Claim: North Tongu MP, Okudzeto Ablakwa, says that Ghana recorded the biggest budget deficit in the world, due to COVID-19 expenditure
The 15.2% of GDP quoted by Mr. Ablakwa as Ghana’s budget deficit for 2020 is lower, compared to some countries, including Oman and Kuwait. The two countries recorded a budget deficit of 19.3% of GDP and 15.4% of GDP respectively in 2020.
Full Text
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has claimed that Ghana recorded the biggest budget deficit in the world in the heat of the Covid19 pandemic.
He says that this was a result of the government’s COVID-19 expenditure.
Mr. Ablakwa made the claim during an engagement on Newsfile, a socio-political news analysis show that airs on JoyNews.
“Why is it that the Ghanaian Parliament alone cannot have a special committee to look into COVID-19 expenditure which runs into billions? Because of COVID-19 expenditure, we recorded the biggest budget deficit in the world – 15.2%,” the lawmaker said.
In effect, the MP is claiming that the gap between expenditure and income for the Government of Ghana is the widest when it is compared to that of other countries across the world during the pandemic.
Therefore, to authenticate the claim by the lawmaker, DUBAWA will check the data from these institutions and compare them to that of other countries.
Last year, the IMF released its Fiscal Monitor Report which is a detailed overview of countries’ fiscal actions in response to COVID-19.
In the report, Ghana was classified as a Low-Income Developing Country, alongside the likes of Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and Togo.
According to the report, the average deficits as a share of GDP in 2020 reached 11.7 percent for advanced economies, 9.8 percent for emerging market economies, and 5.5 percent for low-income developing countries.
The report noted that the rise in deficits in low-income developing countries, such as Ghana, “stemmed primarily from the collapse in revenues caused by the economic downturn.”
What was Ghana’s General Government Overall Balance for 2020?
Although the IMF did not use the term “budget deficit” in its data presentation, it explains in a publication on its website that overall balance “measures the difference between revenues and grants, and expenditure and net lending.”
The IMF April 2021 Report indicated that Ghana’s General Government Overall Balance was 16.0% of its GDP in 2020.
“The fiscal deficit including energy and financial sector costs worsened to 15.2 percent of GDP, with a further 2.1 percent of GDP in additional spending financed through the accumulation of domestic arrears.”
The World Bank’s October 2021 update on Ghana’s Economic Outlook also mentioned that the country’s fiscal deficit was 15.2% of GDP for 2020.
However, figures from the Ministry of Finance are different from what the two authorities quote.
“The overall budget deficit on a cash basis was 11.7 percent of GDP against a revised target of 11.4 percent of GDP,” the 2021 budget indicated.
Clearly, there is some disagreement amongst the data sources on what Ghana’s budget deficit is for 2020.
Since Mr. Ablakwa quoted Ghana’s 2020 budget deficit to be 15.2%, it is very likely that he was using World Bank/IMF figures for Ghana.
What’s the budget deficit situation like for other countries?
Ghana is not the only country with different authorities publishing different figures regarding their budget deficit.
A December 2021 publication in the UK House of Commons Library indicated that the country’s budget deficit was equal to 15.1% of GDP.
“In 2020/21 government revenue – from taxes and other receipts – was £792 billion while government spending was £1,115 billion (£1.1 trillion). The deficit was therefore £323 billion, equivalent to 15.1% of GDP, which is a peacetime record. As we discuss below, the budget deficit ballooned because of the coronavirus pandemic,” parts of the publication read.
However, the IMF April 2021 Report indicated that the UK’s General Government Overall Balance was 13.4% of its GDP.
German database organization, Statista, also quotes the UK’s budget balance, also known as budget deficit, for 2020 as 12.53% of GDP.
These contradictions were the same in the case of the United States of America. Whilst the IMF Report indicated that the US budget deficit was 15.8% of its GDP, statista mentioned 14.85%.
How does Ghana’s 2020 budget deficit stand against others?
If the figure from the Finance Ministry (11.7% of GDP) is used against others, it will be false to claim that Ghana recorded the biggest budget deficit in the world in 2020 due to COVID-19, as the likes of the US and UK recorded higher figures, according to figures from their local authorities.
Again, if the 15.2% of GDP figure quoted by the World Bank/IMF is used, it will also be lower if compared to countries such as Oman.
Kuwait, a country in the Middle East, also recorded a relatively higher budget deficit – 15.4% of GDP (including investment income)
Conclusion
Whilst there are not many countries that recorded higher budget deficits as Ghana did, it is not true that Ghana’s 15.2% of GDP budget deficit is the highest in the world in 2020. At least, Oman and Kuwait recorded higher budget deficits – 19.3% of GDP and 15.4% of GDP respectively.
Claim: 44,000 teachers out of 284,000 basic education teachers left the teaching profession in 2021 alone. This is 15%, the highest in 20 years. They left mostly because of poor remuneration, lack of logistics etc – Dr. Apaak
Even though the number of basic school teachers in 2021 was reduced by over 44,000, it had nothing to do with poor working conditions of teachers but more to do with the technical definition of who a trained teacher is during the compilation of the data.
