Claim: The Member of Parliament for Efutu, Afenyo Markins, has claimed that Ghana pays more to cocoa farmers than the Ivory Coast.
According to data from the Cocoa Coffee Council in the Ivory Coast and the Ministry of Agriculture in Ghana, the producer price for cocoa per kilogram is $1.3 in Ghana and $1.3 in Ivory Coast respectively.
According to the Efutu Member of Parliament, “Ghana government is paying more to cocoa farmers in Ghana than in the Ivory Coast.”
The show which was streamed live on its YouTube channel has garnered over 15,000 views and received over 90 likes. The show was also aired on Joy FM 99.7. According to the media measurement report by Geopoll in 2018, Joy Fm is ranked 3rd as the most listened to radio station in Greater Accra with over 80,000 listeners.
DUBAWA decided to verify the claim.
Verification
Source: Ghanalive.tv
Ghana and Ivory Coast are the top producers of cocoa in the world. According to Bloomberg, the two West African countries produce two-thirds of the world’s cocoa. However, which of the two countries pay more to their cocoa farmers? Is it Ghana or Ivory Coast? The only way to determine this is by using the producer price per cocoa for both countries.
In Ghana, President Akufo Addo announced an increment of a new cocoa producer price by 28%. This means cocoa producers will be paid ¢10,560 per metric ton. This took effect from October 1, 2020. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, this is equivalent to ¢660 per 64kg bag. This announcement can be found in a news report by Citi Tube, the YouTube channel of an Accra-based media house, Citi FM/TV. Presidency.gov.gh the website for Ghana’s presidency, and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) also captured the news.
Since ¢660 of ¢10,560 per metric ton is equivalent to 64kg in Ghana, DUBAWA decided to calculate how much cedis will make a kilogram (kg). In our calculation, we found out that the price for cocoa per kilogram (kg) will cost ¢10.31p. This translates into $1.27 as at July 16, 2022. Rounding it up will be $1.3.
The reason for the conversion into dollars is to better understand the prices for both countries since both countries spend different currencies. Ghana spends Ghana cedis while the Ivory Coast spends West Africa CFA franc.
Conclusion
With the evidence provided, we can conclude that the farm gate price for cocoa per kilogram (kg) in Ghana and Ivory Coast amounts to $1.3 and $1.3 in both countries. Thus, the claim that Ghana pays more to cocoa farmers in the Ivory Coast is false.
Claim: NPP General Secretary hopeful, Justin Koduah Frimpong, has defeated incumbent John Boadu in NPP-USA internal polls, according to an online news portal, mynewsgh.com
DUBAWA has sighted the official results from the party’s USA branch office and has found the claim to be untrue.
“In the keenly contested polls, Justin Koduah garnered 70 of the votes cast on the day while his strongest opposition John Boadu garnered 44 votes,” mynewsgh.com reported.
The publication included this image.
A screenshot of the publication on www.mynewsgh.com
In that publication, which provided the official results from its internal polls, it was indicated that John Boadu was the candidate in the General Secretary race that had secured the votes of the NPP-USA delegates.
According to the official results, John Boadu, in their internal election, had garnered 70 votes (53%) whereas his four contenders, including Justin Kodua Frimpong, shared 62 votes.
In the statement announcing the results, the NPP-USA branch explained that the internal poll, which is backed by convention, was to “determine who gets the delegates’ votes.”
“Let me state emphatically that NPP-USA does not take sides in internal party elections. As part of the 2022 National Delegates Conference of NPP slated for Saturday, July 16th, 2022, in Accra and its elections to elect national executives to lead the party in the next four years, NPP‐ USA Branch, by convention, conducted its internal poll to determine who get their delegate votes…let me reiterate unequivocally that NPP‐USA does not take sides in internal party elections. However, members in good standing are given the opportunity to vote to select which executives they prefer to lead the party,” he said via email.
Bright Gyimah further shared the results from its internal elections with us which we found to be the same as what had been published on the NPP-USA website.
Screenshot of email correspondence with Bright Gyimah, NPP-USA Director of Elections.
Evidently, the claim that General Secretary hopeful, Justin Kodua, has won in NPP-USA internal polls is false.
Conclusion
According to the official results as available on the website of the NPP-USA branch, Justin Kodua Frimpong did not win in the internal poll, contrary to the publication by www.mynewsgh.com
After filing processes of libel and obtaining an order of interlocutory injunction against Dubawa and its editor, Nathan Gadugah, over the publication of the Consuming Trash investigation, Far East Mercantile, one of Ghana’s largest wholesale and distributing companies, failed to show up when the case was called Thursday.
