In what appears to confirm the criminality of this raid the Municipal Chief Executive of the Nzema East Municipal Assembly, the District Chief Executive of the Nzema East Municipal Assembly, the District Chief Executive of the Prestea Huni Valley District and the Western Regional Police Commander say they are unaware and did not authorize the raid.

Ghana's gold belongs to us says these protesting miners

In a petition to the Chief of Staff at the Presidency, the National Security Coordinator and the Inspector General of Police, the traumatized miners are calling for a thorough investigation into what they describe as a “cruel act”.

The licensed small scale miners say they are operating legally with the full permission of the Ghana Minerals Commission and are therefore calling on the authorities of the state to ensure that the perpetrators of this dastardly act are made to compensate them.

Meanwhile, a copy of a report on reconnaissance conducted by the 2^nd Infantry Battalion of the Ghana Armed signed by Lieutenant Colonel J.K Kumado in the possession of this reporter has identified a“Nana Amponsah as one of three individuals spear heading illegal mining activities in the area”.

The report recommends that “a team of Military and Policemen be authorized to conduct cordon and search operations to arrest the indicted persons and clear all illegal mining activities” from the area.

Editorial

Onsy and Legacy

Onsy Kwame Nkrumah, the self –proclaimed son of Ghana’s first president is having a hard time establishing his bona fides.

Not many people have bought into his strange story of a presidential secret birth and his reluctance to submit to DNA testing is not helping.

His attempt to become the presidential candidate of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) only compounds the problem.

The question is, why is he coupling his claim to be the son of Nkrumah with his ambition to become President?

Who told Onsy that the Presidency of Ghana is reserved for those who claim to be children of Nkrumah?

Nkrumah’s ideas belong to a political and ideological category and not a biological category. 

The Onsys,  Samias and Co will have to realize that Nkrumah may  be their biological father, but politically, he has many many sons and daughters all over the world.

PUNISH FRAUDSTERS: On Social Media and in Cyber Space

Mike Ocquaye, Jnr.

By Ekow Mensah

There appears to be a general agreement on how to deal with social media practitioners who are peddling falsehood and are engaged in mischievous enterprises aimed at scoring cheap political goals.

Leaders of all political persuasions are insisting that the national security apparatus should find those spreading false news on social media and ensure that they are adequately punished.

The call for investigation and punishment of the fraudsters has intensified following the publication of a false statement from the Flagstaff Housing announcing a cabinet reshuffle.

Mr Mike Ocquaye,Jnr a member of the Communications Team of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is one of the latest voices calling for action to end the publication of injurious falsehood.

He told the Radio Gold’s morning show that the NPP does not and will not condone the publication of falsehood either in the regular or social media.

He said NPPs communicators are enjoined to cross check all information they pick up before posting them on social media network.

Mr Ocquaye supported calls for the investigation of all cases of the publication of deliberate falsehood by social media practitioners and their punishment.

Last year, there were several incidents of the publication of deliberate falsehood on the social media.

In one instance, President John Dramani Mahama was photo shopped and made to appear that he was engaged in an indecent act with a woman.

The President was also reported by some social media practitioners to have had heated and insulting verbal exchanges with General Olusejo Obasanjo, the former President of Nigeria.

Nana Addo  Dankwa Akufo- Addo, the Presidential candidate of the NPP has also had his  fair share of falsehood published  about him.

He was alleged to have resigned as the Presidential candidate of the party in a post on social media.

Kwabena  Agyapong, the General  Secretary of the party was also reported to have resigned in a false publication.

Even non-political actors have been vilified by such publications which are sometimes reproduced in the regular media.

Editorial

Be Alert To Misuse Of Social Media

Technological advances have enabled the speedy transmission of news and information enabling decisions to be made in time and based on facts.

There is, however a negative side to the phenomena as it also provides a minefield for mischief makers to cause disruption.

Law enforcement agencies around the world have been alarmed at how terrorist groups have become adept at using the Internet to recruit unsuspecting young people to their cause.

Recently totally false information about a cabinet reshuffle in the country was taken up by even reputable news organisations and caused unnecessary confusion and consternation in some circles.

The extent to which the false information succeeded in deceiving most people provides a pointer to how much damage can be done if social media is used by more skillful people to achieve unpalatable ends.

With almost every mobile phone effectively a news casting and receiving station, it will be hard if not impossible to prevent false material from being put on many of the various channels.

What can be and should be done however is for those in positions of responsibility to be extremely alert and guard against being made into tools of false and dangerous information.

Especially, as we move towards  general elections, the temptation for some to create confusion and disturb the peace is bound to be high but so should the level of alertness also be high.

