Claim:Amasaman Rent Control Department Office locked by landlord for non-payment of rent arrears
No Rent Control Department Office has been locked due to non-payment of rent
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A viral post on social media, on Saturday, August 7, 2021, claimed a Rent Control Department (RCD) office, under the Ministry of Works and Housing, has been closed down for failure to honour its rent obligations.
The post, which was emanating from a report posted by Ghana News Page on its Facebook page, said the Amasaman office of RCD owed five months rent arrears, which compelled the landlord to lock up the place after all unsuccessful attempts to get it settled.
The landlord, whose name was given as Mr. Joseph Nsiah Abugri, is reported to have said the Department initially made a two-year advance payment to rent his place. They were subsequently to make monthly payments after the two years advance had expired.
This led us to fact-check the claim which had attracted a lot of reshares and comments on Facebook, few of it have been shared below.
Verification
A statement issued on August 7, 2021, and signed by the Chief Rent Manager of the Rent Control Department, Mr. Twum Ampofo, denied the viral claim.
“It is obvious that the deliberate circulation of these rumours are intended to paint the Department in a negative light. Management wishes to inform the general public that there is no iota of truth in the rumor,” the statement said.
Furthermore, RCD denied knowledge of the said landlord, Mr. Joseph Nisah Abugri, as indicated in the widely circulated story, while stating that it “shall always adhere to the provisions of the ACT 220 by not paying more than six months Rent Advance to any landlord.”
Also, the Head of Public Relations of RCD, Mr. Emmanuel Hovey Kporsu, in an interview said the viral report is false and indicated that all efforts are being made to trace the location of the online news portal behind the report.
He said although the Amasaman office of RCD is a rented facility, the landlord is not called by the name reported, and office premises are not also painted as attached or portrayed by the report.
The Graphic online image was captioned “Mr Agyemang Badu, Head of Operations, Health Facilities Regulatory Agency locking the Susan Clinic in Lartebiokorshie.”
Other online news portals have the same image and caption related to the story published by Graphic online.
Conclusion
Based on the above information, we can conclusively say the viral report is false.
The Bank of Ghana (BOG) in September 2021 will pilot the digital Cedi currency also known as the E-CEDI.
This was announced by the First Deputy Governor, Dr Maxwell Opoku Afare, when he addressed the media on Monday July 12, 2021.
In June 2021, the governor of the BOG, Dr Ernest Addison, disclosed that the digital currency (E-Cedi) is in the advanced stages and will go through three phases – design, implementation and piloting – before it goes into circulation.
The design phase, which involves the design of the digital money, is completed. After the design phase, the central bank will move to the implementation and the piloting stage where a few people would be able to use the digital cedi on their mobile applications and other apps that are currently running.
Ghana’s central bank partnered with a U.S. company called EMTECH, a fintech startup dedicated to central banks. This partnership is for a digital transformation journey which will establish a template that other regulators and stakeholders can embrace for a robust banking sector. The partnership will leverage EMTECH’s software to test innovative solutions, including blockchain. The approach will bring on board new products and services as well as bridge the gap between the banked and unbanked.
The project is also designed to speed up the time to market for the Bank of Ghana’s CBDC.
What is a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)?
The Central bank digital currency is the digital form of a country’s fiat currency. The central bank of a country will issue electronic tokens whose value is backed by the full faith and the credit of the government which replaces the minting coins or the paper notes.
The supply of the Central bank digital currency will be wholly determined and controlled by the central government.
Can Ghanaians use the E-Cedi in other countries?
During the announcement on the piloting of the E-Cedi, Dr. Maxwell Opoku Afare said that as part of the preparations for the launch of the digital currency, there would be coordination between the Bank of Ghana and other central banks across the world, to enable Ghanaians use e-cedi for international transactions as well.
Is the E-Cedi Volatile?
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are characterised by a number of factors, including a lack of proper central bank regulation, that lead to its volatility.
The E-Cedi will ensure financial inclusion in the Ghanaian economy. According to the Atlantic council Geotech Centre, digital money solutions like the mobile money, will also be seen as a means to increase financial inclusion by pushing the government to include populations that are unbanked into the digital economy.
According to the Bank of England the digital currency can boost the gross domestic product (GDP) of a country up to three per cent by lowering transaction costs associated with transfers and transactions. Additionally, the Bank of International Settlement has stated that it can improve liquidity by allowing faster transaction speeds.
Are other economies into CBDC?
Major world economies such as Brazil, China, the Eurozone, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States are undergoing various phases of research, exploration and trial of CBDCs.
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is the way forward for the world’s economy when properly regulated to respond to global issues, such as the COVID-19 which took the world by surprise. Risks involved are far less compared to other unregulated digital currencies.
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
Claim: Several social media posts have claimed a photo of the Büyük Çamlıca Mosque, in Turkey, as the newly commissioned National Mosque of Ghana Complex.
The photo being circulated as the National Mosque of Ghana Complex is the Büyük Çamlıca Mosque, in Turkey.
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A photo being circulated on social media is alleged to be the newly commissioned National Mosque of Ghana Complex for the Muslim Ummah.
The photo in question shows a wide aerial night-view of what is supposed to be the National Mosque of Ghana Complex as well as revealing the skylines of other close but sparsely aligned residential and non-residential facilities of the location, where the National Mosque of Ghana Complex is believed to have been constructed.