The presiding Judge, Charles E Baiden, therefore awarded a cost of Gh₵ 1,000 against the company on the request of the lead lawyer for the defendants, Samson Lardy Anyenini, pending hearing of arguments of the interlocutory injunction on the next adjourned date, July 26, 2022.
Far East Mercantile, had in a writ of summons accused the defendants, Mr Gadugah, and DUBAWA, of publishing “false and inaccurate” material in its consuming trash investigations.
Even though the company did not indicate which part of the Consuming Trash publications were false and inaccurate, it sought damages, and costs including legal costs against the defendants.
It also secured ex-parte, an order restraining the defendants from publishing its publicized Consuming Trash documentary detailing how Far East Mercantile had operationalized the selling of expired products and how one of its dealers, Edward Sarpong, had been arrested by the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) after he had bought and conveyed cartons of expired products from the company to the Central Business District for sale.
The case was originally called on July 8, 2022, but was adjourned to July 14 following the unavailability of the presiding judge.
On the morning of the hearing, the defendants and Anyenini were in court having already filed a motion seeking to dismiss the suit.
But when the case was called around 10:30 am the plaintiffs and their lawyers were absent.
The presiding Judge, Charles E Baiden, therefore, set a new adjourned date and awarded a cost against the plaintiffs.
Background
DUBAWA had published in series the outcome of a three-months old investigation which captured how Far East Mercantile had sold expired products, consumables and non-consumables to unsuspecting consumers in contravention of the Public Health Act and the FDA Guidelines.
The publications included how a dealer in expired products was busted by the Police CID on March 31, 2022, following a joint operation with DUBAWA.
DUBAWA further submitted its evidence to the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) for action to be taken against the company.
FDA Boss Delese Darko
After its own investigations, the FDA says it has sent a docket to the Attorney Generals’ Department to begin its own prosecution of persons involved in the illegality captured in the Consuming Trash investigation.
The words International Monetary Fund have been three buzzwords in Ghana in the past few weeks. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) became the major talking point after the Akufo Addo-led Government of Ghana, on Wednesday, July 1, 2022, announced its intention to seek a bailout from the Bretton Wood institution, following the much-touted government-engineered “Ghana Beyond Aid” slogan.
Shortly after the announcement, there has been a controversy about whether the government was justified in going for a bail-out. Even the number of times Ghana has gone to the IMF has also been a subject of debate. Instead of the 17th time, some news reports have suggested that Ghana was going to the IMF for the 18th time as can be seen here.
Another major TV station in Ghana, TV3, also reported as follows as can be seen in the following screenshot.
Therefore, DUBAWA decided to do an in-depth report on Ghana’s entanglement with the IMF over the last couple of decades.
What is the IMF?
The IMF is a global network of 190 countries, which have come together to build a framework for international economic cooperation. Among other things, the Fund provides loans to its member countries experiencing or having the potential to experience balance of payment problems.
Ghana’s announcement of intention to apply for an IMF bailout was preceded by a series of demonstrations over the free fall of the Ghana cedi, relative to the major trading currencies; high and increasing cost of fuel and its attendant high cost of living; high and rising rate of unemployment, culminating in low standard of living; alleged misappropriation of public funds; and claims of poor economic management. Since the July 1 announcement, representatives from the Fund, led by its mission chief, Carlo Sdralevich, have arrived in the country and begun talks with the Ghana government in order to satisfy themselves with Ghana’s ability to commit to financial obligations and to determine the kind and form of support the country would qualify for. If successful, this will not be the first time Ghana would benefit from the Fund–but the 17th time.
Under seven different heads of state/president, and dating back from 1966, Ghana has already entered into 16 separate but similar forms of loan arrangements with the Fund, particularly Stand-By Arrangements (SBAs) and Extended Credit Facility (ECF). This means that statistically, the country seeks a bailout from the Fund every three and one-half years. The following are the specific years Ghana has reached out for IMF bailouts and the leaders under whom these arrangements occured: 1966, 1967, and 1968 under Joseph Arthur Ankrah (head of state); 1969 under Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa (head of state); 1979 under Frederick William Kwasi Akuffo (head of state); 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1987, and 1988 under Jerry John Rawlings (head of state); 1995 and 1999 under Jerry John Rawlings (president); 2003 under John Agyekum Kufuor (president); 2009 under John Evans Atta Mills (president); and 2015 under John Dramani Mahama (president). Below are the details:
IMF under Ankrah (1966, 1967, 1968)
Ghana first reached out for IMF support on May 17, 1966, a couple of months after the National Liberation Council (NLC), led by Major Joseph Arthur Ankrah toppled Nkrumah’s government in a military coup d’etat. Even though he considered the prospect, Nkrumah never took Ghana to the IMF, contrary to claims by proponents of the present administration. After Nkrumah’s overthrow, however, the new military regime invited the IMF together with the World Bank to come and help it to effectively manage its economy. The Ankrah-led government went into a Stand-By Arrangement with the Fund. According to the terms of the agreement and under the direction and supervision of the Fund, thus, Ghana privatised a number of state-owned corporations that were deemed unprofitable. The programme, which came with a 36,400 dollar injection, ended on May 16, 1967 but was renewed effective May 25, 1967 up until May 24, 1968 with an amount of 25, 000 dollars. Again on May 28, 1968 till May 27, 1969, Ghana again benefitted from the IMF with an amount worth 12, 000 dollars, injected into the economy. It was the last arrangement Ankrah went into with the IMF, but the deal would outlive his reign: he had resigned on April 2, 1969.
