According to their many critics, to understand the scale of the failure of those responsible for telling the remarkable narrative, that is the sum total, of the many positive achievements of an embattled regime, left a terrible legacy, which amounted to a poisoned chalice, one must list the many red flags raised by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) during the campaign for the December 2008 presidential election: and show how today many of them have failed to come to pass.
Apparently, those many NPP red flags, were meant to create a picture in the minds of ordinary Ghanaians, about the disaster that would befall them and their homeland Ghana, if it was led by a President Mills.
Ordinary Ghanaians were told for instance, that a President Mills would be a puppet of Flt. Lt. Rawlings - who would rule Ghana yet again, from behind the scenes at the Osu Castle, the seat of government. Yet, as we all know, today's incredible reality, is that it is rather Mr. Rawlings who is smarting at being sidelined - and is loudly and openly criticising the independent-minded President Mills: whiles he moves Ghana forward methodically despite inheriting a ruined economy.
Then there was the cruel story of a man who would be dead within three months of becoming president - the implication being that he should therefore not be voted for. As we have all seen, the gentleman who was said to be at death's door, is able to stand for more than two hours, at a stretch, answering questions from a mostly-hostile media. He has also on occasion, even walked up the full flight of stairs to the sixth floor of the surgical block of our major teaching hospital, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, and descended same - without being carried back to the Osu Castle on a stretcher in an ambulance.
Indeed, ordinary folk were also told by many of those who did not want Professor Mills to become president, that if elected, during his tenure, the culture of silence would creep back into our national life, and that so would the abuse of human rights (including the assault on freedom of expression, resulting from the harassment of individual journalists and sections of the media), which occurred under all the previous regimes that have been led by Flt. Lt. Rawlings. Well, as we all know, the reality today, is that the praise-singing media folk and media houses, showered regularly with zillions of taxpayers' cash in the past, are as active in their perfidy today, as they were when their NPP paymasters were busy gang-raping Mother Ghana so brutally.
Those complacent government PR geniuses, are also accused of failing to make the point (because they lack the nous!), that ordinary Ghanaians ought to compare today's many positive realities under the Mills administration, with the many falsehoods of yesteryear's pre-election fear-mongering, engaged in by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and those in the media whose conscience they bought: and ask themselves whether or not President Mills' vociferous critics are sincere and fair-minded individuals.
The government's PR team's critics also stress that those they refer to as the "many third-rate individuals in the Osu Castle and elsewhere", have failed woefully to make ordinary folk understand clearly that the NPP's Enkoyie propaganda of today, is the political equivalent of old wine in new bottles - and is a combination of rehashed and polished versions of those selfsame deliberate anti-Mills falsehoods, specifically designed to deceive voters last December: being deployed today for the same purpose in Decembee 2012.
The government's PR team, its critics further insist, are "over-pampered and "over-paid geniuses" who have failed completely, to make ordinary Ghanaians understand that the NPP's Enkoyie propaganda's purpose today,is to bring about the hoped-for outcome of yesteryear: to stop ordinary Ghanains from electing the most honest and selfless individual to lead Ghana, since Nkrumah's overthrow in February 1966, in the December 2012 presidential election. Who does not remember how from literally nowhere, by the end of their regime's much-tainted tenure Kufuor & Co. and the favoured members of their family clans, had emerged unto the list of that elite group of the wealthiest Africans on the continent - within eight short years? Which of those government PR geniuses is pointing out the cold and frightening fact that the NPP's presidential candidate has a much larger family clan, jam-packed with even more ruthless and infinitely smarter individuals than the greedy and selfish lot they aspire to emulate and succeed in 2012?
Those who call for the dismissal of the entire team of geniuses in charge of PR for the current regime, say that the most egregious of their failings, thus far, has been their inability to realise the importance of pointing it out to the detractors of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime, and ordinary Ghanaians that contrary to what was said by the NPP in 2008, far from ruling Ghana by proxy, today, Mrs. Rawlings more or less complains of being marginalised and sidelined by the Mills regime: and has consequently removed her well-fitting and expensive kid gloves: and is preparing to fight a no-holds-barred bare-knuckled fight for her political life.
It is also said to have escaped those selfsame government PR geniuses, that despite the NPP's pre-election scaremongering, the 31st December Women's Movement has not succeeded in leveraging the machinery of state, as happened under the different regimes led by Mr. Rawlings, and still remains the pale shadow of itself that it was under the NPP regime - and shod of its state life-support systems, is virtually moribund.
Then there is also their inability to capitalise on Mrs. Rawlings intention to challenge President Mills for the right to stand as the NDC's candidate for the December 2012 presidential election. The question that those who are calling for the dismissal of the entire government PR team, feel should be asked, is: Is Mrs. Rawings' intention to stand against President Mills, not empirical evidence that far from being an undemocratic party, and a political tool of Mrs. Rawlings and her husband, the NDC under President Mills, has evolved and matured into a normal and democratic political party - a broad church with competing interests? And that furthermore, the Mills administration welcomes her candidacy: as it will bring forth many good ideas from both campaign teams, during the forthcoming campaign to elect the NDC's presidential candidate - all of which will strengthen the government and make it possible for the NDC to defeat the NPP again in December 2012: and widen the margin of victory further in that crucial election.
Finally, those selfsame government PR geniuses are accused of failing to make ordinary Ghanaians understand what effect a huge budget deficit (such as that left behind by the borrow-and-spend-waa-waa-waa Kufuor regime!) has on any nation's economy: and the attendant erosion in living standards that re-balancing a nation's finances results in. Are the citizens of many wealthy nations tackling huge budget deficits, not seeing an erosion in their living standards, as inflation eats away at the incomes of those lucky to still have jobs? Is the plain truth not that if the NPP had retained power in December 2008, ordinary Ghanains would be in the same situation they are in today - if not actually worse off under that selfish and profligate lot, whose real goal is to lay their grasping hands on Ghana's oil and natural gas deposits: and divvy that up between themselves, their favourites amongst their family clans and their cronies, like Kufuor & Co started doing before they left office in January 2009?
For all the above, and many more failings (too numerous to list in a short article, dear reader!), those who call for the dismissal of Kokou Anyidoho and the entire information ministry ministerial team (and their sidekick, that master-of-the-dark-arts, Stan Dogbe!), say their lack of creative thinking has enabled the many hirelings of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the media, and the NPP's own many self-seekers-with-a-hidden--agenda, to run rings them around them, for the entire period of the little over two years, which President Mills has been in power, and that it is time they were assigned other duties. The question is, will the president heed the call to dismiss all of them? Those who wish him well, hope that he will have the courage to do so - and act quickly before it is too late. The NDC regime ought to find world-class talent to handle its PR. Period. A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
WESTERN REGIONAL CHIEFS OUGHT TO SET UP "WESTERN HOLDINGS LIMITED"
Recently, when I learnt that a number of Chiefs from Ghana's Western Region, had accompanied one of the two deputy energy ministers, Hon. F. K. Buah, to Trinidad and Tobago, it immediately occurred to me that someone ought to encourage them to set up a holding company ("Western Holdings Limited"), which would exchange land for projects, with stakes in the companies undertaking those projects. I do hope prominent individuals from the region, such as Samiah Nkrumah, the Awhoi brothers, Kabral Blay-Amihere and F. K. Buah himself, will encourage the region's Chiefs to do so.
It is a far better way to proceed, than the old-fashioned way of Chiefs merely "releasing land" for projects, and later going cap in hand to beg for social amenities from those selfsame entities. More importantly, it avoids the controversy of tribal leaders from one particular region in Ghana, asking for special treatment in the sharing of the national cake. It also enables them to take advantage of the local content law - to which they can point to any investor desirous of partnering Ghanaians.
If some of the dividend payments from the shares owned by Western Holdings were put into an educational fund, for example, to which those with the aptitude to study to tertiary level could apply for full- scholarships, surely, all academically-gifted children from poor families in the Western Region could realise their full potential?
One certainly hopes that rather than ask for special treatment because of the region's abundant oil and natural gas deposits, the Western Regional House of Chief's will consider abolishing the unproductive tradition of Chiefs being presented with drinks by investors seeking stool land, and substitute it with a new and financially-rewarding tradition, in which all such investors give "Western Holdings" a 10 percent shareholding in their projects.
Would employing a world-class management team to run "Western Holdings Limited", not help provide the Chiefs and people of the region with the wherewithal, to pay for the education of the region's brightest children? And if they invest in quality vocational training for the region's children who are not so gifted academically too, as well as provide them seed money to set up micro- enterprises, after their training, surely that will make them productive citizens contributing to Ghana's GDP - and help alleviate poverty in many communities in the region too? Traditional leaders of a resource-rich region must discard the prevalent initiative-killing and insidious begging-bowl mentality, which impoverishes so many communities up and down our country. A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
It is a far better way to proceed, than the old-fashioned way of Chiefs merely "releasing land" for projects, and later going cap in hand to beg for social amenities from those selfsame entities. More importantly, it avoids the controversy of tribal leaders from one particular region in Ghana, asking for special treatment in the sharing of the national cake. It also enables them to take advantage of the local content law - to which they can point to any investor desirous of partnering Ghanaians.
If some of the dividend payments from the shares owned by Western Holdings were put into an educational fund, for example, to which those with the aptitude to study to tertiary level could apply for full- scholarships, surely, all academically-gifted children from poor families in the Western Region could realise their full potential?
One certainly hopes that rather than ask for special treatment because of the region's abundant oil and natural gas deposits, the Western Regional House of Chief's will consider abolishing the unproductive tradition of Chiefs being presented with drinks by investors seeking stool land, and substitute it with a new and financially-rewarding tradition, in which all such investors give "Western Holdings" a 10 percent shareholding in their projects.
Would employing a world-class management team to run "Western Holdings Limited", not help provide the Chiefs and people of the region with the wherewithal, to pay for the education of the region's brightest children? And if they invest in quality vocational training for the region's children who are not so gifted academically too, as well as provide them seed money to set up micro- enterprises, after their training, surely that will make them productive citizens contributing to Ghana's GDP - and help alleviate poverty in many communities in the region too? Traditional leaders of a resource-rich region must discard the prevalent initiative-killing and insidious begging-bowl mentality, which impoverishes so many communities up and down our country. A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Getting Brazil's Marcopolo Into Ghana To Assemble Buses!
Last year, a visiting Ghanaian delegation (led by the vice president, H.E. John Mahama) was told by executives of Marcopolo, the Brazilian bus builders, that if Ghana could place an order for a thousand buses, they would build an assembly plant here.
As this has been designated his administration's "action year", by President Mills, perhaps the question we ought to pose to the geniuses around him, who are supposed to advise the vice president, is: what exactly are they doing about that Marcopolo offer to assemble buses here?
Marcopolo builds pretty good buses. Some were brought into Ghana as far back as the early seventies by the late Mark Cofie - and in addition to one I often see when travelling between Koforidua and Bunso, I am also aware of at least one more from those days, which still ferries passengers along one of Accra's tro-tro routes.
For what it is worth, here is a little lateral thinking that might help them get Marcopolo into Ghana. They should encourage the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) to set up a wholly-owned bus company, to participate in the new rapid urban mass transport system (RUMTS).
Together with the banks funding participating companies in the new RUMTS, that wholly-owned GPRTU company ("GPRTU-Rapide" wouldn't be a bad name for it!), could form a consortium to guarantee the purchase of 100 buses for each of the ten regions of Ghana, over a period of say five to ten years.
In exchange for that, they could negotiate a stake in the assembly plant, which Marcopolo builds in Ghana, on the strength of the consortium's guarantees. Sources with direct knowledge of the thinking of key figures amongst the GPRTU's national leadership, say the organisation would go along with such an idea, if the vice president's office suggested it, and helped to bring it into fruition. (Then there is the whole of the West African sub-regional market to play for, once the assembly plant is up and running!)
Well, I do know that I am old and senile, but not even I can be said to be oblivious, of the fact that if they can pull it off, it would be a marvellous legacy for their man and the Mills administration as a whole. As a rather cynical acquaintance said to me, an added bonus, would be the regular provision of free buses to take voters working in the urban areas, but registered to vote in their home towns, to travel home to vote in elections.
Surely, such a prospect isn't to be sneezed at - and is a tad more positive a move, than urging party supporters to prepare to fight to the death: just so that super-wealthy politicians, born with golden spoons in their mouths, can come to power and enable members of their family clans send their personal net worth into the stratosphere, at Mother Ghana's expense (Kufuor & Co. style)? Even a semi-literate fool like me in his dotage can see the sense in that. I hope they do, too! A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
As this has been designated his administration's "action year", by President Mills, perhaps the question we ought to pose to the geniuses around him, who are supposed to advise the vice president, is: what exactly are they doing about that Marcopolo offer to assemble buses here?
Marcopolo builds pretty good buses. Some were brought into Ghana as far back as the early seventies by the late Mark Cofie - and in addition to one I often see when travelling between Koforidua and Bunso, I am also aware of at least one more from those days, which still ferries passengers along one of Accra's tro-tro routes.
For what it is worth, here is a little lateral thinking that might help them get Marcopolo into Ghana. They should encourage the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) to set up a wholly-owned bus company, to participate in the new rapid urban mass transport system (RUMTS).
Together with the banks funding participating companies in the new RUMTS, that wholly-owned GPRTU company ("GPRTU-Rapide" wouldn't be a bad name for it!), could form a consortium to guarantee the purchase of 100 buses for each of the ten regions of Ghana, over a period of say five to ten years.
In exchange for that, they could negotiate a stake in the assembly plant, which Marcopolo builds in Ghana, on the strength of the consortium's guarantees. Sources with direct knowledge of the thinking of key figures amongst the GPRTU's national leadership, say the organisation would go along with such an idea, if the vice president's office suggested it, and helped to bring it into fruition. (Then there is the whole of the West African sub-regional market to play for, once the assembly plant is up and running!)
Well, I do know that I am old and senile, but not even I can be said to be oblivious, of the fact that if they can pull it off, it would be a marvellous legacy for their man and the Mills administration as a whole. As a rather cynical acquaintance said to me, an added bonus, would be the regular provision of free buses to take voters working in the urban areas, but registered to vote in their home towns, to travel home to vote in elections.
Surely, such a prospect isn't to be sneezed at - and is a tad more positive a move, than urging party supporters to prepare to fight to the death: just so that super-wealthy politicians, born with golden spoons in their mouths, can come to power and enable members of their family clans send their personal net worth into the stratosphere, at Mother Ghana's expense (Kufuor & Co. style)? Even a semi-literate fool like me in his dotage can see the sense in that. I hope they do, too! A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
Friday, 18 February 2011
HOW PRESIDENT MILLS' ACTION YEAR MAY COME TO GRIEF!
President Mills, knowing full well how the herculean task of dealing with the huge deficit left behind by the profligate and fiscally irresponsible regime of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has retarded his administration's progress in bringing about the better Ghana he promised Ghanaians, designated this year, 2011, as the government of his National Democratic Congress' (NDC) "year of action".
I am publishing a series of letters that speak for themselves. They were all delivered to the designated ministers they are addressed to, between 2009 and 2011. Incredibly, not once did I receive a reply to any of those letters. But I do not blame any of the ministers concerned. Perhaps the replies to the letters may very well be in the post - as I was informed by a civil servant in room 29, at the local government and rural development ministry, when I went to follow up after my most recent missive to that ministry's political head, about two weeks or so ago. She very kindly showed me a filed copy of the said reply, as a matter of fact. I trust it will eventually be delivered by Ghana Post. But that is only one out of so many letters to officialdom I have written over the years - but none of which have been replied to. Extraordinary. No wonder we never seem to achieve our potential as a people.
There are two main reasons why I have chosen to publish a few of the many letters to various state entities over the years: to begin with, I hope that some of the more responsible sections of the media will take up the idea of letting ordinary people know about the development going on nationwide, in the various districts. It is the right of every Ghanaian to be kept abreast with the state of the nation at the grass-roots level, countrywide. I also believe that it helps preserve national cohesion. My second purpose, is to alert those at the presidency, whose job it is to ensure that government machinery works properly - so as to enable the government of the day achieve its set developmental agenda, in what is supposed to be this regime's "action year". They would be wise to be wary of the public servants they are relying on to help make a success of the president's "action year". I doubt if many of them wish this regime well, quite frankly - judging from my own interaction with some of them. Inaction on their part, seems largely to be a deliberate tactic, to help make the NPP's Enkoyie propaganda more successful! Please read on, dear reader:
30th September, 2009
The Deputy Minister
Ministry of Environment, Science, and Technology
Accra .
Dear Minister,
Re: High Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project Alternative Income-generation Training Courses for Community Affected by Illegal Logging and Surface Gold Mining without EPA Permit - Akim Abuakwa Juaso
We wish to change the land-use focus of our freehold high forest property at Akim Abuakwa Juaso, where we are farming cocoa organically - and preserve our private off-reserve land: by turning it into a nature resource reserve and eco-tourism destination.
Consequently, we are writing formally to seek your assistance, to enable cocoa farmers on our land (and others from the village, who have been affected by Sola Mining Limited’s surface gold mining operations, being carried out without a valid EPA mining permit), leverage the alternative income-generation training courses under the ministry of local government’s High Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project (HFBCP).
The window for the training courses closes this coming December, and if the minister for local government and rural development agrees to treat our application as an emergency case, all the cocoa farmers of Akim Abuakwa Juaso, who seek more sustainable alternative sources of income, than the rampant illegal logging and ruinous surface gold mining that goes on there, will be able to learn bee keeping, grasscutter-rearing, and snail-farming, under the HFBCP. We have attached a copy of our HFBCP application letter for your perusal.
We are sure that your interceding on our behalf with the minister for local government and rural development, will enable him to intervene immediately in the matter, and lead to him asking that our case be treated as an emergency one, which ought to be handled with dispatch - in view of the status of that section of the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest: which has been designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Hotspot.