Full Text
In January 2022, when the usual Twitter banter started on “phrases Ghanaian school teachers use,” it was identified that not only were Ghanaian basic school teachers humorous in their use of language but also, they had similar traits allowing for most Millennials across the country to share experiences from basic school. Unfortunately, no one would be able to have a basic school-teacher experience to recount if a high number of teachers were resigning or not at post. More importantly, children of school age would have no basic education at all. And on a developmental level, Ghana will not be able to meet all 10 educational targets of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 set for 2030 if adequate teachers are not available to teach.
It is in this vein that Dr. Clement Apaak’s January 10, 2022 claim about the attrition rate of teachers in basic school, created heated public debate in the educational sub-sector with a tinge of partisanship especially on Facebook.
Titled “Education in Crisis – Basic Schools,” the Member of Parliament for Builsa South and a Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament highlighted some issues concerning the state of public basic schools on his Facebook page with the most topical of them all being a claim that: “44,000 teachers out of 284,000 basic school teachers left the teaching profession in 2021 alone. This is 15%, the highest in 20 years. Why did they walk away from the classroom, and how soon will they be replaced?,” Dr. Apaak asked.
His statement has sparked some controversy on social as well as on traditional media with varying sentiments from readers. Dr. Apaak has since granted a number of interviews including the one on TV3, in which he reiterated the claim and added that unsatisfactory conditions of service, no appropriate tools to perform, and remuneration were reported reasons for the walking out of these 44,000 basic school teachers.
Contrary figures from other high-ranking persons on Facebook
Shortly after Apaak’s claim, the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng rebutted, stating that the figures by Dr. Clement Apaak were misleading. In a Facebook post on 20 January 2022, Mr. Kwarteng stated,
“Claims that 44,000 teachers walked out of the classroom can only be described as assumptive speculations and deliberate misrepresentation. In effect, no one left!”
He attached a press release that explains what accounts for the varying figures from the Education Management Information System (EMIS).
In an updated Facebook post on Friday 21 January 2022 emphasising the reason for the inaccurate figures, Kwasi Kwarteng further explained the number of teachers who resigned from the basic schools in 2021.
“In terms of teacher resignation, our official records show that 293 teachers left the profession in 2021 whilst 155 left the GES in 2020. For the avoidance of doubt I encourage Dr. Clement Apaak & Kofi Asare of Eduwatch to cross-check these figures with Controller & Accountant’s General Department,” Mr. Kwarteng stated.
The figure of 293 teacher resignations stated by the Ministry of Education spokesperson was corroborated by a Facebook post by Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, a veteran journalist and Managing Editor of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper, who published data he reportedly sourced from the official file of Ghana Education Service.
Verification
Given the interest that this issue has generated and the potential effect on the quality of education at the basic level, DUBAWA decided to investigate the claim first made by Dr. Apaak. It is important to note that the original claim made no reference to a source. We therefore decided to contact Dr. Apaak to provide a source for his claim and to probe how this was going to affect the education sector if it was proven to be true. We sent him a text message on January 18, followed up with a number of calls requesting an interview on the matter. He was largely busy, partly because of the controversial e-levy which was before Parliament. In our last attempt at an interview request on January 26, Dr. Apaak declined, saying “I will issue a statement on this at the right time.” DUBAWA is yet to see any statement from the Member of Parliament at the time of publication.
We proceeded to the Ghana Education Service (GES) which is the implementing arm of government’s policies and programs at the pre-tertiary level. The Service has a mission to ensure “that all Ghanaian children of school-going age are provided with inclusive and equitable quality formal education and training through effective and efficient management of resources.”
DUBAWA spoke with the Director General of the Service, Prof Kwasi Opoku-Amankwaa, to find out the attrition rate of teachers, especially for the 2021 academic year. Prof Amankwaa denied the claim by Apaak and provided data from the Service’s payroll in 2021. The data was the same as the one posted by Abdul Malik Kweku Baako on Facebook.
“I guess this will help you. This is from our payroll database. The actual number of people who resigned is 293. And the total attrition [rate] is 8,209,” Prof Amankwaa stated.
He explained further that the 8,209 teachers who were deemed to have left, was an aggregate figure for teachers who were deceased, dismissed, vacated their posts, resigned, or even went on voluntary or compulsory retirement.
In DUBAWA’s conversation on the same matter with the sector Minister, Dr. Yaw Adutwum, said “it cannot be the case that 44,000 teachers left the profession in 2021. In a COVID 19 situation, what will they [44,000 teachers] be resigning to?”
Quoting the GES figure, Dr. Adutwum said only 293 teachers left the profession.
Validity of EMIS
The EMIS Data Center, launched in 1997 as part of the Free Compulsory Basic Education (FCUBE), is recognized by UNESCO and other international and regional bodies as a reference point for accurate data on education in Ghana.
In investigating the Apaak claim further, DUBAWA checked the (EMIS) data website at the Ministry of Education to analyse the enrolment of pupils in comparison with the number of teachers at least for the 2019-2020 and the 2020-2021 academic years. When DUBAWA checked the EMIS website it found data up to 2019-2020. The following is the data, detailing the number of pupils in basic education vis-a-vis the total number of teachers which is known as the Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR). However, that ratio is different from the PTTR which is the ratio of pupils to TRAINED teachers.