IMF under Afrifa (1969)
Major Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa took over the reins of the NLC-led government on April 2, 1969, after Major Ankrah’s forced resignation, following a bribery allegation against him. Two days after the expiration of the last Ankrah-initiated IMF programme on May 27, 1969, Afrifa renewed it for a-5,000-dollar support on May 29, 1969, and agreed to run for a year. It expired on May 28, 1970, but he would not be at the helm of affairs to witness the end of what he had started. Afrifa, on October 1, 1969, handed over to a democratically elected Progress Party government, led by Kofi Abrefa Busia as prime minister and, later on August 31 1970, joined by Edward Akufo Addo as ceremonial president, both of whose reign ended abruptly on January 13, 1972, after a military coup d’etat by the Supreme Military Council (I), led by Lt. Col. Ignatius Kutu Acheampong. In both regimes, Ghana did not go to the IMF. Indeed, Acheampong opted for local solutions to Ghana’s problems and thus was in the process of instituting a number of home-grown programmes. A couple of weeks into his government, which had begun on January 13, 1972, Acheampong was instituting a domestication agenda, which, for example, birthed the popular local agricultural policy, “Operation Feed Yourself,” when, Akuffo, who hitherto was his deputy, toppled his government on July 5, 1978 to form the new Supreme Military Council (II) government.
IMF under Akuffo (1979)
Nearly 10 years after exiting the first IMF programme on May 28, 1970, Ghana, under Lt Gen. Frederick William Kwasi Akuffo, who had been head of state for six months, ran back to the Fund on January 10, 1979. This was largely because the agricultural and other home-grown programmes instituted by Lt Col Ignatius Kutu Acheampong did not fare well and was reported to have worsened Ghana’s economic woes: corruption and economic mismanagement were still implicated. Thus, prices of commodities such as soap and cloth, mainly imported, were increasing at astronomical levels. Indeed, inflation was said to have been so high that even toilet paper was worth more than gold. Akuffo did not only depose his boss; he also opposed his predecessor’s local policies, hence he took Ghana back again to the IMF for a one-year Stand-By Arrangements support of 53,000 dollars, spanning January 10, 1979 to January 9, 1980.
As nature would have it, Gen. Akuffo’s reign was also short-lived; thus, it did not last to witness the expiration of the IMF programme on January 9, 1980. He had been overthrown on June 4, 1979 by a group of 15 junior officers, known as the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), led by Flt. Lt Jerry John Rawlings, after a botched attempt a couple of weeks earlier on May 15.
IMF under Rawlings (1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1987, 1988, 1995, 1999)
Though he handed power to a civilian government after his first coup of June 4, 1979, Jerry John Rawlings, on the wings of his Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), staged a comeback coup on December 31, 1981, two-and-a-half years after the first. The economic downturn the country experienced earlier was still lingering and had even been exacerbated by the ravages of climate change, causing an intense food shortage and hunger crisis. Although the country was then living off food donations from global charities, the new-Rawlings regime did not immediately go to the IMF in 1982. It, however, did so for 238, 500 dollars on August 3, 1983 when the country recorded its harshest economic crisis even in contemporary history. When it ended on August 2, 1984, this arrangement was renewed multiple times: from August 27, 1984 to December 31, 1985 for a Stand-By Arrangement of 180,000 dollars; from October 15, 1986 to October 14, 1987 for a Stand-By Arrangement of 81,000 dollars; from November 6, 1987 to November 9, 1988 for an Extended Fund Facility of 245, 400 and for a Structural Adjustment Facility of 129,858, running concurrently; and from November 9, 1988 to March 5, 1992 for an Extended Credit Facility of 338,550. Under the new-IMF’s (SAP), the status quo of the state-controlled economy was abandoned to give way for a market-oriented economy to take over. This paradigm shift resulted in the stabilisation of the economy, very significantly reducing inflation from 142 percent at the start of the IMF programme in 1983 to 10 percent by the end of 1991.