We do hope that you will come to the aid once more, of those in Akim Abuakwa Juaso, who care deeply about the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest (both the reserve and off-reserve rain forest) - and want it preserved for future generations of Ghanaians. Thank you for your kindness to us on a previous occasion, once more, minister. We do hope that this intervention will also lead to a positive outcome.
Yours faithfully,
Kofi Thompson
Director
30th September. 2009
The Minister
Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development
Accra Dear Minister,
Re: High Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project Alternative Income-generation Training Courses for Community Affected by Illegal Logging and Surface Gold Mining without EPA Permit - Akim Abuakwa Juaso
We wish to change the land-use focus of our freehold high forest property at Akim Abuakwa Juaso, where we are farming cocoa organically - and preserve our private off-reserve land: by turning it into a nature resource reserve and eco-tourism destination.
Consequently, we are writing formally to seek your assistance, to enable cocoa farmers on our land (and others from the village, who have been affected by Sola Mining Limited’s surface gold mining operations, being carried out without a valid EPA mining permit), leverage the alternative income-generation training courses under the ministry of local government’s High Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project (HFBCP).
The window for the training courses apparently closes this coming December, and if you intervene on our behalf, in view of the status of that section of the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest: which has been designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Hotspot, and ask that our application be treated as an emergency case, all the cocoa farmers of Akim Abuakwa Juaso, who seek more sustainable alternative sources of income, than the rampant illegal logging and ruinous surface gold mining that goes on there, will be able to learn beekeeping, grasscutter-rearing, and snail-farming, under the HFBCP. We have attached a copy of our HFBCP application letter for your perusal.
We do hope that this missive to you, will lead to a positive outcome for the environmentally and socially responsible farmers of Akim Abuakwa Juaso, who are keen to benefit from the training courses under the HFBCP - and that all those in Akim Abuakwa Juaso who care deeply about the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest (both the reserve and off-reserve rain forest land), and want it preserved for future generations of Ghanaians, will be thus rewarded for being law-abiding and productive citizens of Ghana. Thank you in advance for your kindness, minister.
Yours faithfully,
Kofi Thompson
Director
21st January 2011
The Hon. Minister
Ministry of Information
Accra
Dear Minister,
RE: FEATURING WORK OF DISTRICT ASSEMBLIES IN THE NATIONAL REVIEW NEWSPAPER
We applied to the National Media Commission (NMC), for The National Review to be registered as a newspaper, on 15/11/2010. The paper's mission, is to foster the cohesion of our nation; protect the national interest; promote democracy and ensure the rights of all Ghanaians, at all material times - through ethical journalism.
A key aspect of the paper, is that it will feature the work of District Assemblies in its pages, on a regular basis. This is because it is our belief that it is the right of all Ghanaians, to be kept abreast of the state of the nation, in terms of the physical development of their country, such as the provision of infrastructure at the grass-roots level, nationwide.
This is crucial if national cohesion is to be maintained, Minister. We feel that the more responsible sections of the media ought to take this up. We want to set the example, and seek your assistance in that direction.
Consequently, we would be most grateful if you could link us up with all the District Assemblies, and facilitate their providing us with content for publication, on a weekly basis - for both the print and online editions of The National Review.
We hope to be out before the end of the first half of this year, all things being equal. We thank you in advance for your help, Minister - and per this letter, solicit your help in securing an interview with the new local government and rural development minister, Hon. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofu, at some point, going forward: so that he can share his vision for his new brief, with our readers, in the paper's regular interview features page.
Naturally, we understand that he can only grant an interview, when he is properly settled in his new portfolio. From time to time, we shall also approach you, to facilitate same with your other colleague ministers, to that end.
Happy New Year,
Minister. We do wish you and your deputies, every success in the year designated by the president, H.E. President Mills, as his administration's year of action.
Yours faithfully,
Kofi Thompson
(Managing Editor)
So there we are, dear reader, a few examples of the glacial pace at which government business is conducted in our homeland Ghana. The most perplexing of all, is the tardiness of the information ministry. You would think that a vital public relations organ of a regime with such a bad press (most of it unfair!), would be more proactive. Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo! But I digress.
At this rate, one wonders, for example, when Parliament will pass legislation, which will ensure that no spillage by any oil company operating off our shores, or inland, is left unpunished - and that all spillages are dealt with in exactly the same fashion that the Obama administration dealt with BP, after the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spillage.
We must never allow the apocalyptic scenes of the most egregious kind of environmental pollution, which we see in the Niger Delta, to occur here too. Why must we allow shareholders of oil companies in America and elsewhere to grow super-rich, whiles the oil companies they own, create a hell on earth for our coastal communities and other inland areas in the landmass of Ghana, where oil in commercial quantities may be discovered in future? The question is: Will our largely-complacent ruling elites act to put legislation in place to prevent that from being repeated here too by arrogant oil companies like Kosmos Oil? President Mills and his team, have their work cut out to ensure that his year of action is not derailed. The question is: Will he be tough with those public servants who do not want it to be a success? Those who wish him well, hope he will. A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0)2
7 745 3109.
I am publishing a series of letters that speak for themselves. They were all delivered to the designated ministers they are addressed to, between 2009 and 2011. Incredibly, not once did I receive a reply to any of those letters. But I do not blame any of the ministers concerned. Perhaps the replies to the letters may very well be in the post - as I was informed by a civil servant in room 29, at the local government and rural development ministry, when I went to follow up after my most recent missive to that ministry's political head, about two weeks or so ago. She very kindly showed me a filed copy of the said reply, as a matter of fact. I trust it will eventually be delivered by Ghana Post. But that is only one out of so many letters to officialdom I have written over the years - but none of which have been replied to. Extraordinary. No wonder we never seem to achieve our potential as a people.
There are two main reasons why I have chosen to publish a few of the many letters to various state entities over the years: to begin with, I hope that some of the more responsible sections of the media will take up the idea of letting ordinary people know about the development going on nationwide, in the various districts. It is the right of every Ghanaian to be kept abreast with the state of the nation at the grass-roots level, countrywide. I also believe that it helps preserve national cohesion. My second purpose, is to alert those at the presidency, whose job it is to ensure that government machinery works properly - so as to enable the government of the day achieve its set developmental agenda, in what is supposed to be this regime's "action year". They would be wise to be wary of the public servants they are relying on to help make a success of the president's "action year". I doubt if many of them wish this regime well, quite frankly - judging from my own interaction with some of them. Inaction on their part, seems largely to be a deliberate tactic, to help make the NPP's Enkoyie propaganda more successful! Please read on, dear reader:
30th September, 2009
The Deputy Minister
Ministry of Environment, Science, and Technology
Accra .
Dear Minister,
Re: High Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project Alternative Income-generation Training Courses for Community Affected by Illegal Logging and Surface Gold Mining without EPA Permit - Akim Abuakwa Juaso
We wish to change the land-use focus of our freehold high forest property at Akim Abuakwa Juaso, where we are farming cocoa organically - and preserve our private off-reserve land: by turning it into a nature resource reserve and eco-tourism destination.
Consequently, we are writing formally to seek your assistance, to enable cocoa farmers on our land (and others from the village, who have been affected by Sola Mining Limited’s surface gold mining operations, being carried out without a valid EPA mining permit), leverage the alternative income-generation training courses under the ministry of local government’s High Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project (HFBCP).
The window for the training courses closes this coming December, and if the minister for local government and rural development agrees to treat our application as an emergency case, all the cocoa farmers of Akim Abuakwa Juaso, who seek more sustainable alternative sources of income, than the rampant illegal logging and ruinous surface gold mining that goes on there, will be able to learn bee keeping, grasscutter-rearing, and snail-farming, under the HFBCP. We have attached a copy of our HFBCP application letter for your perusal.
We are sure that your interceding on our behalf with the minister for local government and rural development, will enable him to intervene immediately in the matter, and lead to him asking that our case be treated as an emergency one, which ought to be handled with dispatch - in view of the status of that section of the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest: which has been designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Hotspot.
We do hope that you will come to the aid once more, of those in Akim Abuakwa Juaso, who care deeply about the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest (both the reserve and off-reserve rain forest) - and want it preserved for future generations of Ghanaians. Thank you for your kindness to us on a previous occasion, once more, minister. We do hope that this intervention will also lead to a positive outcome.
Yours faithfully,
Kofi Thompson
Director
30th September. 2009
The Minister
Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development
Accra Dear Minister,
Re: High Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project Alternative Income-generation Training Courses for Community Affected by Illegal Logging and Surface Gold Mining without EPA Permit - Akim Abuakwa Juaso
We wish to change the land-use focus of our freehold high forest property at Akim Abuakwa Juaso, where we are farming cocoa organically - and preserve our private off-reserve land: by turning it into a nature resource reserve and eco-tourism destination.
Consequently, we are writing formally to seek your assistance, to enable cocoa farmers on our land (and others from the village, who have been affected by Sola Mining Limited’s surface gold mining operations, being carried out without a valid EPA mining permit), leverage the alternative income-generation training courses under the ministry of local government’s High Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project (HFBCP).
The window for the training courses apparently closes this coming December, and if you intervene on our behalf, in view of the status of that section of the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest: which has been designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Hotspot, and ask that our application be treated as an emergency case, all the cocoa farmers of Akim Abuakwa Juaso, who seek more sustainable alternative sources of income, than the rampant illegal logging and ruinous surface gold mining that goes on there, will be able to learn beekeeping, grasscutter-rearing, and snail-farming, under the HFBCP. We have attached a copy of our HFBCP application letter for your perusal.
We do hope that this missive to you, will lead to a positive outcome for the environmentally and socially responsible farmers of Akim Abuakwa Juaso, who are keen to benefit from the training courses under the HFBCP - and that all those in Akim Abuakwa Juaso who care deeply about the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest (both the reserve and off-reserve rain forest land), and want it preserved for future generations of Ghanaians, will be thus rewarded for being law-abiding and productive citizens of Ghana. Thank you in advance for your kindness, minister.
Yours faithfully,
Kofi Thompson
Director
21st January 2011
The Hon. Minister
Ministry of Information
Accra
Dear Minister,
RE: FEATURING WORK OF DISTRICT ASSEMBLIES IN THE NATIONAL REVIEW NEWSPAPER
We applied to the National Media Commission (NMC), for The National Review to be registered as a newspaper, on 15/11/2010. The paper's mission, is to foster the cohesion of our nation; protect the national interest; promote democracy and ensure the rights of all Ghanaians, at all material times - through ethical journalism.
A key aspect of the paper, is that it will feature the work of District Assemblies in its pages, on a regular basis. This is because it is our belief that it is the right of all Ghanaians, to be kept abreast of the state of the nation, in terms of the physical development of their country, such as the provision of infrastructure at the grass-roots level, nationwide.
This is crucial if national cohesion is to be maintained, Minister. We feel that the more responsible sections of the media ought to take this up. We want to set the example, and seek your assistance in that direction.
Consequently, we would be most grateful if you could link us up with all the District Assemblies, and facilitate their providing us with content for publication, on a weekly basis - for both the print and online editions of The National Review.
We hope to be out before the end of the first half of this year, all things being equal. We thank you in advance for your help, Minister - and per this letter, solicit your help in securing an interview with the new local government and rural development minister, Hon. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofu, at some point, going forward: so that he can share his vision for his new brief, with our readers, in the paper's regular interview features page.
Naturally, we understand that he can only grant an interview, when he is properly settled in his new portfolio. From time to time, we shall also approach you, to facilitate same with your other colleague ministers, to that end.
Happy New Year,
Minister. We do wish you and your deputies, every success in the year designated by the president, H.E. President Mills, as his administration's year of action.
Yours faithfully,
Kofi Thompson
(Managing Editor)
So there we are, dear reader, a few examples of the glacial pace at which government business is conducted in our homeland Ghana. The most perplexing of all, is the tardiness of the information ministry. You would think that a vital public relations organ of a regime with such a bad press (most of it unfair!), would be more proactive. Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo! But I digress.
At this rate, one wonders, for example, when Parliament will pass legislation, which will ensure that no spillage by any oil company operating off our shores, or inland, is left unpunished - and that all spillages are dealt with in exactly the same fashion that the Obama administration dealt with BP, after the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spillage.
We must never allow the apocalyptic scenes of the most egregious kind of environmental pollution, which we see in the Niger Delta, to occur here too. Why must we allow shareholders of oil companies in America and elsewhere to grow super-rich, whiles the oil companies they own, create a hell on earth for our coastal communities and other inland areas in the landmass of Ghana, where oil in commercial quantities may be discovered in future? The question is: Will our largely-complacent ruling elites act to put legislation in place to prevent that from being repeated here too by arrogant oil companies like Kosmos Oil? President Mills and his team, have their work cut out to ensure that his year of action is not derailed. The question is: Will he be tough with those public servants who do not want it to be a success? Those who wish him well, hope he will. A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0)2
7 745 3109.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
DAVID CAMERON'S MORAL BIG SOCIETY - HOW SINCERE IS HE?
There is no doubt whatsoever, that many Ghanaian nationalists were riled by the role played by the New Labour regime of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in the takeover of Ghana Telecom (GT), by Vodafone. And no patriotic Ghanaian, who reads all the documents made available by Vodafone, to the Ministerial Review Committee set up in May 2009, by the Mills regime, to look into that controversial deal (as I have just finished doing!), will fail to be angry about that shabby and disgraceful deal.
For such Ghanaians, the litmus test of David Cameron's sincerity about creating a "moral Big Society" in the UK, is how he will react to demands from Ghana that Vodafone be investigated and prosecuted by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
They point to the unlawful manner the divestiture of GT was carried out by the Kufour regime - in direct contravention of the Divestiture of State Interests Act (DSIA).
The Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), according to section two of the DSIA, is "the agency of the government for the implementation, of government policies in respect of divestiture programmes."
Yet, the DIC was sidelined by the Kufuor regime, in that deal - with some of the most crucial negotiations actually being carried out, personally, by President Kufuor (who on one occasion, was even apparently accompanied by, of all people, the British High Commissioner to Ghana: to negotiate for Nkrumah's Ghana!). How stupid the British government officials and the executives from Vodafone must have thought Ghanaians were - as Kufuor & Co. bent over backwards to please them!
On the local political front, such was the duplicity of the Kufuor regime, that although its leading members never ceased repeating their belief in the rule of law, they somehow managed to ignore the DSIA completely, in their haste to please Prime Minister Gordon Brown - whose determination to help Vodafone secure GT (even through strong-arm tactics - if deemed necessary) guaranteed precisely that outcome for the UK telecom giant.
It was for that reason that British officials in London and Accra, worked closely with President Kufuor, to secure the deal for Vodafone - although the deal was not in the long-term strategic interest of the Ghanaian nation-state. Today, at a time of austerity in both Ghana and the UK, and in an era when even Arabian oil sheiks know that excess is foolish, Vodafone Ghana, has spent vast sums acquiring a plush new headquarters building - to add insult to injury. Yet, Vodafone Ghana's over-paid and over-pampered British executives would never dare do so in the UK - especially at a time when its shareholders see the British economy in dire straights: as the Coalition government struggles to re-balance Britain's public finances.
If David Cameron is sincere in his crusade to create a moral Big Society in Britain, he must ensure that British companies are always guided by corporate good governance principles when they invest or operate in Africa. If their actions encourage corruption, and if they engage in any illegalities in Africa, they must be made to face the music back home in the UK.
To encourage the principle of corporate good governance amongst British companies operating in Africa, David Cameron must ensure that rather than being shelved, the UK Anti-Bribery Act comes into force as scheduled, in April 2011. Hopefully, he will then get the SFO to investigate Vodafone's takeover of GT - and have them prosecuted for any complicity in that crime against the Ghanaian people and their nation. That will be proof positive that he is sincere about creating a "moral Big Society" - and leaving that as a lasting legacy. The question is, will he do so: and is he sincere when he talks about the "moral Big Society"?
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana, that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
For such Ghanaians, the litmus test of David Cameron's sincerity about creating a "moral Big Society" in the UK, is how he will react to demands from Ghana that Vodafone be investigated and prosecuted by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
They point to the unlawful manner the divestiture of GT was carried out by the Kufour regime - in direct contravention of the Divestiture of State Interests Act (DSIA).
The Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), according to section two of the DSIA, is "the agency of the government for the implementation, of government policies in respect of divestiture programmes."
Yet, the DIC was sidelined by the Kufuor regime, in that deal - with some of the most crucial negotiations actually being carried out, personally, by President Kufuor (who on one occasion, was even apparently accompanied by, of all people, the British High Commissioner to Ghana: to negotiate for Nkrumah's Ghana!). How stupid the British government officials and the executives from Vodafone must have thought Ghanaians were - as Kufuor & Co. bent over backwards to please them!
On the local political front, such was the duplicity of the Kufuor regime, that although its leading members never ceased repeating their belief in the rule of law, they somehow managed to ignore the DSIA completely, in their haste to please Prime Minister Gordon Brown - whose determination to help Vodafone secure GT (even through strong-arm tactics - if deemed necessary) guaranteed precisely that outcome for the UK telecom giant.
It was for that reason that British officials in London and Accra, worked closely with President Kufuor, to secure the deal for Vodafone - although the deal was not in the long-term strategic interest of the Ghanaian nation-state. Today, at a time of austerity in both Ghana and the UK, and in an era when even Arabian oil sheiks know that excess is foolish, Vodafone Ghana, has spent vast sums acquiring a plush new headquarters building - to add insult to injury. Yet, Vodafone Ghana's over-paid and over-pampered British executives would never dare do so in the UK - especially at a time when its shareholders see the British economy in dire straights: as the Coalition government struggles to re-balance Britain's public finances.
If David Cameron is sincere in his crusade to create a moral Big Society in Britain, he must ensure that British companies are always guided by corporate good governance principles when they invest or operate in Africa. If their actions encourage corruption, and if they engage in any illegalities in Africa, they must be made to face the music back home in the UK.
To encourage the principle of corporate good governance amongst British companies operating in Africa, David Cameron must ensure that rather than being shelved, the UK Anti-Bribery Act comes into force as scheduled, in April 2011. Hopefully, he will then get the SFO to investigate Vodafone's takeover of GT - and have them prosecuted for any complicity in that crime against the Ghanaian people and their nation. That will be proof positive that he is sincere about creating a "moral Big Society" - and leaving that as a lasting legacy. The question is, will he do so: and is he sincere when he talks about the "moral Big Society"?