The data for 2020-2021 was not readily available on the EMIS website. An official at the EMIS Ghana office however provided DUBAWA with the provisional 2020-2021 data. Investigations showed that Eduwatch, an educational policy think tank had access to the same data. The provisional 2021 data detailing the PTR for 2020-2021 is as follows;
2020/2021 Public School Pupil to Teacher Ratio
Level
Enrolment
Teachers
PTR
Primary
3,269,233
106,500
30.7
JHS
1,417,086
94,027
15.1
KG
1, 192,828
38,653
31
Total
5,879,147
239,180
76.8
Provisional 2020-2021 EMIS Data on PTR
Explaining the 44,000 figure
When DUBAWA analysed the figures for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, it observed that over 44,000 teachers could not be accounted for. In the 2020 data, the total number of teachers was 283,430 as against a student population of 5,876,785 pupils. But in the provisional 2021 figure which is the subject of controversy, the total number of teachers was 239,180 as against a pupil population of 5,879,147.
Therefore, 283,430-239,180=44,250 teachers were not accounted for in the 2021 EMIS data.
So where did these 44,250 teachers go?
Even though Dr. Apaak stated that 44,000 of these teachers left the profession, the reasons he adduced for the supposed attrition rate of basic school teachers may have been inaccurate.
Further checks by DUBAWA indicate that the disparity in the PTR for 2020 and 2021 EMIS data has more to do with the nomenclature used by the EMIS officials in gathering the data than 44,000 teachers deciding to quit their jobs.
According to an official, EMIS always drew a clear line of distinction between trained and untrained teachers to be able to arrive at figures for PTR and PTTR. They always put a premium on the PTTR which is the total number of trained teachers as against the enrollment (pupils). The PTR, the official explained, were non-professional teachers, mostly including retirees, mentees, national service personnel, community workers, NABCO, volunteers, some of whom are replaced every year.
However, in compiling the 2020 data in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said the non-professional teachers were captured as part of the PTTR which shot the total number of trained teachers to 283,430.
Therefore in the 2021 compilation, the official noted that questionnaires and data collection materials were modified to correct the anomaly in 2020 and draw a line of distinction between the professional teachers and the non-professional ones as was done in previous years. This brought to 239,180, the total number of trained teachers in 2021.
The official further explained it is usually easier to replace the non-professional teachers, for instance, the mentees, national service personnel, etc – most of whom are employed on a part-time basis.
“It cannot be the case that 44,000 teachers vacate their posts in 2021,” the official clarified.
After a five-year analysis of the data, DUBAWA observed an astronomical increase in the number of teachers in 2020, the year COVID 19 hit in Ghana and the globe as a whole. This is awkward because in 2020 schools were shut down due to the pandemic and public school teachers were paid for little or no work done. It will be inappropriate for the government to employ over 39,000 more teachers to sit at home and pay them for no work.
By the same token, in 2021 when the economy has been constricted by COVID 19, with lots of job losses, it will be surprising for 44,250 basic school teachers to leave the teaching profession for non-existent jobs.
Conclusion
Without providing the proper context, it is misleading to suggest that 44,000 basic school teachers resigned from the profession in 2021 alone. While the EMIS data for 2021 show a reduction in the number of teachers by over 44,000, the reason for the reduction cannot be said to be as a result of teacher attrition due to poor conditions of service. If anything, the only verifiable data that summarize the attrition rate of teachers is the one provided by the GES which concludes that 293 basic school teachers resigned, while the total teacher attrition rate was 8,209 in 2021.
A recent directive requesting foreigners living in Ghana to re-register their sim cards by using only the Ghana Card appears to have generated some controversy. It is apparent that a number of people were unaware that foreigners living in Ghana were entitled to a Ghana card and some of them have been quick to express their surprise through comments on social media.
It is, therefore, important to understand the history of the Ghana Card and who, by law, can carry one.
Ghana officially started issuing what has become known as the Ghana Card in September 2018. Although the process started in 2003 and an enabling law passed in 2006 under the National Identification Authority (NIA) Act (2006), it was not until 2018 that many registrants started receiving their cards.
The Ghana Card is a project by the NIA facilitated by the National Identification System. It is a National Identity Card that allows holders of the card to prove their identity and citizenship. The card is designed to be secure through the biometric identity of the owner and has a multi-purpose function allowing for electronic and physical transactions. It is also to ensure access to safer, easier and faster social services in the country, including but not limited to health, education, communications, insurance and banking.
As Ghanaians race against time to meet the deadline for registering their sim cards and to synchronise all their financial transactions with the Ghana Card, concerns have been raised about the pressure at registration centers if foreigners living in Ghana are also mandated to register for the Ghana Card at the same time. Some of them did not even know that by law foreigners in Ghana would be allowed to own a Ghana Card.
The Non-Citizen Ghana Card for Foreigners
But checks by Dubawa at the National Identification Authority shows that the Ghana Card, meant to be the main official identity card in the country, allows foreigners to have a Non-Citizen Ghana Card, facilitated by the Foreigner Identification Registration in Ghana.
As mandated Under the L.I. 2111 (2012), Act 750, all non-citizens or foreigners, who are six years and above and are permanently resident in the country or will be resident in the country for more than 90 days, are entitled to register for the card which is renewable yearly. The only foreigners exempted are diplomats, employees of the UN or its agencies, and the spouses or dependents of such persons as well as refugees who have a valid United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) card.