Ghana did not wean itself from support from the Bretton Wood institution with its transition from military rule to a republican country for the 4th time, following its first general election in 1992. Neither did it change its leader who transitioned from being a military head of state to a democratically elected president, having won the 1992 election with his then newly formed National Democratically Congress (NDC) political party. With Rawlings still at the helm of affairs, Ghana went back to the IMF again for an Extended Credit Facility of 164,000 dollars from June 30, 1995 to May 2, 1999, which facility was again renewed at the value of 228,800 dollars for another three years, effective May 3, 1999 through to November 30, 2002, almost two years into the reign of John Agyekum Kufuor.
IMF under Kufuor (2003)
As the second president of the fourth republic, John Agyekum Kufuor of New Patriotic Party took over from Jerry Rawlings on January 7, 2001. Though Ghana was still under IMF for almost the entire first two years of his reign, he did not oversee that arrangement: it was a legacy he had inherited from his predecessor, which arrangement elapsed in November 30, 2002. However, six months after shepherding Ghana out of the IMF programme, the Kufuor administration started another Extended Credit Facility on May 9, 2003, which spanned through to October 31, 2006 and was worth 184,500 dollars. The only unique thing was that Ghana had gone into the new arrangement as a highly indebted poor country (HIPC) for debt cancellation, a programme that the IMF had initiated in the mid 1990s, which aimed to bring debt relief to self-acclaimed very poor countries. By 2006, and under this new agreement, Ghana had reduced his debt stock from 66 billion to 23 billion dollars. Under the direction of the IMF, Ghana injected the money it otherwise would have used to repay the Fund, in such sectors of the economy as education, health, and policies aimed at ensuring good governance and accountability. Thus, these policies brought some development to the country and some relief to the citizenry by its expiration on October 31, 2006 before John Kufuor would hand over power to John Mills on January 7, 2009.
IMF under Mills (2009)
Six months after he took over the helm of affairs at the presidency with NDC, John Evans Atta Mills, on July 15, 2009 supervised Ghana’s return to the IMF for a 387,450-dollar Extended Credit Facility scheduled to end on July 23, 2012.
IMF under Mahama (2015)
After serving the remnant of the tenure of his former boss for five months as caretaker president from July 24, 2012 to January 6, 2013, John Dramani Mahama became the fourth elected president of the fourth republican Ghana from January 7, 2013 to January 6, 2017. Not only is Mahama the only president to serve only one term, as far as the fourth republic is concerned; he is also the president who took the longest time to enter into another IMF programme at the elapse of the previous one initiated by his predecessor, as far as the history of the fourth republican Ghana’s relationship with the IMF is concerned. Mahama’s four-year presidency was characterised by protracted power outages, nicknamed in local parlance as ‘dumsor’. This development plunged the country into serious economic challenges, necessitating a return to the IMF for a four-year-long Extended Credit Facility of 918 million dollars to support job creation, stabilise the struggling cedi, revive the ailing economy, and facilitate fast growth while also protecting social spending. This arrangement spanned from April 3, 2015 to April 2, 2019 for an Extended Credit Facility worth 664,200 dollars.
John Mahama would later lose the next presidential election on December 7, 2016 to his closest and second-time contender, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo.
The table below shows the summary of Ghana’s IMF lending history, sourced from the website of the IMF:
Facility
Date ofArrangement
ExpirationDate 4/
AmountAgreed
AmountDrawn
AmountOutstanding
Extended Credit Facility
Apr 03, 2015
Apr 02, 2019
664,200
531,360
531,360
Extended Credit Facility
Jul 15, 2009
Jul 23, 2012
387,450
387,450
180,151
Extended Credit Facility
May 09, 2003
Oct 31, 2006
184,500
184,500
0
Extended Credit Facility
May 03, 1999
Nov 30, 2002
228,800
176,218
0
Extended Credit Facility
Jun 30, 1995
May 02, 1999
164,400
137,000
0
Extended Credit Facility
Nov 09, 1988
Mar 05, 1992
388,550
388,550
0
Extended Fund Facility
Nov 06, 1987
Nov 09, 1988
245,400
97,550
0
Structural Adjustment Facility Commitment
Nov 06, 1987
Nov 09, 1988
129,858
40,900
0
Standby Arrangement
Oct 15, 1986
Oct 14, 1987
81,800
81,800
0
Standby Arrangement
Aug 27, 1984
Dec 31, 1985
180,000
180,000
0
Standby Arrangement
Aug 03, 1983
Aug 02, 1984
238,500
238,500
0
Standby Arrangement
Jan 10, 1979
Jan 09, 1980
53,000
32,000
0
Standby Arrangement
May 29, 1969
May 28, 1970
5,000
5,000
0
Standby Arrangement
May 28, 1968
May 27, 1969
12,000
12,000
0
Standby Arrangement
May 25, 1967
May 24, 1968
25,000
25,000
0
Standby Arrangement
May 17, 1966
May 16, 1967
36,400
31,400
0
Total
3,024,858
2,549,228
711,511
IMF under Akufo Addo (Expected 2023)
After forming the fifth government of the fourth republican Ghana, the Akufo-Addo-led administration could not wait to get out of the existing IMF programme, which he had inherited from his predecessor. Its finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, led the government not only to exit the IMF programme but also to throw a kenkey party to, inter alia, celebrate the exit in 2019. The impression was that the present government was never going into an IMF programme for any programme whatsoever. Indeed, Ken Ofori Atta, the finance minister; John Kumah, one of his deputies; Kwaku Kwarteng, chair of the parliamentary select committee on finance; a host of other highly placed government officials; and even the president himself literally swore the NPP-formed government would not have anything to do with the Bretton Wood entity. In spite of all of the opposition, the president is reported to have called the Fund’s country representative on Friday, July 1 to announce his government’s intention and readiness to talk to the Fund for support. The justification since the announcement has unsurprisingly been the rippling effect of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war.