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana, that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
EMAIL TO A FRIEND (RE: JUDGEMENT DAY FOR GHANA'S RULING ELITES NEARER THAN THEY THINK!)
My dear Yaw,
Yes, let's keep our fingers crossed. I am still working on the funding. Massa, my goal, when deciding to publish "The National Review," was to hold our ruling elites, particularly members of our political class (and the senior public servants who advise them!), accountable to the people of Ghana - by constantly questioning them.
Take the spillage of toxic material into the Atlantic Ocean by Kosmos Oil, for instance. What exactly is officialdom doing to ensure that when the next spillage occurs, there will be unambiguous legislation in place, that will enable our nation exact a level of financial compensation, on the scale of that which the Obama administration forced BP to pay into an escrow account, in the early stages of the Gulf of Mexico oil spillage disaster ?
Part of today's economic difficulties, stem from the pile of debt left behind, as a result of the reckless borrowing that the Kufuor administration engaged in during its tenure. Which media house has pointed out to the present government, for example, the danger of obtaining loans from the financial markets of the West - particularly when a case can be made to the Chinese to treat the funding of infrastructure projects in Ghana, as being in China's long-term strategic interest in Africa?
If China were to do so, when they are criticised for exploiting Africa and not putting anything positive back in return (for the raw materials it is hovering up out of the continent), could they not point to their funding, in Ghana and elsewhere, of various infrastructure projects?
Rather than resorting to commercial loans, should we not leverage the bond of friendship existing between Ghana and China, dating back to the Nkrumah regime's period in office, to get concessionary Chinese state funding to construct: roads; well-designed and well-built affordable public housing nationwide; railways (to all the regional capitals!); airports (again in all regional capitals!); cocoa processing plants (in sufficient numbers to create tens of thousands of jobs, and also make it possible to flood the entire continent with dark Ghanaian chocolate and other cocoa products!); oil
refineries (in numbers sufficient to make Ghana Africa's refining capital!); fund the merger of the GNPC, GOIL and some of the refineries that will be built, to create an oil giant, to refine and market petroleum products in petrol filling stations across Africa: using GOIL as the vehicle; etc. etc.?
The tragedy of our nation, is that we are lumbered with ruling elites full of the intellectual equivalent of pygmies - who lack vision on account of their inability to see far ahead into the future. Are you surprised that instead of engaging in a battle of ideas, our two major parties talk endlessly about which of them is more violent in nature - and is scheming to steal the December 2012 elections: through the use of violence?
Which of them have you heard outlining a detailed plan for the transformation of our society (outside of election campaign periods), and debating aspects of it with a political opponent, for the benefit of the public, I ask? In the 21st century, how can any civilised African fight for political power, and think of using violent means for achieving that purpose? Why do such politicians not rather urge their supporters to out-think their opponents - and come up with foolproof methods of preventing poll rigging: such as using the video and camera " applications" of mobile phones to record the voting process in polling stations nationwide?
Massa, don't be surprised if you woke up one morning, to hear that young people in Ghana were leading "people power" demonstrations nationwide, calling for the abolishing of the 4th Republic and its corrupt system - and its replacement by a 5th Republic with a new constitution that underpins a new system that is equitable and all-embracing.
They are fed up with a situation akin to a world of gangsters, in which a set of rules (the 1992 constitution), drawn up by one set of gangsters, and designed to protect the most powerful of their group, is then exploited to the hilt by their opponents, who succeeded them in office from January 2001 to January 2009, to enable them protect themselves from having to pay for their crimes against Mother Ghana, after relinquishing power. The young people of today simply want crooked politicians (across the spectrum!) who steal hapless taxpayers' money whiles in office, to be prosecuted and jailed for their crimes. Period.
How many politicians do you hear demanding that all politicians, regardless of their party affiliation, who steal from the national treasury ought to be tried quickly, jailed for their crimes - and stripped of their ill-gotten wealth? It is as if our ruling elites think ordinary people are dim-wits - who will put up with being ripped off, till the very end of time: because they have the mentality of serfs written into their DNA. Well, actually, Ghana's ordinary folk aren't daft - if truth be told. And one day they will seek their revenge, as sure as day follows night - and there will be no stopping them either. Massa, the day of judgement for our ruling elites is nearer than they think! Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebeba debi ankasa!
Yours in the service of Ghana,
Kofi.
PS Nana Akufo-Addo is simply doing what politicians the world over do - he is playing the Machiavellian game, known as "the-end-justifies-the-means". It is an old game. If the 1992 constitution stipulated that candidates vying for the presidency had to win a majority of the ten regions to become president, I doubt if tribal-supremacists (Akan or otherwise!) would remain relevant in Ghanaian politics.
In any case, ordinary Ghanaians of Akan descent are not fools. They have finely-honed survival instincts - and are not about to die for anyone born with a golden spoon in his or her mouth. Mark my words - the December 2012 elections will pass off peacefully: regardless of the machinations of the ruthless men and women who would rule us: be they Akan tribal-supremacists or otherwise!
Yes, let's keep our fingers crossed. I am still working on the funding. Massa, my goal, when deciding to publish "The National Review," was to hold our ruling elites, particularly members of our political class (and the senior public servants who advise them!), accountable to the people of Ghana - by constantly questioning them.
Take the spillage of toxic material into the Atlantic Ocean by Kosmos Oil, for instance. What exactly is officialdom doing to ensure that when the next spillage occurs, there will be unambiguous legislation in place, that will enable our nation exact a level of financial compensation, on the scale of that which the Obama administration forced BP to pay into an escrow account, in the early stages of the Gulf of Mexico oil spillage disaster ?
Part of today's economic difficulties, stem from the pile of debt left behind, as a result of the reckless borrowing that the Kufuor administration engaged in during its tenure. Which media house has pointed out to the present government, for example, the danger of obtaining loans from the financial markets of the West - particularly when a case can be made to the Chinese to treat the funding of infrastructure projects in Ghana, as being in China's long-term strategic interest in Africa?
If China were to do so, when they are criticised for exploiting Africa and not putting anything positive back in return (for the raw materials it is hovering up out of the continent), could they not point to their funding, in Ghana and elsewhere, of various infrastructure projects?
Rather than resorting to commercial loans, should we not leverage the bond of friendship existing between Ghana and China, dating back to the Nkrumah regime's period in office, to get concessionary Chinese state funding to construct: roads; well-designed and well-built affordable public housing nationwide; railways (to all the regional capitals!); airports (again in all regional capitals!); cocoa processing plants (in sufficient numbers to create tens of thousands of jobs, and also make it possible to flood the entire continent with dark Ghanaian chocolate and other cocoa products!); oil
refineries (in numbers sufficient to make Ghana Africa's refining capital!); fund the merger of the GNPC, GOIL and some of the refineries that will be built, to create an oil giant, to refine and market petroleum products in petrol filling stations across Africa: using GOIL as the vehicle; etc. etc.?
The tragedy of our nation, is that we are lumbered with ruling elites full of the intellectual equivalent of pygmies - who lack vision on account of their inability to see far ahead into the future. Are you surprised that instead of engaging in a battle of ideas, our two major parties talk endlessly about which of them is more violent in nature - and is scheming to steal the December 2012 elections: through the use of violence?
Which of them have you heard outlining a detailed plan for the transformation of our society (outside of election campaign periods), and debating aspects of it with a political opponent, for the benefit of the public, I ask? In the 21st century, how can any civilised African fight for political power, and think of using violent means for achieving that purpose? Why do such politicians not rather urge their supporters to out-think their opponents - and come up with foolproof methods of preventing poll rigging: such as using the video and camera " applications" of mobile phones to record the voting process in polling stations nationwide?
Massa, don't be surprised if you woke up one morning, to hear that young people in Ghana were leading "people power" demonstrations nationwide, calling for the abolishing of the 4th Republic and its corrupt system - and its replacement by a 5th Republic with a new constitution that underpins a new system that is equitable and all-embracing.
They are fed up with a situation akin to a world of gangsters, in which a set of rules (the 1992 constitution), drawn up by one set of gangsters, and designed to protect the most powerful of their group, is then exploited to the hilt by their opponents, who succeeded them in office from January 2001 to January 2009, to enable them protect themselves from having to pay for their crimes against Mother Ghana, after relinquishing power. The young people of today simply want crooked politicians (across the spectrum!) who steal hapless taxpayers' money whiles in office, to be prosecuted and jailed for their crimes. Period.
How many politicians do you hear demanding that all politicians, regardless of their party affiliation, who steal from the national treasury ought to be tried quickly, jailed for their crimes - and stripped of their ill-gotten wealth? It is as if our ruling elites think ordinary people are dim-wits - who will put up with being ripped off, till the very end of time: because they have the mentality of serfs written into their DNA. Well, actually, Ghana's ordinary folk aren't daft - if truth be told. And one day they will seek their revenge, as sure as day follows night - and there will be no stopping them either. Massa, the day of judgement for our ruling elites is nearer than they think! Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebeba debi ankasa!
Yours in the service of Ghana,
Kofi.
PS Nana Akufo-Addo is simply doing what politicians the world over do - he is playing the Machiavellian game, known as "the-end-justifies-the-means". It is an old game. If the 1992 constitution stipulated that candidates vying for the presidency had to win a majority of the ten regions to become president, I doubt if tribal-supremacists (Akan or otherwise!) would remain relevant in Ghanaian politics.
In any case, ordinary Ghanaians of Akan descent are not fools. They have finely-honed survival instincts - and are not about to die for anyone born with a golden spoon in his or her mouth. Mark my words - the December 2012 elections will pass off peacefully: regardless of the machinations of the ruthless men and women who would rule us: be they Akan tribal-supremacists or otherwise!
Monday, 7 February 2011
Ghanaian Politicians Must Be More Circumspect And Responsible When Speaking In Public
I was flabbergasted to hear a politician (whose name I could not quite catch) on today’s Peace FM Kokrokoo morning show, say more or less that virtually all Ghanaians, with the exception of a few, including President Mills, are corrupt, because they are underpaid.
Why did that imbecile (and I am weighing my words very carefully here, dear reader) not speak for himself only, I ask? If that is the mindset of a leading member of our political class – apparently a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) – is there any wonder that our ruling elites seem unable to deal with the corrupt system we are currently lumbered with?
That politician’s cynicism was so outrageous, that I could barely contain my anger, whiles listening to his inanities. Why an amoral and irresponsible individual like that should be allowed to come on air, by a respectable radio station, to spew such nation-wrecking rubbish to the hearing of listeners of Peace FM, without being censured by the host, Kwame Sefa-Kai, I find hard to fathom.
That moron actually had the gall to ask that the Customs Excise and Preventative Service (CEPS) officers at the Tema Harbour, who were caught engaging in corrupt practices on a video tape-recording (by ace investigative journalist, Anas Ameriyaw Anas), should be “rehabilitated” – instead of being prosecuted and jailed for their crimes against the Ghanaian nation-state. Imagine that. What errant nonsense.
Then there is the incredibly foolish and irresponsible statement, reported to have been made by the brilliant Dr. Tony Aidoo (irascible Tony really ought to know better, if he actually did say so), that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime, of which he is such a prominent member, should abandon all uncompleted “NPP projects” - and presumably concentrate on their own "NDC projects". Amazing.
Perhaps the time has come for independent-minded Ghanaians to remind members of Ghana’s political class that all projects initiated by ruling parties, are national undertakings funded from taxpayers’ money – not party-owned projects paid for from the personal contributions of politicians or from the party coffers of regimes in power, at any given point in time in our nation’s history.
If the shortsighted politicians and soldiers (stooges for neo-colonialism to a man) who came to power after the overthrow of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) regime of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president and founding father, in February 1966, had had the good sense to continue the many projects his regime initiated, our homeland Ghana would have been a much better place today than it currently is, would it not, I ask?
Ghana’s politicians must stop acting as if they do not want the betterment of the Ghanaian nation-state and its citizens, when they are not themselves in power.
If that were not the case, why would intelligent politicians from the NPP, for example, be busy pretending that a nation with the huge budget deficit that they left behind when they were turfed out of power in December 2008 (thank goodness), could possibly be a prosperous country whose citizens enjoyed a high standard of living if they were the party in power today?
What little primary school child, who is clued-on and internet-savvy, is not aware that living standards are actually falling for millions of British citizens today, for example: as their Coalition government struggles to re-balance their country’s finances?
Who in Ghana does not remember that recently, the Ghanaian think-tank Imani’s Frank Cudjoe, in a radio interview on Accra's Radio Gold, admitted that the NPP regime left a budget deficit much bigger than Greece’s? It is such a pity that Kokou Anyidoho did not have the presence of mind to ask him to tell Ghanaians exactly how Greece is dealing with its budget deficit, as we speak.
Perhaps the failure of the NDC's many Kokou Anyidohos to ask such questions (and to point out the fact that today's hard times are a necessary phase for Ghana to go through, to enable a solid foundation to be laid, to guarantee a more prosperous future for all Ghanaians), is the reason why we are witnessing the nauseating spectacle of well-educated and highly-intelligent politicians from the selfsame NPP hopping from radio station to radio station and from television station to television station, criticizing their regime’s more fiscally-responsible successor-regime, which, in dealing with that deficit (resulting from the NPP’s own irresponsible borrowing and reckless spending whiles in power), has not slashed the salaries of public sector workers (none of whom, incidentally, have lost their jobs either: as public sector workers elsewhere in the developed world have); and has been able to ensure some modest growth in our country’s GDP despite cuts in public spending.
To those self-seeking hypocrites who are trying to fool ordinary folk into returning them to power again, with their self-serving Enkoyie propaganda, perhaps one ought to pose a few simple questions.
Is Ghana the only nation on the planet Earth today in which times are tough for ordinary citizens?
What well-informed Ghanaian does not know that in addition to the swingeing cuts in public spending (in nations like Greece, Ireland, Latvia, and the UK, to mention a few countries that are contending with large budget deficits, and which like Ghana are also struggling to re-balance their public finances), it is a well-known fact that living standards are actually plummeting in many developed world economies too?
And do they not see the modesty of President Mills - and the sharp contrast between him and the profligate President Kufuor: in terms of what they cost hapless Ghanaian taxpayers' in perks and sundry allowances? Good leaders understand the need for modesty at times of economic difficulty for their people.
Is that not why one of the first actions of the new Coalition government of the UK, was to immediately cut the salaries of all its members – from the prime minister down to the very last under-secretary of state?
Is Britain not facing inflationary pressures, as we speak? Did the last quarter’s figures not show that the British economy contracted slightly? Is there not fear in some quarters in the UK that Britain might slip into a double-dip recession if the government does not put a growth strategy in place soon?
Every sincere individual in Ghana, who understands economics, knows that if the NPP had retained power in December 2008, ordinary Ghanaians would still be in exactly the same situation they find themselves today – if they were not actually worse off under that greedy and profligate lot, that is.
Ghana’s politicians must be more responsible in public and weigh what they say openly very carefully – if they want to be taken seriously by discerning and independent-minded Ghanaians.
Not all Ghanaians are fools - and Ghanaian politicians must stop thinking they can fool ordinary folk: for they certainly can't. A word to the wise…
Tel (powered by Tigo – the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
Why did that imbecile (and I am weighing my words very carefully here, dear reader) not speak for himself only, I ask? If that is the mindset of a leading member of our political class – apparently a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) – is there any wonder that our ruling elites seem unable to deal with the corrupt system we are currently lumbered with?
That politician’s cynicism was so outrageous, that I could barely contain my anger, whiles listening to his inanities. Why an amoral and irresponsible individual like that should be allowed to come on air, by a respectable radio station, to spew such nation-wrecking rubbish to the hearing of listeners of Peace FM, without being censured by the host, Kwame Sefa-Kai, I find hard to fathom.
That moron actually had the gall to ask that the Customs Excise and Preventative Service (CEPS) officers at the Tema Harbour, who were caught engaging in corrupt practices on a video tape-recording (by ace investigative journalist, Anas Ameriyaw Anas), should be “rehabilitated” – instead of being prosecuted and jailed for their crimes against the Ghanaian nation-state. Imagine that. What errant nonsense.
Then there is the incredibly foolish and irresponsible statement, reported to have been made by the brilliant Dr. Tony Aidoo (irascible Tony really ought to know better, if he actually did say so), that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime, of which he is such a prominent member, should abandon all uncompleted “NPP projects” - and presumably concentrate on their own "NDC projects". Amazing.
Perhaps the time has come for independent-minded Ghanaians to remind members of Ghana’s political class that all projects initiated by ruling parties, are national undertakings funded from taxpayers’ money – not party-owned projects paid for from the personal contributions of politicians or from the party coffers of regimes in power, at any given point in time in our nation’s history.
If the shortsighted politicians and soldiers (stooges for neo-colonialism to a man) who came to power after the overthrow of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) regime of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president and founding father, in February 1966, had had the good sense to continue the many projects his regime initiated, our homeland Ghana would have been a much better place today than it currently is, would it not, I ask?
Ghana’s politicians must stop acting as if they do not want the betterment of the Ghanaian nation-state and its citizens, when they are not themselves in power.
If that were not the case, why would intelligent politicians from the NPP, for example, be busy pretending that a nation with the huge budget deficit that they left behind when they were turfed out of power in December 2008 (thank goodness), could possibly be a prosperous country whose citizens enjoyed a high standard of living if they were the party in power today?
What little primary school child, who is clued-on and internet-savvy, is not aware that living standards are actually falling for millions of British citizens today, for example: as their Coalition government struggles to re-balance their country’s finances?
Who in Ghana does not remember that recently, the Ghanaian think-tank Imani’s Frank Cudjoe, in a radio interview on Accra's Radio Gold, admitted that the NPP regime left a budget deficit much bigger than Greece’s? It is such a pity that Kokou Anyidoho did not have the presence of mind to ask him to tell Ghanaians exactly how Greece is dealing with its budget deficit, as we speak.