Even though both Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians may have the same identity card, there are two distinct features on the Ghana card and the Non-citizen Ghana card. One of the differences is the country code in the Personal Identification Number (PIN) which is in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) country codes. For example, a Ghana Card for a citizen will show PIN as GHA-000000000-0, whereas a Non-Citizen Ghana Card for a Nigerian resident would show PIN as NRG-000000000-0. Also, the cards for foreigners living in Ghana have “NON-CITIZEN” in bold red inscribed in front of the card.
According to the NIA, the non-citizen Ghana card can be used for “various transactional purposes such as opening and running a bank account, applying for or renewing residence or work permit, registering a car’’ among others. It also enables the government to create a database of all individuals in the country in order to ensure good planning, good governance, e-government services, and the security and the integrity of the country.
It is worth highlighting that foreign visitors entering Ghana cannot register to receive the Ghana Cards but only “a foreign visitor who has resided in Ghana for a cumulative period of 90 days or has a residence permit is eligible and will be required to provide personal details to the National Identification Authority for the issuance of a Non-Citizen GhanaCard at a cost of $120,” the NIA stated as an answer to one of the frequently asked questions about registration for the Ghana Card.
The Minority in Parliament has described the proposed tax as regressive and one that will bring “unbearable hardship on Ghanaians.”
On Thursday, January 27, 2022, the Ministry of Information organized a town hall meeting to educate the public about the tax and urge them to accept its implementation.
According to her, in other jurisdictions, particularly the United Kingdom, their tax rate for Digital Services was about 10%.
“E-levy is being introduced at the lowest rate for any tax in Ghana, comparatively at 1.75%, less than 2%. In other countries, digital taxes are being introduced at the rate of up to 10% and they’re paying. That’s the UK. And we go there and seek loans from them to finance our development. When we are not paying the requisite taxes that we should,” Ursula Owusu stated.
The town hall meeting was streamed live on Facebook and the claim can be found between minutes 28:30 to 29:10.
In the report, it was asserted that the three categories of services targeted by the tax were areas where US companies were market leaders.
“The UK DST targets three categories of services where U.S. companies are market leaders: internet search engines, social media services and online marketplaces. It appears unlikely that the DST will cover certain digital services where similar UK or European firms are successful,” page 15 of the report reads.
Following a deal agreed by 136 countries to the effect that large and profitable multinational companies pay a “fair share” of tax in the markets where they do business, the UK announced plans to end the DST.
“We have agreed a way forward on how we transition from our Digital Services Tax to the newly agreed global tax system. This agreement means that our Digital Services Tax is protected as we move to 2023, so its revenue can continue to fund vital public services,” Reuters quotes the UK finance minister, Rishi Sunak, as saying in a statement.
Other European countries with digital taxes
There are 15 European OECD countries that have either planned or implemented taxes on digital services. However, they differ in their structure. The tax rates range from 1.5 percent in Poland to 7.5 percent in both Hungary and Turkey (although Hungary’s tax rate has been reduced temporarily to 0 percent).
Other countries across the world with digital tax rules have been published on Quaderno.
Conclusion
It is not true that the Digital Service Tax (DST) in the UK is at the rate of about 10% as claimed by the Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful. UK’s DST was introduced at 2% and was targeted at large companies and not individuals as in the case of Ghana. Moreover, the UK has agreed to end the DST.
Claim 1: News reports claim Ghana is the only country championing mandatory vaccination.
Ghana is not the only country making vaccination mandatory. Reports from Statista, a global sourcing hub, capture several countries including Germany and France to have made COVID-19 vaccination mandatory.
Full Text
The headline of a news report by 3news.com, attributed to the National Communication Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, claims Ghana is the only country championing mandatory vaccination.
“It’s only Ghana that is championing mandatory vaccination – Sammy Gyamfi,” the headline reads.
The report was crafted from an interview Sammy Gyamfi granted to Alfred Ocansey on the Sunrise Show on 3FM, on Wednesday, January 12, 2022.
According to Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, the Ministry is doing all it can to ensure that at least 20 million people get vaccinated to reach herd immunity. One of such measures, the Ministry says, is the introduction of a mandatory vaccination policy for travellers, including Ghanaian nationals, entering the country through the Kotoka International Airport. The government also indicated plans to prevent unvaccinated persons from gaining access to public places like stadiums. However, the decision by the ministry has received a lot of backlash from various groups such as the Concerned Ghanaian Doctors and Advocate for Christ Ghana.
Verification
With the overwhelming interest the story has generated on these platforms, Dubawa found it necessary to verify the facts as claimed in the news report and subject the source of the report to scrutiny as well.
As a result, we assessed the video streamed on the Facebook page of 3fm to ascertain whether Sammy Gyamfi made the claim.
At 30minutes:30 seconds – 33minutes:31 seconds of the Facebook video, part of which we have quoted, we found that 3news.com partially misrepresented the views of the NDC National Communications Officer.
For the avoidance of doubt, this is what he said: “There is no country in the whole world that has mandated COVID-19 vaccination for its citizens, and it is required that they take it before they allow their citizens to enter their own country. COVID-19 vaccination mandate has been done in Australia, the U.S, and all across the world, it’s been done. But in all those countries, including the U.S, it is not used as the right of entry of citizens into their country. It is only in Ghana we are saying that a country that has less than one percent fatality rate of COVID-19 should be mandated to take the vaccines.”