Claim: The Member of Parliament for Yapei Kusawgu in the Savanna Region, John Abdulai Jinapor, has said that Ghana’s inflation rate has surpassed 30%.
False. According to the most recent data from the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Statistical Service released on June 8, 2022, the current inflation rate stands at 27.6%.
Full Text
The Member of Parliament for Yapei Kusawgu in the Savanna Region, John Abdulai Jinapor, has said that Ghana’s inflation rate has exceeded 30%. He said this in relation to a discussion on the economy and the government’s decision to go to the International Monetary Fund. The claim was made on Metro TV’s “Good Morning Ghana” hosted by Dr. Randy Abbey. The video, which was posted on YouTube on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, has amassed over 2,000 views. The claim was made from 1hour:18minutes:33 secs-1 hour:19minutes:22secs time frame of the video.
According to the MP, “Even when the NPP assumed office, they made it look as if once you go to the IMF, it is the mark of incompetence. Even after Covid and the Ukrainian war. As early as last week, even their Deputy Minister was insisting that so far as they remain in power, they will never go for an IMF program.
Indeed, the e-levy was an option, choose e-levy or go to IMF. That’s what they told us. Eventually, they got the e-levy passed and low and behold, things got so worse and so bad to the extent that our debt to GDP moved from 56.1% to 80.1%. That’s the situation. Inflation today is more than 30%”.
Verification
Inflation is defined as the rate of increase in prices over a given period of time. It can occur when prices rise due to increases in production costs, such as raw materials and wages.
To verify the claim made by the Member of Parliament, DUBAWA resorted to data from the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). We decided to use these institutions because they are statutory institutions mandated to provide Ghana’s economic and social data.
Also, according to the Bank of Ghana, the current inflation rate is 27.6%, as cited in the data of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
The data from the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Statistical Service is further corroborated by Trading Economics, an agency that provides data on economic indicators and financial markets. Its most recent data also pegs Ghana current inflation at 27.6%.
Source: Trading Economics
Moreover, even though data on inflation rates for June 2022 has not been released yet by the Ghana Statistical Service to determine if the rate has surged past 30%, projections from the Trading Economics global macro models and analysts indicate that Ghana’s inflation rate is expected to surge in the coming months. It has, however, forecasted the rates to be 29% by the end of the second quarter in 2022.
Conclusion
Even though there has been a continuous surge in inflation rates in the past months, Data available show that inflation has not surpassed 30%; it is currently 27.6%.
A statement signed by the Director-General of the Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, says that “the disease was suspected following the identification of two persons who met the case definition for an Acute Haemorrhagic Fever in two different locations in the Ashanti Region.”
“Blood samples were sent to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research. Preliminary results suggest the infection is due to the Marburg virus. The samples have subsequently been sent for confirmation at the Institute of Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal with the support of the World Health Organization,” the statement continues.
Since the announcement, some social media users appear to be oblivious of what the disease is. Some of these reactions can be found here, here, here, and here.
In view of that, DUBAWA found it necessary to educate the public about the disease.
What is the Marburg Virus Disease?
Marburg is a highly infectious viral haemorrhagic fever and is in the same family as the virus that causes the more well-known Ebola virus disease.
According to the World Health Organization, it has a fatality ratio of up to 88%
The incubation period for the disease is two to twenty-one days.
How do you get infected and how does it spread?