Perhaps the failure of the NDC's many Kokou Anyidohos to ask such questions (and to point out the fact that today's hard times are a necessary phase for Ghana to go through, to enable a solid foundation to be laid, to guarantee a more prosperous future for all Ghanaians), is the reason why we are witnessing the nauseating spectacle of well-educated and highly-intelligent politicians from the selfsame NPP hopping from radio station to radio station and from television station to television station, criticizing their regime’s more fiscally-responsible successor-regime, which, in dealing with that deficit (resulting from the NPP’s own irresponsible borrowing and reckless spending whiles in power), has not slashed the salaries of public sector workers (none of whom, incidentally, have lost their jobs either: as public sector workers elsewhere in the developed world have); and has been able to ensure some modest growth in our country’s GDP despite cuts in public spending.
To those self-seeking hypocrites who are trying to fool ordinary folk into returning them to power again, with their self-serving Enkoyie propaganda, perhaps one ought to pose a few simple questions.
Is Ghana the only nation on the planet Earth today in which times are tough for ordinary citizens?
What well-informed Ghanaian does not know that in addition to the swingeing cuts in public spending (in nations like Greece, Ireland, Latvia, and the UK, to mention a few countries that are contending with large budget deficits, and which like Ghana are also struggling to re-balance their public finances), it is a well-known fact that living standards are actually plummeting in many developed world economies too?
And do they not see the modesty of President Mills - and the sharp contrast between him and the profligate President Kufuor: in terms of what they cost hapless Ghanaian taxpayers' in perks and sundry allowances? Good leaders understand the need for modesty at times of economic difficulty for their people.
Is that not why one of the first actions of the new Coalition government of the UK, was to immediately cut the salaries of all its members – from the prime minister down to the very last under-secretary of state?
Is Britain not facing inflationary pressures, as we speak? Did the last quarter’s figures not show that the British economy contracted slightly? Is there not fear in some quarters in the UK that Britain might slip into a double-dip recession if the government does not put a growth strategy in place soon?
Every sincere individual in Ghana, who understands economics, knows that if the NPP had retained power in December 2008, ordinary Ghanaians would still be in exactly the same situation they find themselves today – if they were not actually worse off under that greedy and profligate lot, that is.
Ghana’s politicians must be more responsible in public and weigh what they say openly very carefully – if they want to be taken seriously by discerning and independent-minded Ghanaians.
Not all Ghanaians are fools - and Ghanaian politicians must stop thinking they can fool ordinary folk: for they certainly can't. A word to the wise…
Tel (powered by Tigo – the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
Monday, 24 January 2011
We Must Not Allow Ghana To Be Shortchanged In Selling Its Oil!
When it was announced on the 6th of December 2010, that Vitol had been appointed exclusive marketer of Tullow Oil’s share of the Jubilee fields oil production, the Vitol Group’s president and chief executive, Ian Taylor, was quoted as saying: “We are very pleased to have been awarded this contract to market Tullow’s share. Our global network, knowledge of the West African crude oil market and close relationships with the refining sector gives us a strong base from which to market this crude and maximise its value”.
Little wonder then, that many ordinary Ghanaians are asking, why, when the price of oil on the international market is certainly above US$67 per barrel, this giant energy trading company (which together with Glencore and Trafigura are the biggest three in the world), is said to have sold Tullow Oil’s oil at US$67 per barrel (if Ghanaian media reports are to be believed, that is!).
For such Ghanaians, the question simply is: if Ian Taylor said his company would “maximize” Tullow Oils’s jubilee light sweet crude’s “value”, why did the Vitol Group not look for oil elsewhere, in its vast network of suppliers and extensive storage facilities worldwide, for oil to meet its contractual obligations to third parties (which it had agreed to sell oil at US$67 per barrel for), if that is why the oil was sold at that price?
Or is it the case that Tullow Oil had hedged its share of the jubilee fields’ oil at that price – and the Vitol Group was only delivering to the party concerned on Tullow Oil’s behalf?
On the other hand, one wonders whether we are to believe the conspiracy theorists in our midst, who say that it is a classic example of the usual get-rich-quick tricks of the clever-folk-in-high-places, who never fail to seize every opportunity that comes their way, to rip Mother Ghana off - cleverly calculating that since the government had based its expected oil revenues from the jubilee fields on the US$67 per barrel figure, ordinary folk would assume that that was the price it was to be sold for: and accept the situation quietly and meekly?
Either way, dear reader, surely, the good people of Ghana need to be told why, when their government has to buy oil at the prevailing market rates (after the expiry of its own oil hedging contracts!), for the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to produce fuel for motorists and other fuel users in Ghana, jubilee light sweet crude, which is of such quality that it is said to be of a grade highly sought after by refineries as far apart as North America and Asia, should be allowed to be sold for anything less than prevailing market rates on the spot markets for oil, so that any windfall profits will be taxed appropriately to yield maximum value, for funding development projects in Ghana?
Those who are in charge of the energy sector must understand clearly that Ghanaians will not tolerate Kweku-Ananse-accounting in the oil and natural gas industries of Nkrumah's Ghana – so that politically well-connected individuals can end up becoming super-rich from such smoke-and-mirrors shenanigans: at the expense of the rest of Ghanaians and their homeland Ghana.
As it is, many Ghanaians are already very upset that the president did not order the arrest of the foreign oil company chief who attempted to bribe him – but chose instead to complain about that insult to US Embassy officials here.
Did it not strike President Mills that he would have made history if that had happened? Did it not occur to him that he would have been impossible to beat in the 2012 presidential elections if that had happened?
Would it not have been headline news on every radio and TV station on the planet Earth had that happened - and would he not have been immortalised by that singular act?
He may very well come to rue the day he allowed that insolent and corrupt individual to walk free from his office - as his oil company will fund the opposition New Patriotic Party's (NPP) election campaign in 2012, through backdoor channels: as sure as day follows night.
Then there is the foolish and irresponsible decision by some of his appointees to let Kosmos Oil get away scot-free after initially being fined for spilling toxic material into the Atlantic Ocean – in exchange for helping the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “build capacity”. God give us patience.
Have you heard of anything more cynical and asinine, dear reader? The EPA has some of the best scientific minds in the world, amongst those it employs. What it needs is cash not Kosmos Oil's 'capacity-building' – and can you imagine what the US$17 millions or so that Kosmos Oil was reported to have been fined (although yours truly has no idea what the actual figure was – since the mostly-spineless individuals who run our nation chose to keep it secret!), could have done for the EPA; resource-wise?
In any case, is that how the U.S. administration dealt with BP during the Gulf of Mexico spillage disaster? Or are Ghanaian lives and the economies of our coastal communities not worth giving similar protection to, from reckless, arrogant and disrespectful oil companies?
Perhaps, if need be, Parliament must quickly pass a law, which will insist that when Ghana’s jubilee light sweet crude is sold below the prevailing spot market price for oil, the government will tax the company concerned, as if its share of the Jubilee field oil had been sold at the spot market price for oil, on the day that oil was sold.
We must definitely not allow our nation to be shortchanged when it comes to selling its oil – as Ghanaians want the revenues to be used to help transform their nation into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.
The question is: Are those mostly-hard-of-hearing individuals currently in charge of our nation listening? One certainly hopes they are. Ghana's educated elite must not attempt to copy Nigeria's kleptocratic elite's stewardship of that nation's oil and natural gas revenues - for opaque transactions in Ghana's oil and natural gas industry could lead to social unrest. Ghana will not be immune to a Hugo Chavez-style revolution, in such circumstances. A word to the wise... Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebeba debi ankasa!
Tel: (powered by Tigo – the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
Little wonder then, that many ordinary Ghanaians are asking, why, when the price of oil on the international market is certainly above US$67 per barrel, this giant energy trading company (which together with Glencore and Trafigura are the biggest three in the world), is said to have sold Tullow Oil’s oil at US$67 per barrel (if Ghanaian media reports are to be believed, that is!).
For such Ghanaians, the question simply is: if Ian Taylor said his company would “maximize” Tullow Oils’s jubilee light sweet crude’s “value”, why did the Vitol Group not look for oil elsewhere, in its vast network of suppliers and extensive storage facilities worldwide, for oil to meet its contractual obligations to third parties (which it had agreed to sell oil at US$67 per barrel for), if that is why the oil was sold at that price?
Or is it the case that Tullow Oil had hedged its share of the jubilee fields’ oil at that price – and the Vitol Group was only delivering to the party concerned on Tullow Oil’s behalf?
On the other hand, one wonders whether we are to believe the conspiracy theorists in our midst, who say that it is a classic example of the usual get-rich-quick tricks of the clever-folk-in-high-places, who never fail to seize every opportunity that comes their way, to rip Mother Ghana off - cleverly calculating that since the government had based its expected oil revenues from the jubilee fields on the US$67 per barrel figure, ordinary folk would assume that that was the price it was to be sold for: and accept the situation quietly and meekly?
Either way, dear reader, surely, the good people of Ghana need to be told why, when their government has to buy oil at the prevailing market rates (after the expiry of its own oil hedging contracts!), for the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to produce fuel for motorists and other fuel users in Ghana, jubilee light sweet crude, which is of such quality that it is said to be of a grade highly sought after by refineries as far apart as North America and Asia, should be allowed to be sold for anything less than prevailing market rates on the spot markets for oil, so that any windfall profits will be taxed appropriately to yield maximum value, for funding development projects in Ghana?
Those who are in charge of the energy sector must understand clearly that Ghanaians will not tolerate Kweku-Ananse-accounting in the oil and natural gas industries of Nkrumah's Ghana – so that politically well-connected individuals can end up becoming super-rich from such smoke-and-mirrors shenanigans: at the expense of the rest of Ghanaians and their homeland Ghana.
As it is, many Ghanaians are already very upset that the president did not order the arrest of the foreign oil company chief who attempted to bribe him – but chose instead to complain about that insult to US Embassy officials here.
Did it not strike President Mills that he would have made history if that had happened? Did it not occur to him that he would have been impossible to beat in the 2012 presidential elections if that had happened?
Would it not have been headline news on every radio and TV station on the planet Earth had that happened - and would he not have been immortalised by that singular act?
He may very well come to rue the day he allowed that insolent and corrupt individual to walk free from his office - as his oil company will fund the opposition New Patriotic Party's (NPP) election campaign in 2012, through backdoor channels: as sure as day follows night.
Then there is the foolish and irresponsible decision by some of his appointees to let Kosmos Oil get away scot-free after initially being fined for spilling toxic material into the Atlantic Ocean – in exchange for helping the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “build capacity”. God give us patience.
Have you heard of anything more cynical and asinine, dear reader? The EPA has some of the best scientific minds in the world, amongst those it employs. What it needs is cash not Kosmos Oil's 'capacity-building' – and can you imagine what the US$17 millions or so that Kosmos Oil was reported to have been fined (although yours truly has no idea what the actual figure was – since the mostly-spineless individuals who run our nation chose to keep it secret!), could have done for the EPA; resource-wise?
In any case, is that how the U.S. administration dealt with BP during the Gulf of Mexico spillage disaster? Or are Ghanaian lives and the economies of our coastal communities not worth giving similar protection to, from reckless, arrogant and disrespectful oil companies?
Perhaps, if need be, Parliament must quickly pass a law, which will insist that when Ghana’s jubilee light sweet crude is sold below the prevailing spot market price for oil, the government will tax the company concerned, as if its share of the Jubilee field oil had been sold at the spot market price for oil, on the day that oil was sold.
We must definitely not allow our nation to be shortchanged when it comes to selling its oil – as Ghanaians want the revenues to be used to help transform their nation into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.
The question is: Are those mostly-hard-of-hearing individuals currently in charge of our nation listening? One certainly hopes they are. Ghana's educated elite must not attempt to copy Nigeria's kleptocratic elite's stewardship of that nation's oil and natural gas revenues - for opaque transactions in Ghana's oil and natural gas industry could lead to social unrest. Ghana will not be immune to a Hugo Chavez-style revolution, in such circumstances. A word to the wise... Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebeba debi ankasa!
Tel: (powered by Tigo – the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
Monday, 17 January 2011
EXCERPT FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL’S RAP SURVEY 47
Recently, dear reader, a team led by the Executive Director of the Minerals Commission of Ghana, Mr. Aryee, visited part of the P. E. Thompson Estate's (PETE) Akim Abuakwa Juaso freehold nature-resource reserve (AANRR), in the Atewa Range (on 21/12/2010,i.e.). This was as a result of objections raised by the PETE, to the size of the Kibi Goldfields concession, and the continuing illegal activities in the area of Solar Mining Limited, designated as a "co-operator" by the concession owner, the insolvent (for over a decade!) Kibi Goldfields.
The PETE, together with some members of the communities in the area, intend to take Solar Mining to court - and they are being helped in that direction by the anti-mining NGO, WACAM, which has solicited the help of the Centre for Public Interest Law (CPIL), on their behalf.
Incidentally, a little under 5 square miles of the PETE's unencumbered total landholding of some 14 square miles, lies inside the official government reserve. The PETE's off-reserve forestland, according to a source with direct knowledge of the state of the Kakum National Park immediately before the construction of the forest canopy footbridges, is in far better condition and more beautiful today, than the Kakum rain forest was then.
At this juncture, I would like to acknowledge the support we have been receiving from Ghana's leading green tour company, M&J Travel and Tours Limited - which has been meeting the costs of consultants it has secured for the PETE, to prepare a project proposal, for a change in land-use: from agriculture to community-based eco-tourism. It has also promised to market the destination when the project is implemented successfully. This is corporate social responsibility at its best.
The implementation of the project will enable the PETE to build a series of forest canopy footbridges similar to that found at the Kakum National Park, and ten tree-house eco-lodges, as the centrepiece of a community-based eco-tourism destination. It is seeking funding for the project - which is intended to use community-based eco-tourism as a tool for conservation: to guarantee a sustainable future for it's landholding in the area: and by leveraging the carbon markets as a community carbon sequestration project, ensure a properous future for the people of Akim Abuakwa Juaso, as well as that of Saamang and Osino (long after the greedy rogues from Solar Mining have departed!).
Solar Mining has paid compensation to the PETE's immediate neighbours, whom it shares boundaries with, to mine gold. Yet those wealthy rogues do not have an EPA mining permit - and have publicly admitted to operating without official sanction. How can that be tolerated at a time of global climate change - and in an area that has been designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA), and which performs such important eco-system services for Mother Ghana, I ask, dear reader?
For the elucidation of readers who have been following the PETE's efforts at halting the continuing defiance of the authorities by Solar Mining Limited, this blog is posting part of the recommendations contained in the Executive Summary of Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Survey 47. Hopefully the relevant sector ministers under whose brief the Minerals Commission and the Mining Department of the Environmental Protection Agency fall, will take a detailed look at Conservation International's RAP 47, and ask that both institutions take note of the recommendation that all mining and logging is banned in the area. Please read on.
"Conservation Recommendations
With an area of 23,663 ha, Atewa represents one of the largest
remaining forest blocks in Ghana and one of the largest
GSBAs. In Ghana there is no other place like Atewa. The
only other Upland Evergreen forest, in the Tano Ofin Forest
Reserve, is smaller and significantly more disturbed, and
the mountains near the border with Togo have a much drier
climate. Outside Ghana there are no upland forests with a
similar combination of species.
It is clear from the results of the RAP survey and previous
studies that the Atewa Range Forest Reserve is an
extremely important site for global biodiversity conservation
and should be protected to the fullest extent possible. However,
at the same time, the livelihood of the communities
around Atewa must be considered in order to ensure longterm
protection of the forest.
In order to protect the integrity of Atewa and its biodiversity,
we propose two principal recommendations:
I. Within Atewa, the Government of Ghana should delimit
and establish an integrally protected area with
high protection status, such as a National Park, that
includes all remaining intact Upland Evergreen forest,
especially on the plateaus. A buffer zone covering
the more disturbed slopes and valleys of the reserve
should be established surrounding the core protected
area.
II. To ensure the sustainable protection of Atewa, alternative
incomes for the local communities, particularly
in Kibi, must be developed to reduce or eliminate
their dependence on extractive industries and forest
products from Atewa.
To elaborate:
I. We recommend that the entire Atewa Range Forest
Reserve be protected to the fullest extent possible due to
its:
1) High levels of biodiversity (documented during this
RAP survey and previous studies), 2) Significant tract of
rare Upland Evergreen forest, and 3) Importance as a clean
water source for local communities and many of Ghana’s
metropolitan areas. We recommend that the legal status of
the reserve be upgraded to prohibit all exploitative activities,
including mining, logging, and agriculture in the reserve.
The entire extent of Atewa’s Upland Evergreen forest
must be protected because focusing conservation effort on
only a part of the range (such as only the northern part)
would lead to greater fragmentation of this unique forest
habitat, loss of its function as a biodiversity corridor, and,
ultimately, the likely loss of many of its species due to microclimatic
changes caused by diminishing forest coverage
and invasion of savanna elements into the reserve. The value
of Atewa lies not only in the presence of rare or threatened
species within its borders and the multiple ecosystem services
provided by this biotic community (including, but not
limited to, being a significant source of water to surrounding
areas), but also in being a unique and a very complex ecosystem,
one with a combination of species found nowhere else
on the planet.
Any alterations to its present, largely undisturbed state
will likely lead to a more depauperate and homogenous
biological community with a lesser value to global biodiversity
and, on a local scale, the area will become a less effective
provider of ecosystem services such as pollination of
surrounding agricultures or provision of freshwater. Even
selective clearing of the plateaus would undeniably affect
headwaters of major rivers and could have long-term destructive
consequences on the environment, principally by
increasing soil erosion on surrounding slopes and disturbing
the hydrographical net of the entire sub-region. Habitat loss
would put a number of species under serious threat of local
extinction.
Specific recommendations:
1. Delimit and establish an integrally protected area
with high protection status, such as a National Park,
that includes all the remaining intact Upland Evergreen
forest within Atewa, especially on the plateaus.