Dubawa spoke to Sammy Gyamfi to seek further clarifications on the claim; he said he has been misrepresented by 3news.
“What I said was Ghana is the only country in the world that has announced the kind of compulsory vaccination restrictions that we are currently implementing. What do I mean by that? There are so many countries that have mandated COVID-19 vaccines but none of these countries require their citizens to take a COVID vaccine before entering their own country. So 3news got it wrong when they said I said no country has mandated COVID vaccines. No, that can not be true. Countries have mandated, but it is the type and form of the mandate I am talking about,” he said.
How are other countries handling mandatory vaccination?
In the United States, citizens do not need proof of vaccines to enter the United States. This is captured by the national public health agency of the United States, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Countries like France, Italy, and Germany have all made vaccination mandatory.
Statista is a global sourcing hub, and it has listed the number of countries making vaccination mandatory. Italy, Vatican, Greece, and Russia are among such countries.
Claim 2: World Health Organization (WHO) does not support compulsory vaccination.
A policy brief by the World Health Organization indicates that it does not support mandatory vaccination.
The National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) further claimed on the same show that the World Health Organisation (WHO) does not support compulsory vaccination. This was made on the (29 minutes 50 secs – 30minutes 19seconds) of the Facebook video posted by 3FM
“The World Health Organization (WHO) has come out to say that they don’t support compulsory vaccination. And they are saying that even if the government wants to adopt compulsory vaccination there should be some extra caveats that must be respected,” Sammy Gyamfi said.
It explains further that mandatory vaccination policies limit individual choice in non-trivial ways by making vaccination a condition of, for example, attending school or working in particular industries or settings, like health care.
We researched documents of the WHO and found a policy brief dated 14th April 2021 titled Covid-19 and mandatory vaccination: Ethical considerations and caveat. It is stipulated on the first page that WHO does not support mandatory vaccination but rather various countries should focus on raising awareness and making the vaccines accessible.
“Although it should be noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) does not presently support the direction of mandates for COVID-19 vaccination, it is better to work on information campaigns and make vaccines accessible,” the statement said.
“Our position at the WHO is that mandatory vaccination should be considered when the health gain that you are going to get from imposing that is very clear, and you’ve tried all other measures to get people vaccinated. I still believe that the best way is to continue engaging with the people and to continue to drive the idea of an informed choice. But there are circumstances in which the threat to society, the threat to the health system, the threat to the economy is such that governments, having tried all other measures, can make such decisions”.
“This raises issues about human rights, and it is something that the government should consider extremely carefully. And they need to be sure that the benefits of doing this outweighs the risks and that they have everything possible, to address vaccine hesitancy and other issues they feel that they have no other alternative, and it has to have an objective of protecting the individual or protecting the society or the health system. There must be very clear reasons why that action is being taken. And there needs to be a dialogue within government, agencies, and communities around these issues.” Dr. Ryan said.
Conclusion
The claim that Ghana is the only country championing mandatory vaccination is false. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has indicated that it does not approve of making vaccination mandatory.
Claim: Ghana is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to record a positive GDP growth in 2020, General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, John Boadu, has said.
False, according to figures from the World Bank and IMF, several countries in sub-Saharan Africa recorded a positive economic growth rate in 2020.
While on the show, Boadu made some arguments to encourage Ghanaians to accept the policies in the 2022 budget as presented by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
Whilst touting the government’s efforts in building a resilient economy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Boadu said that the economy of other countries did not perform as well as Ghana’s did.
“The economies of other countries couldn’t perform as well as ours did. The whole sub-Saharan African countries, none of them was able to pose a positive growth, none,” he told host Kwame Sefa Kayi.
“Our 0.4% growth is better than a negative,” he continued.
Economic growth is defined as the increase in the market value of goods and services produced by an economy over time. It is usually measured as a percentage rate of increase in the real gross domestic product (GDP).
The most comprehensive measure of overall economic performance is gross domestic product or GDP, which measures the “output” or total market value of goods and services produced in the domestic economy during a particular time period.
According to the World Bank, economic growth in Western and Central Africa contracted by 1.1% in 2020. In East and Southern Africa, the growth contraction in 2020 is estimated at -3.
To ascertain the truth or otherwise of the claim, Dubawa referred to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund figures for the 2020 GDP growth of all 46 countries.
A total of 14 out of the 46 countries, had recorded a positive economic growth rate in 2020, according to data from the World Bank and the IMF.
Data from the World Bank indicated that Burundi, Cameroon, The Gambia, and Uganda recorded a positive economic growth in 2020. However, data from the IMF and Statista said otherwise.
The World Bank indicated that East Africa’s Comoros recorded a 4.9% economic growth in 2020; however, the country’s data of their GDP growth rate is not available on the IMF website.
From the above, it is evident that Ghana was not the only country to have recorded positive growth in sub-saharan Africa in 2020.
Conclusion
Data from the World Bank and the IMF and other sources agree that 14 Sub-Saharan countries, including Ghana, had recorded a positive economic growth rate in 2020.
The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party’s claim that Ghana is the only country in Sub-Saharan Africa to record a positive growth rate is false.
This report was produced under the Dubawa Student Fact-checking Project aimed at offering students in tertiary schools aspiring to take up roles in the profession the opportunity to acquire real-world experience through verification and fact-checking.