Marburg is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.
Illness from the virus begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache and malaise. Many patients develop severe haemorrhagic signs within seven days.
“Illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. Muscle aches and pains are a common feature. Severe watery diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramping, nausea, and vomiting can begin on the third day. Diarrhea can persist for a week. The appearance of patients at this phase has been described as showing “ghost-like” drawn features, deep-set eyes, expressionless faces and extreme lethargy. A non-itchy rash has been noted between 2 and 7 days after the onset of symptoms.”
“Many patients develop severe haemorrhagic manifestations within 7 days, and fatal cases usually have bleeding, often from multiple areas. Fresh blood in vomit and faeces is often accompanied by bleeding from the nose, gums and vagina. Spontaneous bleeding at venipuncture sites (where intravenous access is obtained to give fluids or obtain blood samples) can be particularly troublesome. During the severe phase of illness, patients have sustained high fevers. Involvement of the central nervous system can result in confusion, irritability and aggression. Orchitis (inflammation of the testicles) has been reported occasionally in the late phase (15 days).”
“In fatal cases, death usually occurs between 8 and 9 days after onset, usually preceded by severe blood loss and shock.”
Again, it says that rehydration with oral and intravenous fluids and treatment of specific symptoms improves the survival of infected persons.
Which African countries have recorded cases of the disease?
If Ghana’s suspected cases are confirmed, it will be the first on the continent this year. However, since 1975 six countries – South Africa, Kenya, DR Congo, Angola, Uganda, and Guinea have recorded sporadic cases.
What are health officials doing about the development in Ghana?
The WHO Regional Office for Africa also reports that experts are being deployed to “support Ghana’s health authorities by bolstering disease surveillance, testing, tracing contacts, preparing to treat patients and working with communities to alert and educate them about the risks and dangers of the disease and to collaborate with the emergency response teams.”
The statement from the Health Service is also urging the public to be on the lookout for the symptoms and report to the nearest health facility.
Claim: A viral video shows a husband demolishing a mansion he built on his wife’s land in Ghana after the couple completed a divorce process in court.
The video in question was shot in Nigeria and not in Ghana. The demolition also has nothing at all to do with marital differences as suggested in the caption of the video.
Full Text
A viral video of a two-storey mansion being demolished has been making rounds on Facebook for more than two days.
The 57 seconds video shows an excavator pulling down the structure.
An accompanying text shared on Facebook claims that a husband built the mansion on a piece of land belonging to his wife in Accra and that after the couple completed divorce processes in court, the man decided to pull down the building.
“Rift between husband and wife. Husband lives abroad, wife lives in Accra Ghana. Land belongs to the woman, but the man built the house. Both in court for divorce. The judge asked wife to take possession of land and the husband to take possession of the building. Since the man cannot move the building off the land, the wife thought he will abandon the house for her, instead he brought bulldozer to pull down the house,” the post claims.
The video has been shared many times on Facebook, WhatsApp and some websites.
Facebook pages such as this, this, this and that have published the video with the same narration which has since garnered more than 200,000 views across the different pages.
Apart from Ghana, the trending post has been shared in Uganda and Nigeria.
Verification
With the assistance of the InVID video verification tool, we conducted a number of reverse image searches that generated results linked to news publications about a mansion being demolished in Abuja, Nigeria.
One of such reports bySahara Reports is titled, “FCT Ministry Demolishes Multi-Million Naira Mansion Belonging To Tonto Dikeh’s Ex-lover, Kpokpogri In Abuja.”
According to the May 14, 2022 report, “the mansion, which is in the Asokoro area, was invaded on Saturday at about 8am by officials of the FCT Administration with a bulldozer which began to demolish the building.”
Sahara Reporters on its Facebook page shared an extensive live video, 29 minutes long, of the demolition exercise.
Further Google searches on the news item, brought up reports by This Day [Newspaper] and Punch Nigeria also showing images of the same building in the viral video as being the property of one Joseph Egbri, popularly known as Kpokpogri, an ex-lover to Nigerian actress, Tonto Dikeh.
This Day in its report said the building was demolished under the authority of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) because it was not approved.
“FCTA officials said that it had no approved building plan before it was built on a plot of land belonging to the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) for the purpose of its mass housing programme,” the report noted.
It quoted FCTA’s Director, Department of Development Control, Muktar Galadima as saying the building obstructed a major road network, connecting the popular Apo Bridge to many parts of the city.
“There was adequate inter-agency co-operation. The Federal Housing Authority approached the Federal Capital Territory Administration for allocation and they were given global approval and were asked to make sure that whatever they do aligns with the approval. The plot in question was part of what was in the allocation, but because of the importance of the road, we wrote to FHA, notifying it that a number of its plots have been affected by the realignment of the road, and that we were going to give them replacement plots.”