We agree with previous recommendations for Atewa
(Hawthorne 1998) that many parts of the lower slopes
are heavily over-used and degraded and that priority
areas for protection should be the forests on the higher
altitude plateaus, slopes, and ravines as well as the forest
remaining on the steep slopes. All forests on the plateaus
merit strict protection, including the 17,400 ha covered
with Upland Evergreen forest.
Critical areas that must be included in the core area
are: a) The entire northern part of the Atewa Range,
which is most intact, including the Asiakwa South and
North RAP sites, which have high levels of biodiversity,
a critically endangered frog species, and the Olive
colobus primate (see Table 4), b) The central plateau
area, including Atiwiredu, which has two black star tree
species and a high diversity of amphibians and butterflies,
c) Any Upland Evergreen forest areas remaining
in the reserve, and d) All plateau swamps and wetlands,
which soak up the rainwater and provide the source of
the Ayensu, Birim, and Densu rivers.
2. Establish a buffer zone covering the more disturbed
slopes and valleys of the reserve, particularly in the
southern areas of the reserve, for use by local com
munities within the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional
Area.
We concur with recommendations by Hawthorne
(1998) that there is great pressure on the lower slopes
that will most likely result in continued land use. The
lower slopes should be incorporated into a buffer zone
surrounding the protected area, within which sustainable
land use practices should be developed that will
restore and reforest degraded land.
3. Re-evaluate then Implement and Enforce the Atewa
Management Plan created by the Forestry Commission
of Ghana. Much thought and research has
already gone into evaluating the importance of Atewa’s
biodiversity and watershed values, and in developing a
management plan for its sustainable use (Abu-Juam et
al. 2003). Based on the additional information from the
RAP survey and other recent research, we recommend
that Atewa be fully protected. If this recommendation
is accepted and implemented, the Atewa management
plan will likely need to be revised to incorporate
management of a protected area and a buffer zone. A
management plan should include the sustainable use of
forest products (chewing sticks, fuel wood, etc.) in the
buffer zone to ensure that they are not depleted. The
new management plan should then be put into practice
and enforced by the Government of Ghana in order to
ensure that the area is protected.
4. Implement a collaborative approach between public
and private institutions, including local communities,
the Government of Ghana, international funding and
aid agencies, the mining industry and environmental
and social non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to
address and halt the threats currently and potentially
facing the reserve. Include scientific organizations and
universities to improve our scientific knowledge of the
area and to use these data for management of the protected
area. The delineation and mechanism for protecting
Atewa must take into consideration the high human
population around Atewa, their relatively high level of
poverty, as well as their dependence on the forests of
Atewa for much of their livelihood.
II. Explore alternative income opportunities in and
round Atewa for local communities to reduce their dependence
on extractive industries and bushmeat hunting.
The people living around Atewa understand the need to
conserve this treasured site. They have maintained this area,
preserving its biodiversity for all these years. The government
has also promulgated all the necessary legislation to the
extent that Atewa is designated as a GSBA and the RAP survey
and other studies have demonstrated its biological and
ecological importance. The issue now at hand is the fact that
there is bauxite available for exploitation whilst the people
are impoverished. Cocoa, formerly the main economic base
of the area, has now disappeared. The main road from Accra
to Kumasi, which used to pass through the commercial
capital of the Atewa area, has been diverted to save time and
short circuit the journey from Accra to Kumasi. The economy
of the Atewa area is now in very poor condition. The
employment opportunities offered by mining and other development
of Atewa are very attractive to people who are in
dire need of jobs. Even if the current development plans are
abandoned, other development plans and groups will surface
in the future. The key to preserving Atewa lies in building
an economic base for the local communities that will be an
alternative to the exploitation of the bauxite deposits and
timber of Atewa.
Specific recommendations:
1. Ecotourism is likely the best option for bringing
income to the region, particularly to Kibi, by transforming
Atewa forest into world class ecotourism center,
which will focus on the rare and beautiful species
identified during the RAP survey and other studies.
Atewa is located just a few hours drive from Accra and
Kumasi, which makes it an ideal tourist destination
for both local Ghanaian and international visitors. The
attractions of Atewa could include birds, butterflies,
insects, amphibians, primates, bats, the headwaters of
the three rivers, the unique floral species, forest hiking,
camp sites, swimming, and a retreat center. Tours could
be run through a visitor center or Multi-Use Center
(see below) and also through independent tour agents/
NGOs operating out of Kibi and other local villages.
Local hotels, restaurants, souvenir stands, and other
shops will be needed to support a tourist industry.
To achieve this, a group of tourism and biodiversity
experts should first develop a strategic plan with innovative
experiential tourism design for the attractions,
something unique comparable to the Kakum canopy
walkway, which will attract people in great numbers
to the site. The local community must be involved in
approving and developing the plans, and eventually take
over implementation of ecotourism activities. Alliances
with international tour operators will bring additional
international adventure and nature travelers to the
area. Partnerships with NGOs, companies, and other
organizations interested in ecotourism and the conservation
of Atewa should be formed. Already, Butterfly
Conservation Ghana has been promoting ecotourism
visits to Atewa with an international partner, EcoTours
(see http://www.ecotours.hu/butterflies/butterflies00/
ghana00). Projects such as these should be supported
and integrated into the Ecotourism plan for Atewa.
2. To facilitate Ecotourism, establish a Multi-use
Biodiversity Center near to Atewa. The center should
be based at the edge of Atewa so that visitors have easy
access to the forest and can enjoy the cooler climate
provided by the forest. It should also be located near to
Kibi or other villages so they also benefit from tourist
visits. The center could contain lodging, kitchen and
dining facilities, an educational center, classrooms,
meeting rooms, laboratories, and a library. This center
could also provide facilities for Christian or other religious
communities to use as a spiritual retreat for prayer
and meetings. Support for the center could come from
the Christian community (both national and international),
national government, international NGOs,
private companies, and national and international
universities. Most importantly, the center can be built,
maintained, and staffed by local community members,
thus providing long-term employment opportunities.
This center could serve many functions including those
listed below:
a) Research station to facilitate research of Atewa
and surroundings by Ghanaian and international
scientists, promote collaborations, and train biology
and natural resource management students;
b) Tourist/visitor center to bring ecotourism to
Atewa and provide information about its biodiversity
to visitors and residents;
c) Education center to raise awareness of the uniqueness
and importance of Atewa: provide classes and
training for local communities, jobs for local residents
as interpreters and teachers, and opportunities
for local and national school children to spend
a night in the rainforest, Integration of a research
and education center would provide opportunities
for Ghanaian scientists and students to share their
knowledge and research with tourists and local
students;
d) Spiritual retreat for the Christian community and/
or other local religions to have a place to get away
to meet together; both Ghanaian and international
Christian groups could use the center as a quiet and
spiritual meeting place;
e) Sustainable employment opportunity for local
community members as builders, managers, maintenance
and housekeeping, tour guides, researchers,
and research assistants.
3. Investigate the possibility of a Payment for Ecosystem
Services (PES) scheme through which the users of the
water provided by the watershed (e.g. Accra and other
cities) pay the local communities around Atewa for protection
of the forest and watershed. This would provide
income to the surrounding communities in return for
keeping the surrounding watershed and forest biodiversity
intact. This type of PES scheme has been successfully
implemented in many countries, most notably Costa
Rica, by governments, NGOs, and private organizations.
See McNeely (2007) for more information.
4. Investigate the current status and investments of
international development/aid projects that are
reported to be working in the Atewa area, including
the GEF/World Bank/Government of Ghana Community
Investment Fund Project, the GEF/World
Bank-sponsored Promoting Partnership with Traditional
Authorities Project (PPTAP) and the Government of
Ghana sponsored Presidential Initiative on Tree Plantations
Project on the communities around Atewa to support
development of alternative incomes. Small grants
can also be applied for through Conservation International’s
Verde Ventures program (www.verdeventures.
org). There are many examples of successful ventures
in all of the areas listed below that can be studied and
consulted as models for developing such projects in the
Atewa area.
5. Other potential alternative-income industries:
a) Butterfly farming - for sale of live butterfly
pupae to the global market,
b) Beekeeping - producing honey for local consumption
and for sale,
c) Farming of native ornamental fishes for
aquarium trade,
d) Producing products for the tourist trade
such as baskets, Kente cloth weavings, wood
carvings, etc.,
e) Alternatives to bushmeat hunting, such as
raising other types of animals for meat, including
grasscutters and snails,
f ) Orchards of fruit trees and nitrogen-fixing
crops (e.g. beans) on degraded land to provide
food and also stabilize erosion and renew the
soil.
Recommendations for Management of Atewa
I. Control hunting as it poses a significant threat to the
large mammals and larger birds within the entire reserve.
Hunting pressure is strong throughout Atewa, even
in the northern areas where there are no roads. Evidence
of hunting, including spent cartridges, snares and hunting
trails was found at all three RAP sites (see Table 4).
Healthy mammal and bird communities, as well as their
associated invertebrate communities, are especially important
for maintaining primary and secondary seed dispersal
that are essential for plant regeneration and forest dynamics.
Although hunting in the reserve currently mainly targets
mammals, certain large bird species, such as Crested
Guineafowl, Great Blue Turaco and large hornbills, are
also illegally hunted.
1) Prevent access to hunters along roads and trails.
Asiakwa North showed the most hunting evidence even
though there are no roads there. There is access to the
reserve through an extensive trail system used by local
communities. Existing roads at Asiakwa South and Atiwiredu
also provide easy access throughout the southern
part of the reserve. Most of these trails and existing
roads need to be allowed to grow over and should be
patrolled to prevent illegal access to the reserve. Regular
use of trails by tourists and researchers will also deter
illegal access and activities.
2) Engage local people from communities in the area,
particularly the community of Kibi, in protecting the
reserve and reducing hunting. Increase awareness of and
pride in the biodiversity and watershed importance of
Atewa among the local people through training. Involve
local people in research (see below) and enforcement
and provide education on the importance of conserving,
rather than hunting, large mammals and on alternatives
to bushmeat. Work with community Chiefs to establish
hunting guidelines and to develop strategies based on
their animal totems.
3) Empower and fund the Wildlife Department and the
Forestry Commission of the Government of Ghana
to protect the biodiversity of Atewa through increased
monitoring and patrols, especially for illegal hunting
(and logging). Enforce penalties for any illegal activities
or trespassing.
4) Make an alliance against hunting with all who have
access to Atewa, including local communities, government
agencies, development agencies, and NGOs.
This would help to control the distribution and sale of
bushmeat from Atewa and educate local people on the
importance of protecting globally threatened species
that live in their forests.
5) Conduct research to determine which larger mammal
and bird species are targeted and most heavily
impacted. The population sizes of key species that are
most heavily hunted and most highly threatened in this
area can then be determined and used to inform more
specific recommendations on conserving key species
threatened by hunting.
II. Protect the headwaters of the Ayensu, Densu, and
Birim rivers that originate within the Atewa Range.
The steady flow of clean water off the Atewa Range is
determined by the capacity of the soil, swamps and forest
on the plateaus and in the valleys to store and filter
rainwater, and to buffer for spates and droughts. Both
human and wildlife populations around Atewa depend
on this healthy and reliable resource for their survival.
The threatened frog species found on the range and the
high diversity of dragonflies and damselflies rely on the
watershed.
The RAP results indicate a healthy watershed in
Atewa and the surrounding area, with limited pollution
and streambed erosion. This is confirmed by the presence
of forest species even in more disturbed landscapes.
However, activities entailing the removal of vegetation
or mineral deposits from the range could seriously compromise
its capacity to store, buffer and filter rainwater,
jeopardizing the reliable discharge of freshwater into the
region’s rivers, an essential resource for millions of Ghanaians
and a rich biodiversity.
1) Protect the plateau forests in the upper catchment
of the Ayensu, Densu and Birim rivers. Control and
restrict access to the forests and swamps, especially
with regard to small-scale miners, loggers and shifting
cultivation plots. Create a strict protected area on the
plateaus as discussed above.
2) Leave buffer zones of vegetation of at least 100 m
around water bodies (e.g., rivers, swamps and other
inundation zones) if any activities are to take place
in the reserve (including the Multi-use Station). Any
removal of forest cover from stream banks must be
rigorously controlled and monitored.
3) Prevent sedimentation and runoff from mining,
roads, and clearings, which all have negative impacts
on the water quality in the streams. Especially in the
southern part of Atewa, human activities including logging,
agriculture, hunting, and roads currently threaten
the integrity of the aquatic ecosystems. These impacts
are particularly high in the foothills.
4) Initiate a water-quality monitoring program of the
status of several key aquatic taxa (including fishes,
amphibians, plants, and selected invertebrate groups) as
well as water quality and sedimentation to create a baseline
and identify negative impacts to aquatic resources
before they become irreversible. Monitoring specific
responses to certain indicators is essential. We recommend
following standard aquatic monitoring protocols
at regular intervals (at least twice a year).
5) Educate local communities on the benefits of
preserving riparian flora and fauna so that they
understand the role that riparian vegetation plays in preserving
the quality and quantity of their water, as well as
preventing soil erosion.
III. Maintain corridors and large tracts of forest to
ensure survival of larger species and to maintain
ecosystem processes. Linking patches of forest by corridors
is important to addressing the increasing problem
of habitat fragmentation, both within and outside of
Atewa. Larger mammal species, such as the threatened
primates, and many bird species need large tracts of
forest for feeding and nesting. Threatened species have
a much higher chance of going extinct in smaller forest
patches that have no connection to additional habitat or
that lack a large enough elevation range to allow species
to adapt to changing conditions and human pressures.
1) Maintain Corridors along the length of the Atewa
Range to allow for species migrations and adaptations
to changes in habitat and human pressures. Keep the
northern part of the reserve as intact as possible to
maintain a large tract of forest and keep connections to
the southern parts of the reserve.
2) Reforest roads, trails and clearings that are no longer
in use to reduce habitat fragmentation and human
access to the forest and to discourage illegal logging,
hunting of large mammals, and agricultural production.
Trails and other access routes in all three areas should be
minimized and regulated and roads should be blocked
and reforested to prevent large-scale encroachment into
the reserve. The few roads and trails necessary to to
provide access for ecotourism and research should be
carefully maintained and patrolled to ensure the least
possible impact.
3) Link Atewa to other forest reserves and patches of
forest. Outside of Atewa, the Kwahu plateau forested
zone, about 15 km north from Atewa contains similar
upland habitat and is consequently a good candidate to
connect to Atewa. A feasibility study including assessment
of diversity in Kwahu and landscape description
should be carried out prior to such an action.
4) Promote and utilize biodiversity friendly land-use
practices in agricultural areas between forest reserves to
maximize biodiversity in the areas surrounding Atewa
and to provide a connection between Atewa and nearby
forest reserves. This could include minimizing the use
of pesticides and herbicides and other chemicals in
agriculture, promoting crop rotation and natural pest
control, and planting native tree species among crops to
harbor wildlife.
5) Prohibit logging in the core protected area on the
plateaus and upper slopes and strictly control logging in
the buffer zone on the lower slopes. Logging accelerates
habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation.
6) Monitor several key species or groups that depend
on intact forest to ensure healthy populations and to
detect changes as early as possible to prevent serious
declines. Target groups should include large and small
mammals, amphibians, and several insect groups. Since
small mammals are highly dependent on forest structure
for their survival and constitute a key component of the
diet of large animals, monitoring small mammal diversity
and abundance is a good way to track the integrity
of the forest ecosystem.
IV. Conduct in-depth studies focusing on threatened,
rare and endemic species, and during other seasons,
and expand basic species surveys to include additional
groups of organisms.
1) Conduct studies of the Critically Endangered Conraua
derooi in Atewa and other areas where it is known to
occur. While this species is historically known from a
number of sites, recent surveys have failed to record it
from some of its previously known localities. At other
sites, it is under sever pressure from habitat degradation
and consumption. Hence, Atewa could hold the last
remaining viable population of this Critically Endangered
species and we urgently recommend additional
surveys to determine if this is the case. Areas holding
95% of the remaining population of a Critically Endangered
species are eligible for consideration as Alliance
for Zero Extinction (AZE) sites, a designation which
would increase the significance of Atewa as a conservation
target and could potentially increase available funding
for conservation activities.
2) Survey during the dry season. This RAP survey was
conducted during the rainy season when the plants
Mapania bakdwinii and Leptapisi cochleata form a
carpet covering much of the forest floor making footprints,
dung and other signs of animals difficult to see.
Undertaking a similar survey during the dry season
and sampling additional areas towards the periphery of
the reserve would most likely increase the number of
mammal species directly or indirectly encountered, thus
adding to the confirmed species list for the reserve.
3) Conduct additional surveys for groups of organisms
not included in previous surveys, but having a high
probability of including rare and/or new species, such as
dung beetles, preying mantids, arachnids, or mollusks
(both freshwater and terrestrial)."
End of excerpt from the Executive Summary of the Conservation International RAP survey bulletin 47.
Well, there it is, dear reader. One can only hope that officialdom will ensure that Solar Mining's perfidy does not go unpunished. This part of the Atewa Range, like the official government reserve, is too vital a part of the area's eco-system, to be sacrificed on the alter of privileged private-greed of the most egregious kind, at the expense of the rest of society and the common good. Are those charged with preserving Ghana's natural heritage listening - and more importantly, will they pay heed? One certainly hopes they will - for the sake of this and future generations of Ghanaians. A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works! ): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
The PETE, together with some members of the communities in the area, intend to take Solar Mining to court - and they are being helped in that direction by the anti-mining NGO, WACAM, which has solicited the help of the Centre for Public Interest Law (CPIL), on their behalf.
Incidentally, a little under 5 square miles of the PETE's unencumbered total landholding of some 14 square miles, lies inside the official government reserve. The PETE's off-reserve forestland, according to a source with direct knowledge of the state of the Kakum National Park immediately before the construction of the forest canopy footbridges, is in far better condition and more beautiful today, than the Kakum rain forest was then.