The match was crucial for the country as Ghana needed a win to progress to the next stage of the qualifiers for the World Cup. South Africa, on the other hand, needed just a point to sail through.
Hours after the game, a social media user, Mavela_MX, posted a photo on Twitter, allegedly showing the state of Ghana’s roads after the country had used all its financial resources to pay the referee of the match.
The caption associated with the photo seems to be an expression of agitation about the outcome of the Ghana – South Africa game.
Some other photos were posted as comments in reaction by other Twitter users, making claims about the setting of the images they had posted.
A Google Reverse Image search was conducted for all the photos to ascertain their origin.
Claim 1: Social media user, Mavela_MX alleges that the photo below depicts a road network in Ghana.
In many of the instances found using reverse image search, the setting was identified as Zimbabwe.
They credited Getty Images as the source of the image and the photo can indeed be found in their image collection.
The caption reads: (GERMANY OUT) NGA. Nigeria, Lagos. Stadteil Ijora, Ghanaer Ghetto. (Photo by Markus Matzel/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
CLAIM 3: Social media user, Kwasiabinti, alleges that the photo below depicts an area in South Africa.
The photo has been on the internet as far back as 2008 and has been used by various people. There is no agreement on the origin of the photo.
There have been numerous instances where the photo was used in a publication.
In an article titled ‘Crime, Violence and Poverty in Jamaica,’ which was published by Balthazar Issa on www.medium.com, the photo was used.
However, the caption used for the photo was “Polluted Ghetto” – which does not, in any way, suggest that the photo was its setting in Jamaica.
This article was published on May 3, 2015.
The image was also used in a 2014 article published on www.johnrieber.com.
The website is operated by John Rieber. His bio on Twitter reads as “a lover of food, bacon, burgers, travel, music, pop culture and cinema – of all kinds – please check out my blog!
Although the photo was uploaded in April 2014, it was used in an article on the website in July 2014.
When John Rieber was contacted about the origin of the image, he admitted that it was not from him.
“I found this image online. I did not take the photo and used it only in a fair use manner to visualize a review of a book,” he told Dubawa via email.
The image has been on the internet as far back as 2008 and has been used by various people who have mentioned different places as the origin of the photo.
Conclusion
The photo, as posted by Yonela Nkosi, is not from Ghana. The said photo is from Nigeria.
Also, the claim made by Mavela_MX is false. According to available evidence, the photo is originating from Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, there is insufficient evidence to ascertain the origin of the photo posted by Kwasiabinti_. There are conflicting claims about the setting of the photo.
This report was produced under the Dubawa Student Fact-checking Project aimed at offering students in tertiary schools aspiring to take up roles in the profession the opportunity to acquire real-world experience through verification and fact-checking.
On November 2, 2021, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia delivered a public lecture on the digital economy of the country at Ashesi University. The public lecture, dubbed #BawumiaSpeaks, also had an interactive session with students and invited guests on how ‘digitization’ is transforming the economy and positioning Ghana for the emerging global digital revolution.
Dubawa verified a number of claims made by the Vice President and identified a mix of true, false and mostly false claims in part one of our report.
Similar findings were made in Part 2 of our fact-check of the Vice President’s speech.
Claim 1: Ghana currently has the largest medical drone delivery service in the world
There is not enough evidence to give precise data on the volume of service that Ghana provides compared to other countries, even though it has been reported by various outlets that it is the largest medical drone delivery service in the world.
“In the last year, we completed roughly 4,000 lifesaving emergency deliveries, but what we’re launching in Ghana is about 20 times the scale of that,” said Zipline’s Rinaudo, who adds that the company currently serves 25 facilities in Rwanda and is on track to serve nearly 2,000 facilities in Ghana by the end of the year.
Also, The Head of Communication of Zipline, Justine Hamilton, in an interview with Joy News in 2019 during the launch of Zipline said it “will be rolling out all four basins, and ultimately it will be serving over 2,000 clinics and up to 12 million people in Ghana”.
Claim 2: We engaged Google last year and they have agreed to integrate our digital address system (house number, street names, and digital address) into Google Maps. We are hoping to complete the integration by the end of the year. This will be the first such integration of a country’s digital property address system into Google Maps that I am aware of
Fact-checker: Maxine Gloria Danso
Verification
It was announced on the official Instagram account of the Abu Dhabi Government Media Office on 11 October 2021 that in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi now has 200,000 building addresses in Google Maps. This is reported to be part of the emirate’s Onwani unified addressing system by the Abu Dhabi Department of Municipalities and Transport.
The post adds that more than 19,000 street names have been created with their navigation systems also accessible on Google Maps.
UAE launched this ahead of Ghana and will not make Ghana the first country to integrate digital address systems into Google Maps when it is finally launched by the end of 2021.
Furthermore, beyond being any country’s initiative or having exclusivity, in 2020, Google introduced a feature known as Plus Codes – a free, open-source digital address-making system – that enables everyone in the world to have access to a digital address searchable in Google Maps. This even includes places where there are no digital addresses or street names or even streets that currently exist.
“The Plus Codes use latitude and longitude to produce a short, easy-to-share digital address that can represent any location on the planet. For example, the Plus Code “W2GJ+JQ, Johannesburg” represents the main entrance to the Google office in Johannesburg, South Africa. Put this code into Google Maps or Google Search and you’ll be brought right to our front door in Johannesburg,” Google explains.