“We told them that no development should be allowed on the plots, and this was around 2019, we came for site visit and have given them notice. We even marked the building for demolition, but the owner cleaned it off,” Galadima said.
Conclusion
Evidence from various news portals confirmed that the viral video claiming to show a husband demolishing a mansion he built on his wife’s land in Ghana after the couple completed divorce processes in court is of an unrelated incident in Nigeria.
Claim: Chairman of National Democratic Congress, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, claims that Ghana and Nigeria are the only countries with double-digit inflation in West Africa.
DUBAWA has analyzed data from the Statistical offices of some West African countries and has found out that at least The Gambia and Sierra Leone are among countries in the sub-region that currently have a double-digit inflation rate, apart from Ghana and Nigeria.
Full Text
The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, has rejected the government’s assertion that the war between Russia and Ukraine is a contributing factor to the country’s economic downturn.
In an interview on Ekosiisen, a programme on Accra-based Asempa 94.7FM, the former Eastern Regional Minister claimed that the situation was largely different among other West African countries.
Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo whilst making the claim on Asempa 94.7FM.
He insists that the country’s rising inflation rate cannot be blamed on the Russia-Ukraine war as Ghana together with Nigeria are the only countries in West Africa with double-digit inflation.
“What is happening in the world? When you look at the countries in West Africa, and you consider their inflation rates, aside from Nigeria with an inflation rate of about 16%, all the remaining have single-digit inflation. Our (Ghana’s) inflation is heading to 28%. Therefore, there is no basis to say that something strange is happening which is why things are getting out of hand,” he said in the Akan language.
Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo’s claim can be found between minutes 1:44:38 to 1:45:03 of the interview which was streamed live on the Facebook page of Asempa 94.7FM.
To investigate the claim, DUBAWA relied on data from the national statistical office of some West African countries that have been mentioned in media reports to have rising inflation rates.
An April 2022 article published by Business Insider Africa mentioned Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, as among several others in Africa that are “expensive to live in due to high inflation.”
Data from Statistics Sierra Leone (Page 2) also indicated that the country’s “annual National Consumer Price Inflation (year-on-year) for April 2022 stood at 22.44%”
On Page 8 of the report from Statistics Sierra Leone, the inflation rates of some selected West African countries were presented. Among these countries was The Gambia.
In the case of The Gambia, it was reported that its inflation rate for April 2022 was 11.69%.
The claim by Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo that Ghana and Nigeria are the only countries with double-digit inflation rates in West Africa is false. From our findings, at least Sierra Leone and The Gambia are among the countries that currently have a double-digit inflation rate.
After flagrantly violating Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) guidelines and putting the health of Ghanaian citizens at risk with the sale of toxic, expired products, both consumables and non-consumables, Ghana’s largest wholesaler and distributing company, Fareast Mercantile, is now groping in the dark, looking for the source who leaked the information to DUBAWA.
An employee, a warehouse supervisor, has been forced to resign on suspicion he volunteered information about the conduct of top management members of the company who, according to evidence gathered by DUBAWA, gave direct orders for the sale of expired products including 11-month-old expired Mcvities biscuits. The biscuits, which were in cartons, over 2000 of them, were sold in December ahead of the Christmas celebrations last year. Between January and April 2022, there were multiple sales of expired products including Blue Band margarine, Jacobs Cream Crackers, Mcvities rich tea, hobnobs, Glide mini, several buckets of milk, cartons of vaseline, a range of Harpic Gel Citrus, a range of Airwick products, and other products from SC Johnson, Unilever, National and Oriental Food Industries etc.
DUBAWA has intercepted a memo issued by the managers of the company to workers, denying the content of the DUBAWA publications and threatening to fish out the source of the leakage rather than mending its ways and putting a stop to its corporate strategy of selling expired products.
The memo dated April 27, 2022, in part read: “FMCL takes these allegations extremely seriously and we have instituted an internal investigation to establish the veracity of these allegations, which we believe to be inaccurate. Our legal team is engaging directly with the publication regarding the ‘facts” and sources of the article.”
The full details of the memo
Days after publishing this memo, the company went hunting for the source of information to DUBAWA. Convinced about what they claim to be the findings of their own internal investigation, the warehouse supervisor was reported to have been interdicted by the company even though he is said to have categorically denied the allegations against him. According to our sources at the company, the supervisor was later invited by the Manet Police upon a report filed by Fareast Mercantile. It was not clear exactly what charges were levelled against him. What is clear though is that the supervisor has since resigned from the company. According to our sources, he resigned on May 30.