At this juncture, I would like to acknowledge the support we have been receiving from Ghana's leading green tour company, M&J Travel and Tours Limited - which has been meeting the costs of consultants it has secured for the PETE, to prepare a project proposal, for a change in land-use: from agriculture to community-based eco-tourism. It has also promised to market the destination when the project is implemented successfully. This is corporate social responsibility at its best.
The implementation of the project will enable the PETE to build a series of forest canopy footbridges similar to that found at the Kakum National Park, and ten tree-house eco-lodges, as the centrepiece of a community-based eco-tourism destination. It is seeking funding for the project - which is intended to use community-based eco-tourism as a tool for conservation: to guarantee a sustainable future for it's landholding in the area: and by leveraging the carbon markets as a community carbon sequestration project, ensure a properous future for the people of Akim Abuakwa Juaso, as well as that of Saamang and Osino (long after the greedy rogues from Solar Mining have departed!).
Solar Mining has paid compensation to the PETE's immediate neighbours, whom it shares boundaries with, to mine gold. Yet those wealthy rogues do not have an EPA mining permit - and have publicly admitted to operating without official sanction. How can that be tolerated at a time of global climate change - and in an area that has been designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA), and which performs such important eco-system services for Mother Ghana, I ask, dear reader?
For the elucidation of readers who have been following the PETE's efforts at halting the continuing defiance of the authorities by Solar Mining Limited, this blog is posting part of the recommendations contained in the Executive Summary of Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Survey 47. Hopefully the relevant sector ministers under whose brief the Minerals Commission and the Mining Department of the Environmental Protection Agency fall, will take a detailed look at Conservation International's RAP 47, and ask that both institutions take note of the recommendation that all mining and logging is banned in the area. Please read on.
"Conservation Recommendations
With an area of 23,663 ha, Atewa represents one of the largest
remaining forest blocks in Ghana and one of the largest
GSBAs. In Ghana there is no other place like Atewa. The
only other Upland Evergreen forest, in the Tano Ofin Forest
Reserve, is smaller and significantly more disturbed, and
the mountains near the border with Togo have a much drier
climate. Outside Ghana there are no upland forests with a
similar combination of species.
It is clear from the results of the RAP survey and previous
studies that the Atewa Range Forest Reserve is an
extremely important site for global biodiversity conservation
and should be protected to the fullest extent possible. However,
at the same time, the livelihood of the communities
around Atewa must be considered in order to ensure longterm
protection of the forest.
In order to protect the integrity of Atewa and its biodiversity,
we propose two principal recommendations:
I. Within Atewa, the Government of Ghana should delimit
and establish an integrally protected area with
high protection status, such as a National Park, that
includes all remaining intact Upland Evergreen forest,
especially on the plateaus. A buffer zone covering
the more disturbed slopes and valleys of the reserve
should be established surrounding the core protected
area.
II. To ensure the sustainable protection of Atewa, alternative
incomes for the local communities, particularly
in Kibi, must be developed to reduce or eliminate
their dependence on extractive industries and forest
products from Atewa.
To elaborate:
I. We recommend that the entire Atewa Range Forest
Reserve be protected to the fullest extent possible due to
its:
1) High levels of biodiversity (documented during this
RAP survey and previous studies), 2) Significant tract of
rare Upland Evergreen forest, and 3) Importance as a clean
water source for local communities and many of Ghana’s
metropolitan areas. We recommend that the legal status of
the reserve be upgraded to prohibit all exploitative activities,
including mining, logging, and agriculture in the reserve.
The entire extent of Atewa’s Upland Evergreen forest
must be protected because focusing conservation effort on
only a part of the range (such as only the northern part)
would lead to greater fragmentation of this unique forest
habitat, loss of its function as a biodiversity corridor, and,
ultimately, the likely loss of many of its species due to microclimatic
changes caused by diminishing forest coverage
and invasion of savanna elements into the reserve. The value
of Atewa lies not only in the presence of rare or threatened
species within its borders and the multiple ecosystem services
provided by this biotic community (including, but not
limited to, being a significant source of water to surrounding
areas), but also in being a unique and a very complex ecosystem,
one with a combination of species found nowhere else
on the planet.
Any alterations to its present, largely undisturbed state
will likely lead to a more depauperate and homogenous
biological community with a lesser value to global biodiversity
and, on a local scale, the area will become a less effective
provider of ecosystem services such as pollination of
surrounding agricultures or provision of freshwater. Even
selective clearing of the plateaus would undeniably affect
headwaters of major rivers and could have long-term destructive
consequences on the environment, principally by
increasing soil erosion on surrounding slopes and disturbing
the hydrographical net of the entire sub-region. Habitat loss
would put a number of species under serious threat of local
extinction.
Specific recommendations:
1. Delimit and establish an integrally protected area
with high protection status, such as a National Park,
that includes all the remaining intact Upland Evergreen
forest within Atewa, especially on the plateaus.
We agree with previous recommendations for Atewa
(Hawthorne 1998) that many parts of the lower slopes
are heavily over-used and degraded and that priority
areas for protection should be the forests on the higher
altitude plateaus, slopes, and ravines as well as the forest
remaining on the steep slopes. All forests on the plateaus
merit strict protection, including the 17,400 ha covered
with Upland Evergreen forest.
Critical areas that must be included in the core area
are: a) The entire northern part of the Atewa Range,
which is most intact, including the Asiakwa South and
North RAP sites, which have high levels of biodiversity,
a critically endangered frog species, and the Olive
colobus primate (see Table 4), b) The central plateau
area, including Atiwiredu, which has two black star tree
species and a high diversity of amphibians and butterflies,
c) Any Upland Evergreen forest areas remaining
in the reserve, and d) All plateau swamps and wetlands,
which soak up the rainwater and provide the source of
the Ayensu, Birim, and Densu rivers.
2. Establish a buffer zone covering the more disturbed
slopes and valleys of the reserve, particularly in the
southern areas of the reserve, for use by local com
munities within the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional
Area.
We concur with recommendations by Hawthorne
(1998) that there is great pressure on the lower slopes
that will most likely result in continued land use. The
lower slopes should be incorporated into a buffer zone
surrounding the protected area, within which sustainable
land use practices should be developed that will
restore and reforest degraded land.
3. Re-evaluate then Implement and Enforce the Atewa
Management Plan created by the Forestry Commission
of Ghana. Much thought and research has
already gone into evaluating the importance of Atewa’s
biodiversity and watershed values, and in developing a
management plan for its sustainable use (Abu-Juam et
al. 2003). Based on the additional information from the
RAP survey and other recent research, we recommend
that Atewa be fully protected. If this recommendation
is accepted and implemented, the Atewa management
plan will likely need to be revised to incorporate
management of a protected area and a buffer zone. A
management plan should include the sustainable use of
forest products (chewing sticks, fuel wood, etc.) in the
buffer zone to ensure that they are not depleted. The
new management plan should then be put into practice
and enforced by the Government of Ghana in order to
ensure that the area is protected.
4. Implement a collaborative approach between public
and private institutions, including local communities,
the Government of Ghana, international funding and
aid agencies, the mining industry and environmental
and social non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to
address and halt the threats currently and potentially
facing the reserve. Include scientific organizations and
universities to improve our scientific knowledge of the
area and to use these data for management of the protected
area. The delineation and mechanism for protecting
Atewa must take into consideration the high human
population around Atewa, their relatively high level of
poverty, as well as their dependence on the forests of
Atewa for much of their livelihood.
II. Explore alternative income opportunities in and
round Atewa for local communities to reduce their dependence
on extractive industries and bushmeat hunting.
The people living around Atewa understand the need to
conserve this treasured site. They have maintained this area,
preserving its biodiversity for all these years. The government
has also promulgated all the necessary legislation to the
extent that Atewa is designated as a GSBA and the RAP survey
and other studies have demonstrated its biological and
ecological importance. The issue now at hand is the fact that
there is bauxite available for exploitation whilst the people
are impoverished. Cocoa, formerly the main economic base
of the area, has now disappeared. The main road from Accra
to Kumasi, which used to pass through the commercial
capital of the Atewa area, has been diverted to save time and
short circuit the journey from Accra to Kumasi. The economy
of the Atewa area is now in very poor condition. The
employment opportunities offered by mining and other development
of Atewa are very attractive to people who are in
dire need of jobs. Even if the current development plans are
abandoned, other development plans and groups will surface
in the future. The key to preserving Atewa lies in building
an economic base for the local communities that will be an
alternative to the exploitation of the bauxite deposits and
timber of Atewa.
Specific recommendations:
1. Ecotourism is likely the best option for bringing
income to the region, particularly to Kibi, by transforming
Atewa forest into world class ecotourism center,
which will focus on the rare and beautiful species
identified during the RAP survey and other studies.
Atewa is located just a few hours drive from Accra and
Kumasi, which makes it an ideal tourist destination
for both local Ghanaian and international visitors. The
attractions of Atewa could include birds, butterflies,
insects, amphibians, primates, bats, the headwaters of
the three rivers, the unique floral species, forest hiking,
camp sites, swimming, and a retreat center. Tours could
be run through a visitor center or Multi-Use Center
(see below) and also through independent tour agents/
NGOs operating out of Kibi and other local villages.
Local hotels, restaurants, souvenir stands, and other
shops will be needed to support a tourist industry.
To achieve this, a group of tourism and biodiversity
experts should first develop a strategic plan with innovative
experiential tourism design for the attractions,
something unique comparable to the Kakum canopy
walkway, which will attract people in great numbers
to the site. The local community must be involved in
approving and developing the plans, and eventually take
over implementation of ecotourism activities. Alliances
with international tour operators will bring additional
international adventure and nature travelers to the
area. Partnerships with NGOs, companies, and other
organizations interested in ecotourism and the conservation
of Atewa should be formed. Already, Butterfly
Conservation Ghana has been promoting ecotourism
visits to Atewa with an international partner, EcoTours
(see http://www.ecotours.hu/butterflies/butterflies00/
ghana00). Projects such as these should be supported
and integrated into the Ecotourism plan for Atewa.
2. To facilitate Ecotourism, establish a Multi-use
Biodiversity Center near to Atewa. The center should
be based at the edge of Atewa so that visitors have easy
access to the forest and can enjoy the cooler climate
provided by the forest. It should also be located near to
Kibi or other villages so they also benefit from tourist
visits. The center could contain lodging, kitchen and
dining facilities, an educational center, classrooms,
meeting rooms, laboratories, and a library. This center
could also provide facilities for Christian or other religious
communities to use as a spiritual retreat for prayer
and meetings. Support for the center could come from
the Christian community (both national and international),
national government, international NGOs,
private companies, and national and international
universities. Most importantly, the center can be built,
maintained, and staffed by local community members,
thus providing long-term employment opportunities.
This center could serve many functions including those
listed below:
a) Research station to facilitate research of Atewa
and surroundings by Ghanaian and international
scientists, promote collaborations, and train biology
and natural resource management students;
b) Tourist/visitor center to bring ecotourism to
Atewa and provide information about its biodiversity
to visitors and residents;
c) Education center to raise awareness of the uniqueness
and importance of Atewa: provide classes and
training for local communities, jobs for local residents
as interpreters and teachers, and opportunities
for local and national school children to spend
a night in the rainforest, Integration of a research
and education center would provide opportunities
for Ghanaian scientists and students to share their
knowledge and research with tourists and local
students;
d) Spiritual retreat for the Christian community and/
or other local religions to have a place to get away
to meet together; both Ghanaian and international
Christian groups could use the center as a quiet and
spiritual meeting place;
e) Sustainable employment opportunity for local
community members as builders, managers, maintenance
and housekeeping, tour guides, researchers,
and research assistants.
3. Investigate the possibility of a Payment for Ecosystem
Services (PES) scheme through which the users of the
water provided by the watershed (e.g. Accra and other
cities) pay the local communities around Atewa for protection
of the forest and watershed. This would provide
income to the surrounding communities in return for
keeping the surrounding watershed and forest biodiversity
intact. This type of PES scheme has been successfully
implemented in many countries, most notably Costa
Rica, by governments, NGOs, and private organizations.
See McNeely (2007) for more information.
4. Investigate the current status and investments of
international development/aid projects that are
reported to be working in the Atewa area, including
the GEF/World Bank/Government of Ghana Community
Investment Fund Project, the GEF/World
Bank-sponsored Promoting Partnership with Traditional
Authorities Project (PPTAP) and the Government of
Ghana sponsored Presidential Initiative on Tree Plantations
Project on the communities around Atewa to support
development of alternative incomes. Small grants
can also be applied for through Conservation International’s
Verde Ventures program (www.verdeventures.
org). There are many examples of successful ventures
in all of the areas listed below that can be studied and
consulted as models for developing such projects in the
Atewa area.
5. Other potential alternative-income industries:
a) Butterfly farming - for sale of live butterfly
pupae to the global market,
b) Beekeeping - producing honey for local consumption
and for sale,
c) Farming of native ornamental fishes for
aquarium trade,
d) Producing products for the tourist trade
such as baskets, Kente cloth weavings, wood
carvings, etc.,
e) Alternatives to bushmeat hunting, such as
raising other types of animals for meat, including
grasscutters and snails,
f ) Orchards of fruit trees and nitrogen-fixing
crops (e.g. beans) on degraded land to provide
food and also stabilize erosion and renew the
soil.
Recommendations for Management of Atewa
I. Control hunting as it poses a significant threat to the
large mammals and larger birds within the entire reserve.
Hunting pressure is strong throughout Atewa, even
in the northern areas where there are no roads. Evidence
of hunting, including spent cartridges, snares and hunting
trails was found at all three RAP sites (see Table 4).
Healthy mammal and bird communities, as well as their
associated invertebrate communities, are especially important
for maintaining primary and secondary seed dispersal
that are essential for plant regeneration and forest dynamics.
Although hunting in the reserve currently mainly targets
mammals, certain large bird species, such as Crested
Guineafowl, Great Blue Turaco and large hornbills, are
also illegally hunted.
1) Prevent access to hunters along roads and trails.
Asiakwa North showed the most hunting evidence even
though there are no roads there. There is access to the
reserve through an extensive trail system used by local
communities. Existing roads at Asiakwa South and Atiwiredu
also provide easy access throughout the southern
part of the reserve. Most of these trails and existing
roads need to be allowed to grow over and should be
patrolled to prevent illegal access to the reserve. Regular
use of trails by tourists and researchers will also deter
illegal access and activities.
2) Engage local people from communities in the area,
particularly the community of Kibi, in protecting the
reserve and reducing hunting. Increase awareness of and
pride in the biodiversity and watershed importance of
Atewa among the local people through training. Involve
local people in research (see below) and enforcement
and provide education on the importance of conserving,
rather than hunting, large mammals and on alternatives
to bushmeat. Work with community Chiefs to establish
hunting guidelines and to develop strategies based on
their animal totems.
3) Empower and fund the Wildlife Department and the
Forestry Commission of the Government of Ghana
to protect the biodiversity of Atewa through increased
monitoring and patrols, especially for illegal hunting
(and logging). Enforce penalties for any illegal activities
or trespassing.
4) Make an alliance against hunting with all who have
access to Atewa, including local communities, government
agencies, development agencies, and NGOs.
This would help to control the distribution and sale of
bushmeat from Atewa and educate local people on the
importance of protecting globally threatened species
that live in their forests.
5) Conduct research to determine which larger mammal
and bird species are targeted and most heavily
impacted. The population sizes of key species that are
most heavily hunted and most highly threatened in this
area can then be determined and used to inform more
specific recommendations on conserving key species
threatened by hunting.
II. Protect the headwaters of the Ayensu, Densu, and
Birim rivers that originate within the Atewa Range.
The steady flow of clean water off the Atewa Range is
determined by the capacity of the soil, swamps and forest
on the plateaus and in the valleys to store and filter
rainwater, and to buffer for spates and droughts. Both
human and wildlife populations around Atewa depend
on this healthy and reliable resource for their survival.
The threatened frog species found on the range and the
high diversity of dragonflies and damselflies rely on the
watershed.
The RAP results indicate a healthy watershed in
Atewa and the surrounding area, with limited pollution
and streambed erosion. This is confirmed by the presence
of forest species even in more disturbed landscapes.
However, activities entailing the removal of vegetation
or mineral deposits from the range could seriously compromise
its capacity to store, buffer and filter rainwater,
jeopardizing the reliable discharge of freshwater into the
region’s rivers, an essential resource for millions of Ghanaians
and a rich biodiversity.
1) Protect the plateau forests in the upper catchment
of the Ayensu, Densu and Birim rivers. Control and
restrict access to the forests and swamps, especially
with regard to small-scale miners, loggers and shifting
cultivation plots. Create a strict protected area on the
plateaus as discussed above.
2) Leave buffer zones of vegetation of at least 100 m
around water bodies (e.g., rivers, swamps and other
inundation zones) if any activities are to take place
in the reserve (including the Multi-use Station). Any
removal of forest cover from stream banks must be
rigorously controlled and monitored.
3) Prevent sedimentation and runoff from mining,
roads, and clearings, which all have negative impacts
on the water quality in the streams. Especially in the
southern part of Atewa, human activities including logging,
agriculture, hunting, and roads currently threaten
the integrity of the aquatic ecosystems. These impacts
are particularly high in the foothills.
4) Initiate a water-quality monitoring program of the
status of several key aquatic taxa (including fishes,
amphibians, plants, and selected invertebrate groups) as
well as water quality and sedimentation to create a baseline
and identify negative impacts to aquatic resources
before they become irreversible. Monitoring specific
responses to certain indicators is essential. We recommend
following standard aquatic monitoring protocols
at regular intervals (at least twice a year).
5) Educate local communities on the benefits of
preserving riparian flora and fauna so that they
understand the role that riparian vegetation plays in preserving
the quality and quantity of their water, as well as
preventing soil erosion.