Google further details how anyone can generate their own digital address to be searched in Google Maps here.
Claim 3: Ghana is the first country that I know of in Africa to implement a Universal QR Code payment system that accommodates both bank accounts and mobile wallets.
A number of foreign reports show that Ghana’s launch of a QR Universal Code in March 2020 makes her the first African country with this initiative.
According to a report by FinTech Futures in October 2020, Ghana is the first African country to harmonise a QR Code payment system that allows for payments to be made through bank accounts, mobile wallets, and cards.
This is corroborated with another report by QR Code Tiger which lists how African countries are integrating QR Codes in a diverse number of sectoral services.
“Due to the vagaries of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghana’s central bank has launched a universal QR code payment solution with HPS or (Hightech Payment Systems) just last year, making it the first African country to introduce a universal QR code system,” the report reads.
On a global front, a report by Global Government Forum published in September 2019 shows that countries such as Singapore, Saudi Arabia, India, and China launched theirs before Ghana.
However, the QR Codes of these countries mainly facilitate e-payment for bank transactions (except China which also has mobile money payment) whereas Ghana is among the few African countries with a bank and mobile money payment system initiatives.
QR Codes stand for Quick Responses Codes. It provides customers and merchants the convenience and safety to simply use their smartphones to scan the QR code and make electronic payments from their bank accounts, debit cards, and mobile money wallets. This initiative facilitates electronic payment among small-scale and large-scale businesses where merchants can instantly receive payments through a static or dynamic QR code.
Claim 4: Inflation reduced from 15% to near single digits over the last five years
According to the IMF, inflation measures how much more expensive a set of goods and services has become over a certain period, usually a year.
The most well-known indicator of inflation is the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the percentage change in the price of a basket of goods and services consumed by households.
Figures from all four institutions concerning Ghana’s inflation rate indicate that Ghana recorded a double-digit (about 17.0+%) inflation in 2015, 2016, and 2017 but has since dropped to single digits since 2018.
According to figures from the World Bank and Statista, Ghana’s inflation rate for 2020 had hit 9.9%, making it single-digit inflation.
Also, Ghana’s inflation rate as of December 2020, according to figures from the Ghana Statistical Service is 10.4%, which qualifies to be near single-digit inflation as described by the Vice-President.
Claim 5: Recorded positive trade balance in successive years; best in more than a decade
Figures from the World Bank, IMF, Bank of Ghana, and the Finance Ministry do not support this assertion by the Vice-President.
Fact-checker: Jeffrey Nyabor
Verification
According to the Corporate Finance Institute, Trade Balance, also known as balance of trade (BOT), refers to the difference between the monetary value of a country’s imports and exports over a given time period.
Balance of Trade is declared as positive when there is trade surplus; that is when the monetary value for exports is greater than the monetary value for imports.
However, when the monetary value for exports is less than the monetary value for imports, then there is a trade deficit, also known as a negative trade balance.
To establish a country’s Balance of Trade, one would have to look at the country’s current account – which is one of the components of a country’s Balance of Payments.
The claim by the Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, suggests that Ghana’s exports have exceeded its imports in successive years over the past five years.
Evidently, Ghana has not recorded a positive balance of trade in successive years, at least since 2005.
In fact, according to World Bank figures, Ghana last recorded a positive balance of trade in 1980.
Claim 6: Ghana is the first country in Africa to implement a digital system in combination with house numbers and street names.
In 2016, Ivory Coast adopted and implemented the Digital Addressing System, What3words, which generates accurate and fixed addresses.
Fact-checker: Baraka Issahaku
Verification:
Ghana, in 2017 under the NPP government introduced the Digital Address System in collaboration with GhanaPost. Ivory Coast in 2016, adopted the What3words digital addressing system as an addressing standard for La Poste, the Côte d’Ivoire’s national postal system, which gave even rural communities official addresses.
In a report by CNET and CNN in 2016 and 2017 respectively, a combination of just three words allows every location within 3m by 3m squares to be identified. At the time of writing the report, however, BBC reported that there was a challenge of people accessing their digital addresses because not every Ivorian owns a mobile phone with Internet access.
What3words is a startup based in London. The application records GPS coordinates to nine-square-meter plots and simplifies them into a three-word combination to identify specific locations. It has been described as a lifesaver by British police.
Does What3words Application generate street addresses?
In order to ascertain the street addressing feature of the application, we downloaded, installed, and ran it.
The application can be found on the Google play store for Android users. After installation, what3words works with the location and thus needs permission to activate it. The application puts every location into 3m by 3m squares and therefore has every location under its radar, allowing it to generate street addresses as well. However, the application states that street names may not always point to the precise location.
Nonetheless, the application has the satellite view option which allows viewers to see exactly what the location looks like.
Image: Screenshot from What3words Application
The application also allows viewers to navigate by using transportation apps like Uber, Bolt, among others. Additionally, specific locations can be shared with others, using the map view or satellite view option.
Images: Screenshots from What3words
Ivory Coast adopted and implemented this technology in 2016, indicating that they are far ahead of Ghana in the digitization of addresses in Africa.