NDC AND NPP: WHICH ONE OF THEM IS TELLING THE TRUTH?

President John Dramani Mahama, Leader of the NDC

By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor

No one can fight the truth and hope to succeed. Like the cork submerged in water, the truth will rise to the surface to stun the one submerging it.

We know that the NPP and NDC have never seen eye-to-eye on issues regarding the handling of national affairs, not to talk about what happens at the lower levels. Wherever the NPP goes, the NDC avoids or seeks to encroach on with a counter-balancing presence; wherever the NDC goes, the NPP runs away from or condemns if it cannot outdo.

In our contemporary Ghanaian situation both the NPP and the NDC come across as two sides of one coin, each representing whatever it is and hoping to sway Ghanaians to see and accept it as the be-it-all-and-end-it-all for the Ghanaian case of under-development and exercises in democracy.

Since the inception of the 4th Republic, much blood has been lost in this useless fight for prominence. Nothing done by the NDC pleases the NPP and vice versa. It is all a matter of fault-finding; no praise anywhere.

It all began in  the hustings at the end of the Rawlings era when Kufuor led the NPP pack to condemn Rawlings as doing nothing to improve living conditions despite his "asphalt projects", beginning from Kumasi (at the insistence of his wife, Nana Konadu). Thus, for Election 2000, the NPP's slogan was framed around the idea that if the people cannot get food to eat, they will have no value for asphalt roads. That was why the slogan ("Whie wo asetenam mo na tu aba pa") emerged. But even then, Kufuor had to depend on the support of the mushroom parties to sail through.

In power, Kufuor did his best, given the circumstances within which he operated. Ever since he left the scene, nothing has worked well for the NPP. Why so? It is not his making but that of those who think that they are bigger than the NPP. And they have given President Mahama the edge. Can they devalue that edge? No!!

Nana Akufo Addo, NPP Flagbearer

Under President Mahama, the NPP has gone the full distance to condemn everything coming from the official stables. Be it the management of the economy, just anything, the NPP hasn't seen anything good coming from President Mahama. And that cloudy mindset has guided everything thereby.

It is, therefore, strange to see something to the contrary. The NPP's Minority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, is saying that enough evidence exists to show that the Mahama-led administration has chalked successes in nation-building that should be acknowledged and praised as such.

Is this the crucial moment of epiphany that the NPP people need to help them refine their politics so they can connect better with Ghanaians and polish their political machinery for Election 2016?

Certainly, it is absurd to paint the government black with a wide brush and refuse to acknowledge its positive accomplishments despite the challenges facing it. Only the truth can set one free. Any talk of corruption is misplaced because corruption in Ghana is endemic, not restricted to government circles alone.

The truth may hurt, but it can also heal and salve conscience(s). Thanks, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, for this acknowledgement to set the parameters for politicking by the NPP under Akufo-Addo. Wherein, then, lies the unpopular tag of "incompetence" for President Mahama, especially when these projects are solving pertinent existential problems of the people?

Rome was not built in one day; and only politically mischievous characters will expect President Mahama to solve Ghana's "accumulated problems" in one day. Of course, the good news is that the wool is quickly falling off from the eyes of the malicious critics for them to see things clearly.

Only then will they know that their own dwindling political fortunes aren't the making of political opponents, but themselves---for failing to accept reality. And more of that reality awaits them. Accepting it should help them re-engineer themselves for a better cause.

The train is fast leaving them behind. Unfortunately for them, the light that they see at the end of the tunnel is that of a speeding train reaching them and aimed to destroy them. Will they be smart enough to avoid being crushed? Over to them!!

Kyei Mensah Bonsu

As Jesus put it, only the truth saves. And translated into our Ghanaian political situation, that truth is that President Mahama is leading his administration to do its best, given the circumstances in which it has found itself. It cannot do otherwise, short of over-speeding and perishing in flight.

Those condemning it at will for political expediency don't know what is at stake and should hasten slowly, biding their time with good politicking to win the hearts of the electorate and try their luck. It is not as easy as they may imagine, though.

Politics is not a do-or-die affair, but a matter of judicious use of opportunities to remain in reckoning. It takes the politically astute to survive. Those on the periphery, making ugly noise in condemnation should wonder why it is not they who are in power, but those they wish dead that are preferred by the electorate.

It is a game to be played by its own rules, not by personal wishes, regrets,  expectations, or wishful thinking by those defeated at the polls.

And once those in power using the resources of the country to give the citizens what they can use, they will be favoured. That's the thrust of Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu's message, which I hope his own NPP people have heard and will be conditioned to adjust to. And for their own good, they had better do so.