III. Maintain corridors and large tracts of forest to
ensure survival of larger species and to maintain
ecosystem processes. Linking patches of forest by corridors
is important to addressing the increasing problem
of habitat fragmentation, both within and outside of
Atewa. Larger mammal species, such as the threatened
primates, and many bird species need large tracts of
forest for feeding and nesting. Threatened species have
a much higher chance of going extinct in smaller forest
patches that have no connection to additional habitat or
that lack a large enough elevation range to allow species
to adapt to changing conditions and human pressures.
1) Maintain Corridors along the length of the Atewa
Range to allow for species migrations and adaptations
to changes in habitat and human pressures. Keep the
northern part of the reserve as intact as possible to
maintain a large tract of forest and keep connections to
the southern parts of the reserve.
2) Reforest roads, trails and clearings that are no longer
in use to reduce habitat fragmentation and human
access to the forest and to discourage illegal logging,
hunting of large mammals, and agricultural production.
Trails and other access routes in all three areas should be
minimized and regulated and roads should be blocked
and reforested to prevent large-scale encroachment into
the reserve. The few roads and trails necessary to to
provide access for ecotourism and research should be
carefully maintained and patrolled to ensure the least
possible impact.
3) Link Atewa to other forest reserves and patches of
forest. Outside of Atewa, the Kwahu plateau forested
zone, about 15 km north from Atewa contains similar
upland habitat and is consequently a good candidate to
connect to Atewa. A feasibility study including assessment
of diversity in Kwahu and landscape description
should be carried out prior to such an action.
4) Promote and utilize biodiversity friendly land-use
practices in agricultural areas between forest reserves to
maximize biodiversity in the areas surrounding Atewa
and to provide a connection between Atewa and nearby
forest reserves. This could include minimizing the use
of pesticides and herbicides and other chemicals in
agriculture, promoting crop rotation and natural pest
control, and planting native tree species among crops to
harbor wildlife.
5) Prohibit logging in the core protected area on the
plateaus and upper slopes and strictly control logging in
the buffer zone on the lower slopes. Logging accelerates
habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation.
6) Monitor several key species or groups that depend
on intact forest to ensure healthy populations and to
detect changes as early as possible to prevent serious
declines. Target groups should include large and small
mammals, amphibians, and several insect groups. Since
small mammals are highly dependent on forest structure
for their survival and constitute a key component of the
diet of large animals, monitoring small mammal diversity
and abundance is a good way to track the integrity
of the forest ecosystem.
IV. Conduct in-depth studies focusing on threatened,
rare and endemic species, and during other seasons,
and expand basic species surveys to include additional
groups of organisms.
1) Conduct studies of the Critically Endangered Conraua
derooi in Atewa and other areas where it is known to
occur. While this species is historically known from a
number of sites, recent surveys have failed to record it
from some of its previously known localities. At other
sites, it is under sever pressure from habitat degradation
and consumption. Hence, Atewa could hold the last
remaining viable population of this Critically Endangered
species and we urgently recommend additional
surveys to determine if this is the case. Areas holding
95% of the remaining population of a Critically Endangered
species are eligible for consideration as Alliance
for Zero Extinction (AZE) sites, a designation which
would increase the significance of Atewa as a conservation
target and could potentially increase available funding
for conservation activities.
2) Survey during the dry season. This RAP survey was
conducted during the rainy season when the plants
Mapania bakdwinii and Leptapisi cochleata form a
carpet covering much of the forest floor making footprints,
dung and other signs of animals difficult to see.
Undertaking a similar survey during the dry season
and sampling additional areas towards the periphery of
the reserve would most likely increase the number of
mammal species directly or indirectly encountered, thus
adding to the confirmed species list for the reserve.
3) Conduct additional surveys for groups of organisms
not included in previous surveys, but having a high
probability of including rare and/or new species, such as
dung beetles, preying mantids, arachnids, or mollusks
(both freshwater and terrestrial)."
End of excerpt from the Executive Summary of the Conservation International RAP survey bulletin 47.
Well, there it is, dear reader. One can only hope that officialdom will ensure that Solar Mining's perfidy does not go unpunished. This part of the Atewa Range, like the official government reserve, is too vital a part of the area's eco-system, to be sacrificed on the alter of privileged private-greed of the most egregious kind, at the expense of the rest of society and the common good. Are those charged with preserving Ghana's natural heritage listening - and more importantly, will they pay heed? One certainly hopes they will - for the sake of this and future generations of Ghanaians. A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works! ): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
Thursday, 13 January 2011
GHANA’S PRIVATE MEDIA MUST STAY PRIVATE – AND MAKE DO WITHOUT ANY STATE SUPPORT!
Recent news reports that the chairperson of the National Media Commission (NMC), Mr. Kabral Blay-Amihere, had called for state support for the Ghanaian media, has generated a fair amount of controversy. There are many ordinary Ghanaians who are dead against the idea – and feel strongly that provision of financial support by the state will give it a backdoor means of controlling the Ghanaian media. Naturally, there are also those who support such a policy – and think it will strengthen the Ghanaian media. Personally, I think that Mr. Blay-Amihere should rather encourage private newspapers (and the electronic media) to be more creative businesses. Surely it is time they gave some thought to the idea of mergers as a way of continuing to remain sustainable entities in the long-term, is it not, dear reader?
What the Ghanaian media world needs, in order to have business models that ensure robust finances, is consolidation – not handouts from the Ghanaian nation-state. Who knows when some super-clever tyrant will emerge through the ballot box one day – and proceed to manipulate the legal system to whittle away the rights of ordinary people, including their right to freedom of expression, once in power? With respect, a media world in which precious few practitioners have any personal integrity, and are happy to be the lackeys of our ruling elite, in exchange for material benefits, is bound to be a barren place, in which very little original thinking goes on. The fact of the matter is that as long as the Ghanaian media world continues to be a place in which yellow journalism thrives, it will continue to be a place full of basket-cases whose owners struggle to pay those who work for them.
Quite frankly, it ought to be the last sector of the national economy, which anyone should think of keeping afloat financially, through subsidies provided by hapless Ghanaian taxpayers. If media outlets make themselves relevant to their audience as well as their
readers, and make themselves attractive to corporate Ghana (by being entities that command the respect of society – because they are sources of reliable news and vital information; are balanced in their reportage; provide life-enhancing information to listeners, viewers, and a readership with aspirations; and above all are underpinned by ethical journalism), they will not only be able to survive, but thrive. Is that not what advertisers the world over, look for, dear reader? There is a gap in the newspaper market that any creative and nimble-footed media house can exploit. State funding for the private media is definitely not a very good idea.
Rather than spoon-feed the media, it would be far better for the Ghanaian nation-state to devote such funds to providing support, which enables young apprentices, for example, who successfully complete their training but cannot afford tools to work with, to acquire the basic tools and equipment needed to make them enter the world of the self-employed, and become micro-entrepreneurs. Dressmakers; hairdressers; carpenters; masons; plumbers; caterers; shoemakers; etc., at least contribute to the real economy and help increase Ghana’s GDP. A profession that includes many who sell their consciences to politicians, and the fruits of whose labour has such a negative impact on society, as a result of their shameful recourse to sensationalism, and the fabrication of stories, is not one that deserves any support from Ghana’s hard-pressed taxpayers.
They are private undertakings after all, are they not? Let market forces determine which of them survive. If the not-so-good ones amongst them devoted more time to developing themselves as innovative businesses, instead of doing propaganda for their political paymasters, perhaps it would make a difference in the number of copies of newspapers that they sold, and the numbers of viewers and listeners that they are able to attract. Why use taxpayers’ money, precious cash that could improve rural water supply systems, and provide school buildings in much of rural Ghana, to prop up an industry, in which over 90 percent of the professionals employed by sector-players, have even failed to master the basic tool of their profession, the English language?
In any case, what do those media houses and journalists that are in the pockets of politicians, do with the zillions of cedis that their political paymasters provide them, on a regular basis? Let the private media stay private – and make do without any state support. Period. We must not tempt fate, by turning what is the fourth arm of government in our democracy, into a bedfellow of the other three arms of government. If the Ghana media is to play the role of watchdog on society's behalf, and watch over the other three arms of government, let media houses and journalists remain independent in every aspect of their work – lest we end up being deprived of our freedoms and eventually enslaved by our rapacious ruling elite (through collusion towards that end by all four arms of government – if we accept that the media is the fourth arm of government, that is!). To safeguard our liberties, especially now that our homeland Ghana has become an oil-producing nation, we must all be eternally vigilant. A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo – the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
What the Ghanaian media world needs, in order to have business models that ensure robust finances, is consolidation – not handouts from the Ghanaian nation-state. Who knows when some super-clever tyrant will emerge through the ballot box one day – and proceed to manipulate the legal system to whittle away the rights of ordinary people, including their right to freedom of expression, once in power? With respect, a media world in which precious few practitioners have any personal integrity, and are happy to be the lackeys of our ruling elite, in exchange for material benefits, is bound to be a barren place, in which very little original thinking goes on. The fact of the matter is that as long as the Ghanaian media world continues to be a place in which yellow journalism thrives, it will continue to be a place full of basket-cases whose owners struggle to pay those who work for them.
Quite frankly, it ought to be the last sector of the national economy, which anyone should think of keeping afloat financially, through subsidies provided by hapless Ghanaian taxpayers. If media outlets make themselves relevant to their audience as well as their
readers, and make themselves attractive to corporate Ghana (by being entities that command the respect of society – because they are sources of reliable news and vital information; are balanced in their reportage; provide life-enhancing information to listeners, viewers, and a readership with aspirations; and above all are underpinned by ethical journalism), they will not only be able to survive, but thrive. Is that not what advertisers the world over, look for, dear reader? There is a gap in the newspaper market that any creative and nimble-footed media house can exploit. State funding for the private media is definitely not a very good idea.
Rather than spoon-feed the media, it would be far better for the Ghanaian nation-state to devote such funds to providing support, which enables young apprentices, for example, who successfully complete their training but cannot afford tools to work with, to acquire the basic tools and equipment needed to make them enter the world of the self-employed, and become micro-entrepreneurs. Dressmakers; hairdressers; carpenters; masons; plumbers; caterers; shoemakers; etc., at least contribute to the real economy and help increase Ghana’s GDP. A profession that includes many who sell their consciences to politicians, and the fruits of whose labour has such a negative impact on society, as a result of their shameful recourse to sensationalism, and the fabrication of stories, is not one that deserves any support from Ghana’s hard-pressed taxpayers.
They are private undertakings after all, are they not? Let market forces determine which of them survive. If the not-so-good ones amongst them devoted more time to developing themselves as innovative businesses, instead of doing propaganda for their political paymasters, perhaps it would make a difference in the number of copies of newspapers that they sold, and the numbers of viewers and listeners that they are able to attract. Why use taxpayers’ money, precious cash that could improve rural water supply systems, and provide school buildings in much of rural Ghana, to prop up an industry, in which over 90 percent of the professionals employed by sector-players, have even failed to master the basic tool of their profession, the English language?
In any case, what do those media houses and journalists that are in the pockets of politicians, do with the zillions of cedis that their political paymasters provide them, on a regular basis? Let the private media stay private – and make do without any state support. Period. We must not tempt fate, by turning what is the fourth arm of government in our democracy, into a bedfellow of the other three arms of government. If the Ghana media is to play the role of watchdog on society's behalf, and watch over the other three arms of government, let media houses and journalists remain independent in every aspect of their work – lest we end up being deprived of our freedoms and eventually enslaved by our rapacious ruling elite (through collusion towards that end by all four arms of government – if we accept that the media is the fourth arm of government, that is!). To safeguard our liberties, especially now that our homeland Ghana has become an oil-producing nation, we must all be eternally vigilant. A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo – the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Is Ghana's Position On The Ivory Coast Crisis Shortsighted And Cowardly?
Apparently, the safety of Ghanaian expatriates in the Ivory Coast is what informs Ghana's "dzi wu fia asem" policy - in refusing to support any military intervention to remove former President Gbagbo from power.
How will that possibly save Ghanaian expatriates there, when a wave of xenophobia finally sweeps across the Ivory Coast, as it inevitably will, remains unclear.
Perhaps the question we must ask is whether or not the Mills regime should revise its notes quickly - as many Ghanaians will end up becoming victims, when the hotheads on both sides target foreigners, once they resort to armed conflict again: in an attempt to bring a final resolution to the current iimpasse
It is difficult to understand why Ghana did not simply opt to say that whiles nothing could be ruled in or ruled out (as regards the AU and the ECOWAS pronouncements on the Ivorian crisis, including using force to remove Gbagbo), it was of the view that military intervention ought to be a last-resort measure – and should be undertaken only in order to prevent widespread violence and the wholesale abuse of human rights.
It could then have gone on to suggest that an effective option might be to start with a naval and air blockade, so as to prevent arms from reaching the military forces of both sides.
Behind the scenes, it could have - as it tried to mediate between the two sides as an honest broker - reminded all the Ivorian leaders that ultimately, the international community would hold them personally responsible, for any large-scale atrocities committed by the violence-prone amongst their supporters.
For good measure, perhaps the government of Ghana must also make it clear to all of them that the AU and ECOWAS could be forced, if there was overwhelming public opinion across the continent for such a measure (as a result of widespread revulsion at any atrocities and ethnic-cleansing occurring in the Ivory Coast), to deliver such Ivorian leaders to the International Criminal Court (ICC) eventually.
Above all, the time has come for it to be made absolutely clear to all Africa's politicians that no tribe on our continent can be said to be inferior or superior to another African tribe. All African life is of equal value – and fellow Africans regarded as "foreign settlers" in AU member-nations, are only continuing an ancient African tradition.
We are all descended from Africans who migrated from one part of the continent or the other in ancient times, to the nations we hail from today.
The northerners of the Ivory Coast are full and equal citizens of that nation, wherever their forebears originated from - and have as much a right to lead that nation, as do the southerners, who have dominated that nation since it gained independence from France.
The southern elite must stop thinking that they are superior to the northerners. That is backward and absurd in 21st century Africa - and Nkrumah's Ghana must make that point strongly to Gbagbo & Co. Surely, ten consecutive years is long enough a period, for any one set of leaders to be in power continuously, for, in any nation on the planet Earth, dear reader?
The fact of the matter, is that the verdict of a majority of Ivorian voters, is that Gbagbo & Co must depart from office – and outsiders saying so are not, by any stretch of the imagination, choosing a leader for the Ivory Coast.
We must not think that appeasing undemocratic leaders amounts to pragmatism. Such leaders make very dangerous neighbours – and must never be humoured: lest they mistake that for cowardice.
Ghana must be polite but firm with Gbagbo, in all her closed-door meetings with him – and make it absolutely clear to him that ultimately his position is quite simply untenable.
For those who say Quatterah is a stooge for the West, and count that against him, the answer is simple: he will be found out soon enough if that indeed is the case - and turfed out of office in the next presidential election, if his regime serves foreign interests during its tenure, instead of ensuring the well-being of all Ivorians and their nation.
With respect, Ghana's position on the Ivory Coast crisis is short-sighted and cowardly. We must not close our eyes to such glaring injustice, and blatant stealing of an election, and say that it is none of our business.
The crisis in the Ivory Coast ought to be of concern to all Ghanaians - for the two countries are sister African nations who share a common border: and have ethnic groups that straddle that common border.
Injustice and suffering in any nation in Africa, is very much Ghana's business. A policy of appeasement, when confronted with belligerent and undemocratic leaders on your doorstep, is dangerous and shortsighted – particularly if the objective is to foster long-lasting peace between neighbouring states.
How will that possibly save Ghanaian expatriates there, when a wave of xenophobia finally sweeps across the Ivory Coast, as it inevitably will, remains unclear.
Perhaps the question we must ask is whether or not the Mills regime should revise its notes quickly - as many Ghanaians will end up becoming victims, when the hotheads on both sides target foreigners, once they resort to armed conflict again: in an attempt to bring a final resolution to the current iimpasse
It is difficult to understand why Ghana did not simply opt to say that whiles nothing could be ruled in or ruled out (as regards the AU and the ECOWAS pronouncements on the Ivorian crisis, including using force to remove Gbagbo), it was of the view that military intervention ought to be a last-resort measure – and should be undertaken only in order to prevent widespread violence and the wholesale abuse of human rights.
It could then have gone on to suggest that an effective option might be to start with a naval and air blockade, so as to prevent arms from reaching the military forces of both sides.
Behind the scenes, it could have - as it tried to mediate between the two sides as an honest broker - reminded all the Ivorian leaders that ultimately, the international community would hold them personally responsible, for any large-scale atrocities committed by the violence-prone amongst their supporters.
For good measure, perhaps the government of Ghana must also make it clear to all of them that the AU and ECOWAS could be forced, if there was overwhelming public opinion across the continent for such a measure (as a result of widespread revulsion at any atrocities and ethnic-cleansing occurring in the Ivory Coast), to deliver such Ivorian leaders to the International Criminal Court (ICC) eventually.
Above all, the time has come for it to be made absolutely clear to all Africa's politicians that no tribe on our continent can be said to be inferior or superior to another African tribe. All African life is of equal value – and fellow Africans regarded as "foreign settlers" in AU member-nations, are only continuing an ancient African tradition.
We are all descended from Africans who migrated from one part of the continent or the other in ancient times, to the nations we hail from today.
The northerners of the Ivory Coast are full and equal citizens of that nation, wherever their forebears originated from - and have as much a right to lead that nation, as do the southerners, who have dominated that nation since it gained independence from France.
The southern elite must stop thinking that they are superior to the northerners. That is backward and absurd in 21st century Africa - and Nkrumah's Ghana must make that point strongly to Gbagbo & Co. Surely, ten consecutive years is long enough a period, for any one set of leaders to be in power continuously, for, in any nation on the planet Earth, dear reader?
The fact of the matter, is that the verdict of a majority of Ivorian voters, is that Gbagbo & Co must depart from office – and outsiders saying so are not, by any stretch of the imagination, choosing a leader for the Ivory Coast.
We must not think that appeasing undemocratic leaders amounts to pragmatism. Such leaders make very dangerous neighbours – and must never be humoured: lest they mistake that for cowardice.