Few days after his resignation, DUBAWA confirmed a sales meeting held at the Fareast Mercantile Head Office by top managers of the company on June 1, 2022.
According to our sources, the meeting was addressed by Raja Mohammed, the General Manager Sales (Non-food), who is also implicated in our investigation as having supervised the sale of the expired products.
In the meeting, Mohammed is reported to have mounted a spirited defence of his integrity before the sales representatives, denying any involvement in the sale of expired products.
This is one of the correspondences between top managers of the company which led to the sale of an expired Glade mini. Aney Mate, Head of Finance, clearly stated in this mail that this product expired in March 22, and yet on March 30, he gave account numbers into which proceeds of the sale of expired products would be paid.
In responding to the mail by Mate, Mohammed fixed the price for the sale of the expired product at 12 cedis per carton. With DUBAWA’s vigilance and support from the Police Criminal Investigation Department, Edward Sarpong, a dealer in expired products at Agbogbloshie, Accra’s Central Business District, was arrested on March 31, for buying this same expired product just around the same quantity. Sarpong confessed to dealing in three months expired products and that he has been doing that for the past eight years, a confession we have on record and will be included in our Consuming Trash full documentary.
After Sarpong’s truck was impounded and a search conducted, these were the expired products found which corresponds to the order of sale given by Mohammed in the mail sent the day before.
Manual Waybills
To further corroborate Sarpong’s confession of his eight years of experience in dealing in expired stocks, DUBAWA has in its possession multiple Manual Waybills detailing expired products bought by Sarpong over the last five years. A waybill, according to the Logistics manual of the Redcross, is an “official document that travels with a shipment, (transport) identifies its shipper, transporter and consignee, origin and destination, describes the goods and shows their weight and freight.”
Consuming Trash
While Mohammed was busy selling expired products at the non-food section, his counterparts at the food section, Rayul Kashyap, General Manager (Food), Swapnil Sakharkar, Associate Manager, Supply Chain and Logistics, were also busy selling expired, toxic, biscuits and margarines to the same dealers at Agbogbloshie for onward sale to consumers.
DUBAWA intercepted email conversations that led to the sale of cartons of 11-month-old expired digestive biscuits, hobnobs, and rich tea, the full content of which can be read here. As can be seen in the following email correspondence, over 2000 cartons of the biscuits were sold on December 8 and December 22, 2021, even though the biscuits had expired in January-February 2021
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FDA Assurance
DUBAWA submitted the evidence of the Consuming Trash Investigations to the FDA for appropriate action. We have assurances from top-level management members of the Authority to deal with the matter.
DUBAWA was initially informed that the company was going to be fined but given the weight of evidence provided, the FDA would prosecute the company. According to the FDA, it has sent a docket to the Attorney General’s Department for counsel and prosecution.
However, when DUBAWA checked with the Attorney General, Godfred Dame and her Secretary, they were yet to receive the docket from the FDA.
DUBAWA will follow up on the matter until justice is served.
But outspoken lawmaker, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, says that he does not understand the rush by the government to complete the project.
He wants the President to “hold on with the construction of the project.”
In an interview on Accra-based GhOne TV, the North Tongu MP said that the completion of Cathedrals in Europe took not less than 26 years to complete.
“The Cathedrals in Europe that the President says he’s inspired by, check, some of the fastest ones that were built, 26 years. The one that got attacked by fire in France recently that the President was among the first world leaders to issue a statement to empathize with the French people, it took them 26 years,” Mr Ablakwa said.
Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa making the claim on GHOne TV.
The interview was live-streamed and the claim can be found between minutes 26:38 and 27:20.
In a publication on the UNESCO website a year after the fire incident, it was indicated that the “construction of the church began in 1160 and continued for a century.”
A publication by German public, state-owned international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW) also stated that the Cathedral was built from 1163 to 1345, suggesting that it took over a hundred years for the project to be completed.
Publications on nytimes.com and thestatesman.com also indicate that the construction began in 1163 and was completed in 1345.
A visual art and cultural heritage website, www.getty.edu, also gives a brief history of the project.
“Foundation stone was laid by Pope Alexander III in 1163; the high altar was consecrated in 1189. By 1250, the choir, western facade, and the nave were completed. By the mid-14th century, porches, chapels, and other elements were added. Neo-Gothic enhancements were added in the 19th century, including a spire over the transept.”
The information from Getty.edu corresponds with what is available on britannica.com, an online encyclopedia.
Conclusion
The MP may have been right in his argument that Cathedrals take a long time to build, but it is not true that the Notre-Dame Cathedral was completed within 26 years. Relying on information from various credible sources, including UNESCO, the construction of the project lasted for about a century.