Continuously condemning President Mahama as the cause of woes in Ghana won't fetch any political capital for the NPP. It is politically weird. What the NPP can do better is the message that the electorate are yearning to hear from Akufo-Addo, even if they still continue to doubt his integrity. At least, they know what prevented him from winning Elections 2008 and 2012. What more?

The challenge that Osei Mensah Kyei Bonsu poses here is that Akufo-Addo should come out with measures that he will implement to outdo the incumbent Mahama-led administration. Not until he does so, nothing from him will "touch base" with the voters; and he can go to blazes in consequence.

Finally, we may stick our necks out to say that Akufo-Addo should be asking himself what value he has added to the NPP ever since been chosen as its flag bearer. Nothing but division and useless militancy. If we turn to happenings involving the NPP under Akufo-Addo, we will quickly conclude that he is more of a liability than an asset. The police have already moved to deal with some elements of the "Invisible Forces" that he has established in the NPP to fight his case against internal voices. Woe betide him.

Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu is sounding a clarion call to his own NPP fraternity to shape up or be shipped out of Ghanaian politics for long. Who will listen to him?

I shall return…

·         E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com

·         Join me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor to continue the conversation.

Editorial

Falsehood Galore!

Everybody is at the mercy of fraudsters who are apparently spending huge resources to poison the political atmosphere in the hope that their political parties can take advantage.

Everyday new concoctions are posted on social media to the embarrassment of decent citizens.

Sometimes the victims are leading members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) but on other occasions decent and ordinary members of society have also had that reputations completely destroyed.

The Insight is getting increasing worried about this development and joins the public chorus for finding out who these fraudsters are and dealing with them according to law.

Nobody should be allowed to hide in cyberspace to do irreparable damage to our society and its institutions for whatever reason.

The falsehoods distort reality and make it impossible to arrive at rational conclusions about the national situation.

Action is needed now. 

NKRUMAHS FIGHT OVER CPP AND…

Dr Onsy Kwame Nkrumah

By Ekow Mensah

The language of Samia Yaba Nkrumah, a lady aspiring to be the presidential Candidate of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) is very strong.

She says that Dr Onsy Kwame Nkrumah, who claims to be her brother is nothing more than a “fraudster” who has been infiltrated into the Convention Peoples Party to destroy it.

Onsy also counters this with equally strong words describing Samia as a dictator and a bully who will destroy the CPP if she is elected as the party’s presidential candidate.

These bitter words of war spring from what these two politicians claim to be their strong points in their efforts to become President of Ghana.

They think that the biological connection to Nkrumah is so important  in capturing the leadership of the Convention Peoples Party and eventually the Presidency of Ghana.

What they forget is that Nkrumah is not just a biological category, but has ideological and political parts which are far more important in the political arena.

What is more Nkrumah himself was vigorously opposed to any dynastic considerations in national politics.

Ms Samia Nkrumah

The CPP has an uphill fast task to perform in this year’s election. It has to move from below 1 percent to 50 per cent plus one to capture political power.

This task cannot be accomplished simply because the presidential candidate of the party claims to be the son or daughter of the founder of the party.

The task is made easier by a leader who is capable of uniting the party around the core principles of Pan Africanism, socialism and peace.

The leader of the party ought to be one who understands the Ghanaian social and cultural context and is able to effectively communicate with the people.

And it cannot matter whether the leader is Nkrumah’s daughter, son, nephew, uncle or school mate.

 Unfortunately, both Samia and Onsy believes that blood relations with Nkrumah is key in the attempt to revive the fortunes of the CPP.

 This is absolutely pedestrian.

 

Editorial

FAKE STATEMENTS AND LETTERS

What happened last Thursday was most shameful and it could have serious consequences’ for the development of a society in which free expression is upheld.

Some strange person or persons put out a fabricated official statement announcing a major cabinet reshuffle.

Our telephones got busy with all kinds of people calling to find out if indeed the reshuffle was true and what the purpose may be.

The announcement was so strange that we could not believe what had been put out.

How on earth would the President replace Madam Hannah Tetteh with Ekow Spio Gabrah as Foreign Minister and what would have prompted the dismissal of both Ben Kumbour and Haruna Iddrissu?

The purpose of that strange announcement was most certainly mischief and it is important to point out that it has happened on many other occasions.

There was the case of the fabrication of Nana  Akufo Addo’s letter  of resignation as the Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party and the resignation of Kwabena Agyapong as General Secretary of the same party.

In one instance the President was photo shopped in a most unpleasant manner.

If these fabrications continue it will become very difficult to tell the truth from falsehood and it can undermine even the credibility of the regular media.

Something must happen real fast to end this spate of fabrications.