Ghana must be polite but firm with Gbagbo, in all her closed-door meetings with him – and make it absolutely clear to him that ultimately his position is quite simply untenable.
For those who say Quatterah is a stooge for the West, and count that against him, the answer is simple: he will be found out soon enough if that indeed is the case - and turfed out of office in the next presidential election, if his regime serves foreign interests during its tenure, instead of ensuring the well-being of all Ivorians and their nation.
With respect, Ghana's position on the Ivory Coast crisis is short-sighted and cowardly. We must not close our eyes to such glaring injustice, and blatant stealing of an election, and say that it is none of our business.
The crisis in the Ivory Coast ought to be of concern to all Ghanaians - for the two countries are sister African nations who share a common border: and have ethnic groups that straddle that common border.
Injustice and suffering in any nation in Africa, is very much Ghana's business. A policy of appeasement, when confronted with belligerent and undemocratic leaders on your doorstep, is dangerous and shortsighted – particularly if the objective is to foster long-lasting peace between neighbouring states.
Friday, 7 January 2011
AN OPEN LETTER TO GHANA'S NEW TOURISM MINISTER!
Happy New Year to you, minister! This blog, which in the war of the sexes - in a nation full of philandering males - is firmly on the side of women, wishes you every success in your new job. Hopefully, the misogynists who undermined your work in your previous portfolio, will now leave you alone to do your important work for Mother Ghana, at the tourism ministry. Luckily for you, there is no incentive there for those unprincipled and ace-freeloaders, who constantly seek to exploit political power, for their own selfish ends: and amass tainted-wealth quickly in the process. We all saw the disgraceful way that some of them carried on during the 2010 World Cup tournament in South Africa – with a number of them engaging in what amounted to profiteering at the expense of our homeland Ghana, in the provision of flights and accommodation, for those Ghanaians who were sponsored by the government, to support the Black Stars.
At the risk of sounding presumptuous, may I humbly make a few suggestions, minister? I suggest that you use our embassies in the US; the EU; and the UK, to get some of the travel writers who write for leading newspapers in those nations, to visit Ghana – and write about their experiences here. I worked together with Ghana’s leading green tour company, M&J Travel and Tours Limited and Hands Up Holidays of the UK, in helping to organize the in-country aspects of The Independent on Sunday's Ian Burrel's trip to Ghana, during the 2008 CAF football tournament. He wrote a wonderful piece in the travel-page of the Independent on Sunday about Ghana – and not a few tourists from the UK have visited Ghana since as a result. Such travelogues in overseas newspapers help create awareness about our nation. They could be read, for example, by some of those in the outbound tourism markets of the US, the UK, and the EU and elsewhere, who still have jobs and feel that going abroad on holidays, is an important factor in helping them maintain a good work-life balance.
It is a relatively cheap way of advertising our marvelous country overseas. Above all, do not allow those with vested interests in selling tickets to those foreigners, who are brought here at hapless Ghanaian taxpayers’ expense, to ostensibly demonstrate and teach para-gliding to ordinary Ghanaians in the Kwawu Mountains, during the Easter break, to continue having their way. Rather than follow that daft path, it would be far more beneficial to the national economy, to get the cash-rich telecoms companies in Ghana to put up substantial prize-money, for two major competitions: an African para-gliding championship (for civilians!) and a world military para-gliding championship, to be held in tandem – in the Kwawu Mountains during the Easter holidays. Obviously that cannot be done this year – but make that a goal, minister. It is outrageous that our country has to sponsor people from nations much wealthier than ours, to come to Ghana, and in effect, have fun para-gliding here, at taxpayers’ expense.
I also suggest that you google Sustainable Travel International (STI). Minister, it might make a great deal of sense to strike an alliance with them, to help Ghana break into the outbound US responsible travel market. Do talk to STI’s Brain Mullis and get him to visit Ghana to that end. A lasting legacy for you in the tourism ministry, would be to get the Thailand Community-based Tourism Institute (CBT-I) of Chiangmai University, to collaborate with the Okyenehene’s Environmental University and the University of Cape Coast, to set up similar institutes here, in the two institutions, to help improve the quality of Ghana’s tourism professionals. Finally, I also suggest that you talk to Mr. John Mason of the Nature Research and Conservation Centre (NCRC). He is a Canadian who has adopted Ghana as his home-country and taken up citizenship here. He has contributed a great deal to Ghana’s community-based eco-tourism industry. Talking to him, and getting a key private-sector viewpoint that way, will be very insightful for you, in my humble opinion. Good luck in your new portfolio, Minister.
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
At the risk of sounding presumptuous, may I humbly make a few suggestions, minister? I suggest that you use our embassies in the US; the EU; and the UK, to get some of the travel writers who write for leading newspapers in those nations, to visit Ghana – and write about their experiences here. I worked together with Ghana’s leading green tour company, M&J Travel and Tours Limited and Hands Up Holidays of the UK, in helping to organize the in-country aspects of The Independent on Sunday's Ian Burrel's trip to Ghana, during the 2008 CAF football tournament. He wrote a wonderful piece in the travel-page of the Independent on Sunday about Ghana – and not a few tourists from the UK have visited Ghana since as a result. Such travelogues in overseas newspapers help create awareness about our nation. They could be read, for example, by some of those in the outbound tourism markets of the US, the UK, and the EU and elsewhere, who still have jobs and feel that going abroad on holidays, is an important factor in helping them maintain a good work-life balance.
It is a relatively cheap way of advertising our marvelous country overseas. Above all, do not allow those with vested interests in selling tickets to those foreigners, who are brought here at hapless Ghanaian taxpayers’ expense, to ostensibly demonstrate and teach para-gliding to ordinary Ghanaians in the Kwawu Mountains, during the Easter break, to continue having their way. Rather than follow that daft path, it would be far more beneficial to the national economy, to get the cash-rich telecoms companies in Ghana to put up substantial prize-money, for two major competitions: an African para-gliding championship (for civilians!) and a world military para-gliding championship, to be held in tandem – in the Kwawu Mountains during the Easter holidays. Obviously that cannot be done this year – but make that a goal, minister. It is outrageous that our country has to sponsor people from nations much wealthier than ours, to come to Ghana, and in effect, have fun para-gliding here, at taxpayers’ expense.
I also suggest that you google Sustainable Travel International (STI). Minister, it might make a great deal of sense to strike an alliance with them, to help Ghana break into the outbound US responsible travel market. Do talk to STI’s Brain Mullis and get him to visit Ghana to that end. A lasting legacy for you in the tourism ministry, would be to get the Thailand Community-based Tourism Institute (CBT-I) of Chiangmai University, to collaborate with the Okyenehene’s Environmental University and the University of Cape Coast, to set up similar institutes here, in the two institutions, to help improve the quality of Ghana’s tourism professionals. Finally, I also suggest that you talk to Mr. John Mason of the Nature Research and Conservation Centre (NCRC). He is a Canadian who has adopted Ghana as his home-country and taken up citizenship here. He has contributed a great deal to Ghana’s community-based eco-tourism industry. Talking to him, and getting a key private-sector viewpoint that way, will be very insightful for you, in my humble opinion. Good luck in your new portfolio, Minister.
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
Monday, 3 January 2011
AN INTERVIEW WITH GHANA'S MINISTER FOR WATER RESOURCES, WORKS AND HOUSING - HON. ALBAN BAGBIN
On the 15th of November 2010, I paid for The National Review newspaper, which I intend to publish in the first half of this year, to be registered with the National Media Commission (NMC). As part of the paper’s mission of ensuring that readers always get first-hand knowledge, of the nation-building efforts of those entrusted with the task of leading Ghana into prosperity, we will be interviewing leading players in different spheres of our national life, including government ministers and district chief executives, on a regular basis. The Hon. Alban Bagbin was the first to agree to grant us an interview. To usher in President Mills’ “year of action”. I am posting my interview with him here. It serves as an example of what readers of the paper can expect in The National Review's columns.
Incidentally, I met the Hon. Bagbin, at 6.30 am on a working day. There was already a queue of people waiting to see him even at that hour of the morning. Apparently the flow of visitors never ceases. If President Mills wants his “year of action” to be a successful one, his National Democratic Congress (NDC) must strengthen its capacity to help the party’s supporters who troop to the ministries to seek help from his ministers. The question is: should it not be the case that when a serving minister’s constituent needs, say a passport, or requires help of some sort, in interfacing with officialdom (which necessitates that individual coming to Accra if they live in any of the other regions of Ghana), that person can simply speak to those in charge of the minister’s constituency office, in the region they hail from: who in turn would then arrange with the party’s national headquarters staff, to render the assistance that enables the said constituent, to get the help he or she requires in Accra?
Instead of the endless bickering, let the NDC’s big-wigs devote their considerable energies to strengthening their party to such a degree that it can carry some of the unnecessary load now being shouldered by government ministers and the NDC’s members of Parliament. It is simply not possible to get Ghana’s elected leaders to do the work they are supposed to do, if Ghanaians continue to flock to their offices in such large numbers, on a daily basis, in order to seek direct assistance from them. Surely, the NDC ought to be able to render such assistance to their own members? The same thing applies to all the other political parties in Ghana during their tenure as governing parties. But I digress. My interview, towards the end of last year, with the Hon. Alban Bagbin, on aspects of the STX deal follows below. Do please read on, dear reader!
KT: Minister, many of those who root for you in your party, say that your leadership has made a huge difference, to the final outcome of the STX security services housing project. In what way would you say your coming to the ministry has made a difference to the project?
Hon. Bagbin: Well, naturally, to begin with, I must give credit to all those who worked on it, before my appointment to the ministry, as minister. To answer your question directly, my arrival at the ministry was in a sense timely. It was around the time that H.E. President Mills had directed Vice President John Mahama to proceed to South Korea to seal the agreement. I joined that delegation (which incidentally included the Minority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, and Hon. Dr Akoto Osei, who was once a minister at the ministry of finance, as you know).
On arrival at the hotel we were to lodge in, the Koreans attempted to rush us to a press conference that they had organized – for us to sign an MOU on the STX housing project in Ghana. I advised against our delegation attending such a press conference without first getting the opportunity to go through the MOU to approve its contents. H.E. Vice President Mahama accepted that advice and turned the invitation to the press conference down. I then requested to be given a copy of the MOU to go through it. The Koreans obliged and together with Hon. Seth Tekpeh we made substantial amendments to the document.
The Koreans wanted the vice president to be a signatory, but I advised against it: for the simple reason that this was not in the nature of a treaty or convention for it to be signed by the presidency. An MOU is not an agreement but a recording of the initial general understanding of the parties at a stage of negotiations on a subject matter. I was then mandated to sign it on behalf of Ghana.
KT: What exactly necessitated the audit that was conducted by the South Koreans –- and at whose behest was it done: the government of Ghana or that of South Korea?
Hon. Bagbin: Well, on my second trip to South Korea to attend a conference on Africa (following the one during which I signed the MOU), I decided to kill two birds with one stone, by meeting the STX Group to clarify some issues on the project. For that reason, I had arranged for a team from the ministry of justice and that of finance to accompany us, to give us technical support. I insisted at that meeting that there must be a value-for-money audit by an accredited agent of Ghana and a performance-audit by the Auditor-General of Ghana. The Koreans finally accepted that suggestion – and the EPC document we signed recently captures the two issues.
.
KT: Is it true that your ministry will be in overall charge of the implementation of the security services housing component of the STX project - and "drive it" as well?
Hon. Bagbin: The 30,000 housing units for the security service personnel will be under the purview of my ministry. I've insisted that being the beneficiary Ghana ought to be in the driving seat. The Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing will perform that duty on behalf of Ghana. That is why I got them to agree that Architectural and Engineering Services Limited (AESL), a government–owned organization, should be the project’s consultants. AESL, as you know, is under my ministry.
KT: Sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations in South Korea, say that you insisted on STX signing a performance-bond, and that they were surprised by that demand. Is it true that to make your point, you asked them if they did not intend to ask their Ghanaian sub-contractors to sign same, and went on to ask them the reason why?
Hon. Bagbin: That is very true. I actually had to even debate an expert they brought in from Singapore on that matter. I made references to the writings of Mr. Lee Kwan Yu, his former prime minister and the founding father of his country, to buttress my point!
KT: Does your ministry have any plans to get the South Korean government (and other governments such as that of China), to support private or (state-owned) South Korean construction firms, to construct infrastructure, own and operate them to derive revenues from them for a period, and then transfer them to the ownership of the government of Ghana?
Hon. Bagbin: We are already rolling out similar projects. So any such companies are very welcome to invest here with the support of their governments.
KT: Minister, it appears that the time you allotted for this interview is over! Thank you very much for sparing the time from your rather busy schedule for this morning’s interview. We do hope that your doors will continue to remain open to The National Review (and other Ghanaian media houses) in future.
Hon. Alban Bagbin: Many thanks too, Kofi. I do wish your new paper The National Review well. As you know, my doors have always been open to the Ghanaian media – and they will continue to be open in future as well. Do have a good day.
Incidentally, I met the Hon. Bagbin, at 6.30 am on a working day. There was already a queue of people waiting to see him even at that hour of the morning. Apparently the flow of visitors never ceases. If President Mills wants his “year of action” to be a successful one, his National Democratic Congress (NDC) must strengthen its capacity to help the party’s supporters who troop to the ministries to seek help from his ministers. The question is: should it not be the case that when a serving minister’s constituent needs, say a passport, or requires help of some sort, in interfacing with officialdom (which necessitates that individual coming to Accra if they live in any of the other regions of Ghana), that person can simply speak to those in charge of the minister’s constituency office, in the region they hail from: who in turn would then arrange with the party’s national headquarters staff, to render the assistance that enables the said constituent, to get the help he or she requires in Accra?
Instead of the endless bickering, let the NDC’s big-wigs devote their considerable energies to strengthening their party to such a degree that it can carry some of the unnecessary load now being shouldered by government ministers and the NDC’s members of Parliament. It is simply not possible to get Ghana’s elected leaders to do the work they are supposed to do, if Ghanaians continue to flock to their offices in such large numbers, on a daily basis, in order to seek direct assistance from them. Surely, the NDC ought to be able to render such assistance to their own members? The same thing applies to all the other political parties in Ghana during their tenure as governing parties. But I digress. My interview, towards the end of last year, with the Hon. Alban Bagbin, on aspects of the STX deal follows below. Do please read on, dear reader!
KT: Minister, many of those who root for you in your party, say that your leadership has made a huge difference, to the final outcome of the STX security services housing project. In what way would you say your coming to the ministry has made a difference to the project?
Hon. Bagbin: Well, naturally, to begin with, I must give credit to all those who worked on it, before my appointment to the ministry, as minister. To answer your question directly, my arrival at the ministry was in a sense timely. It was around the time that H.E. President Mills had directed Vice President John Mahama to proceed to South Korea to seal the agreement. I joined that delegation (which incidentally included the Minority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, and Hon. Dr Akoto Osei, who was once a minister at the ministry of finance, as you know).
On arrival at the hotel we were to lodge in, the Koreans attempted to rush us to a press conference that they had organized – for us to sign an MOU on the STX housing project in Ghana. I advised against our delegation attending such a press conference without first getting the opportunity to go through the MOU to approve its contents. H.E. Vice President Mahama accepted that advice and turned the invitation to the press conference down. I then requested to be given a copy of the MOU to go through it. The Koreans obliged and together with Hon. Seth Tekpeh we made substantial amendments to the document.
The Koreans wanted the vice president to be a signatory, but I advised against it: for the simple reason that this was not in the nature of a treaty or convention for it to be signed by the presidency. An MOU is not an agreement but a recording of the initial general understanding of the parties at a stage of negotiations on a subject matter. I was then mandated to sign it on behalf of Ghana.
KT: What exactly necessitated the audit that was conducted by the South Koreans –- and at whose behest was it done: the government of Ghana or that of South Korea?
Hon. Bagbin: Well, on my second trip to South Korea to attend a conference on Africa (following the one during which I signed the MOU), I decided to kill two birds with one stone, by meeting the STX Group to clarify some issues on the project. For that reason, I had arranged for a team from the ministry of justice and that of finance to accompany us, to give us technical support. I insisted at that meeting that there must be a value-for-money audit by an accredited agent of Ghana and a performance-audit by the Auditor-General of Ghana. The Koreans finally accepted that suggestion – and the EPC document we signed recently captures the two issues.
.
KT: Is it true that your ministry will be in overall charge of the implementation of the security services housing component of the STX project - and "drive it" as well?
Hon. Bagbin: The 30,000 housing units for the security service personnel will be under the purview of my ministry. I've insisted that being the beneficiary Ghana ought to be in the driving seat. The Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing will perform that duty on behalf of Ghana. That is why I got them to agree that Architectural and Engineering Services Limited (AESL), a government–owned organization, should be the project’s consultants. AESL, as you know, is under my ministry.
KT: Sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations in South Korea, say that you insisted on STX signing a performance-bond, and that they were surprised by that demand. Is it true that to make your point, you asked them if they did not intend to ask their Ghanaian sub-contractors to sign same, and went on to ask them the reason why?
Hon. Bagbin: That is very true. I actually had to even debate an expert they brought in from Singapore on that matter. I made references to the writings of Mr. Lee Kwan Yu, his former prime minister and the founding father of his country, to buttress my point!
KT: Does your ministry have any plans to get the South Korean government (and other governments such as that of China), to support private or (state-owned) South Korean construction firms, to construct infrastructure, own and operate them to derive revenues from them for a period, and then transfer them to the ownership of the government of Ghana?
Hon. Bagbin: We are already rolling out similar projects. So any such companies are very welcome to invest here with the support of their governments.
KT: Minister, it appears that the time you allotted for this interview is over! Thank you very much for sparing the time from your rather busy schedule for this morning’s interview. We do hope that your doors will continue to remain open to The National Review (and other Ghanaian media houses) in future.
Hon. Alban Bagbin: Many thanks too, Kofi. I do wish your new paper The National Review well. As you know, my doors have always been open to the Ghanaian media – and they will continue to be open in future as well. Do have a good day.
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