On November 2, 2021, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia delivered a public lecture on the digital economy of the country at Ashesi University. The public lecture, dubbed #BawumiaSpeaks, also had an interactive session with students and invited guests on how ‘digitization’ is transforming the economy and positioning Ghana for the emerging global digital revolution.
Dubawa verified a number of claims made by the Vice President and brings you our findings in this report.
Claim 1: We have identified and provided unique addresses for all properties in Ghana (7.5 million properties).
Although 7.5 million people have used the Ghana Post GPS address system since its inception, there are over 10 million structures counted during the Population and Housing Census conducted in 2021 of which 8 million and over are fully complete properties.
Fact-checker: Roselena Ahiable
Verification
According to the preliminary report from the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) released on September 22, a total of 10.7 million structures were counted in the country during the census. These structures were completed buildings, uncompleted buildings at various levels of completion above window level, and unconventional structures (such as metal containers, and kiosks). Twenty percent (20%) are metal containers, kiosks, and wooden structures.
The report further reveals that “over ten million (10,661,421) structures were counted during the listing, out of which 8,547,391 (80.2%) are fully completed i.e. roofed with windows and doors fixed.”
If the identified properties, as stated by the Vice President, is 7.5 million, then not all properties have been identified, as over a million fully completed structures have not been accounted for. Thus, addresses could not have been generated for them.
A June 2021 article, published on Health Developments, indicates that drones are still being used in Malawi to make healthcare accessible to people in rural communities.
A 2019 research, published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, captures Madagascar (1 Project; Nov 2017—Dec 2018), Malawi (2 projects; one in 2016 and the other 2017, both ongoing]) and Senegal (1 Project; Dec 2017—ongoing) among a group of early adopters piloting the use of bi-directional transport drones for health systems in sub-Saharan Africa.
Another publication in the History of Science and Technology Journal, published in 2021, acknowledged that countries such as Senegal, Madagascar, and Rwanda began the application of drones in healthcare delivery before Ghana.
“Countries like Senegal, Madagascar, Rwanda, and Malawi encouraged Ghana to consider the application of drones in her mainstream healthcare delivery,” a part of the publication reads.
Claim 3: Ghana is the first country in Africa and one of the few in the world to achieve this type of interoperability between bank accounts and mobile wallets.
Verdict: False. Ghana is not the first country in Africa to achieve interoperability between bank accounts and mobile wallets.
Fact-checker: Roselena Ahiable
Verification
This is not the first time Dr Bawumia would make this claim.
“But the other part of it is that you have made the bank account and the mobile money wallet interoperable. So you can move money between the bank account and the mobile money wallet and vice versa and you can also do the same with the E-Zwich account. So triangular interoperability is what we have done. And Kwame, this is the first country in Africa to do so. There is no other country in Africa that has been able to deliver mobile money interoperability,” he said during a one-on-one interview on Peace Fm’s Kokrooko on August 25th, 2020.
Dubawa found this claim false as other African countries started implementing interoperability before Ghana. Read more here.
Claim 4: In the USA, the Federal Reserve Bank does not have interoperability in its Real-Time Payments Network.
The Federal Reserve Bank in the United States of America does not have real-time payments interoperability yet.
Fact-checker: Roselena Ahiable
Verification
A Reuters report in August 2019 indicated that the United States Federal Reserve announced plans to develop a real-time payment and settlement system with an expected launch in 2023 or 2024.
As of September 3rd, 2021, another report in the PaymentsJournal, suggests that this is still pending as “The American Bankers Association recently asked the Federal Reserve to achieve a state of interoperability with The Clearing House RTP network.”
Furthermore, the AmericanBarAssociation has also indicated that the FedNowSM Service (FedNow), is expected to be launched in 2023 or 2024.
“FedNow is a real-time payment and settlement service that will incorporate clearing functionality into the process of settling each payment. This will allow financial institutions to exchange the information needed to make debits and credits to customer accounts and notify customers of completed or failed payments. FedNow will provide access through the Fed’s FedLine® network, which currently provides Federal Reserve Bank payment and information services to more than 10,000 financial institutions, both directly and through their agents”, the report reads.
Claim 5: Ghana’s cybersecurity ranking is now 89.6% compared to 32% in 2017.
Ghana scored 32.6% in the 2017 Global Security Index but scored 86.69% in the 2020 report.
Image: Page 51 of the 2017 Global Security Index by ITU
Claim 6: Internet penetration currently stands at 50% compared to 26% in 2017
According to datareportal and statista, Ghana currently has an internet penetration rate of 50%. However, contrary to the Vice President’s indication of Ghana recording a 26% internet penetration rate in 2017, we found that the correct figure is actually 28%. – higher than was suggested.
Fact-checker: Roselena Ahiable
Verification
Ghana’s internet penetration rate currently stands at 50% according to Statista, and datareportal.
Claim: Popular Ghanaian social commentator, Kwame Asare Obeng, well-known as Kwame A Plus, has shared a photo on Facebook, suggesting that it was taken in Accra in 1965.
View from above of a busy street in Nigeria with people cycling on the pavement. Nigeria (Photo by Mondadori via Getty Images)
Conclusion
The photo was taken in Nigeria and not Ghana as claimed by Kwame A Plus.
This report was produced under the Dubawa Student Fact-checking Project aimed at offering students in tertiary schools aspiring to take up roles in the profession the opportunity to acquire real-world experience through verification and fact-checking.