Following the public unveiling of the facility, some Ghanaians took to social media to celebrate the completion of the imposing architectural project. The posts were complemented with a night scene image of a mosque believed to be the newly commissioned National Mosque of Ghana Complex.
Verification
A Yandex image search reveals that the widely circulated picture is the Büyük Çamlıca Mosque, in Turkey.
The Büyük Çamlıca Mosque is Turkey’s largest mosque, with four minarets with three balconies, that is 107.1 meters high, and the two minarets with two balconies are 90 meters high, dedicated to the Manzikert Victory, according to AA News.
Other unique features, as seen in the circulated photo, include the 72 meters high main dome of the mosque, which symbolizes the 72 nations living in Turkey.
It also has one of the largest temple doors in the world, with its main gate 5 meters wide, 6.5 meters high, and weighing 6 tons.
The photo is shared by Getty Imageshere and here and is identified as the Camlica Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. Some of them have been online since 2016.
Also, an Instagram handle, alhambraapart_hotel, operated by Alhambra Apart Hotel in Istanbul, shows the same picture which was posted on July 4, 2019, over two years ago.
The Complex contains a grand mosque, the second-largest in West Africa, an office complex for the National Chief Imam, a clinic fitted with laboratories, a pharmacy, a library, and a morgue.
National Mosque of Ghana Complex. Source: Presidency
With a Turkish Islamic civilisation architectural signature, the 15,000 seater-capacity mosque complex was built on a 42-acre land, at Kanda, according to Graphic Online.
“This beautiful complex is a replica of the famous Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, which has become one of the most visited mosques in the world for the purposes of tourism. I expect that we should also nurture and take care of this mosque, and build its profile as a tourist destination for travellers to our country,” Citinewsroom reported President Akufo-Addo to have said.
The Turkish non-governmental organisation (NGO), Human Development International (HUDAI), provided funding, with the support of the Turkish government and some Ghanaian Muslim philanthropists.
Conclusion
Based on the available facts, we can sufficiently conclude that the newly completed National Mosque of Ghana Complex, for the Islamic fraternity, which is located at Kanda, in the Ayawaso East Municipality of the Greater Accra Region, is not what has been widely portrayed on social media.
Ghana’s place on the 2020 World Gold Chart has been deemed unsatisfactory by a cross section of the populace, especially with China retaining its place as one of the world’s top producers of the mineral.
They have raised questions as to why the country, formerly called the Gold Coast, whilst a British Colony, is not producing enough of the mineral to be the world’s leader.
Some of these assertions were made online after the Ghana Chamber of Mines released the 10 leading gold producing countries for 2020.
Reports from several online news publications sought to draw a link between illegal gold mining in Ghana and the country’s performance on the world’s list of major gold producers.
Indeed, the impact of illegal gold mining on the country cannot be overemphasized.
“While illegal mining supports livelihoods, it has caused severe damage to the environment. It is blamed for destruction of farmlands and pollution of water bodies. It also denies the state revenue: an estimated $2.3 billion in 2016,” parts of an article co-authored with Senyo Dotsey and Sebastian Paalo, PhD researcher, School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland (Australia), and published on www.theconversation.com reads
But really, does the effects of galamsey extend to Ghana’s gold production?
If illegal mining is to be stopped, will the country’s volumes of the material increase?
How is galamsey affecting Ghana’s gold production?
The Director of Communications for Small-Scale Miners, Abdul Razak Alhassan, says that the effect of illegal gold may not influence the quantity of gold the country produces.
He has told Dubawa that illegal mining in the country cannot be the reason for Ghana’s inability to be the world’s leading producer of Ghana.
“Illegal mining is something we can discuss but not the cause of Ghana not being number one on the chart when it comes to leading producers of gold,” he said.
He added that Chinese were involved in gold mining activities across Africa, hence, it is quite wrong for Ghana to be the only country to be singled out by persons who hold the assertion that the presence of the Chinese was affecting the country’s gold production.
Abdul Alhassan says China’s rank on the 2020 leading gold producers chart is a reflection of their investment in the mining industry globally.
“If China is the leading gold producer, it means they have invested in the mining industry and they have invested in both their countries and other countries when it comes to gold. It is a fact that since colonial times, Ghanaian indigenes do not invest in its mining industries and most of the gold mining companies in Ghana are owned by foreigners. They invest in the mining companies and give the country just a token of the gross. It was 3% but now 5% of the gross. If we, Ghanaians, were investing in that sector and taking about 60% – 90%, it would have been a different ball game altogether, but if we do not channel our investment into that sector we will always have a minute percentage from the foreign companies,” he told Dubawa in an interview.
What should be done if the country wants to increase its gold production?
The government, at several times, announced policies geared at promoting growth of the mining sector.
In 2018, the then Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Barbara Oteng Gyasi, said that the government was in the process of instituting policies aimed at restructuring the mining sector.
Concerning illegal mining, she only reiterated the government’s commitment to fighting the menace.
In the 2019 Mining in Africa Africa Country Investment Guide (MACIG), it was said that even though Ghana has led the way in gold mining and still holds first place in West Africa for gold production, “the country’s high tax burden has stalled many exploration projects and deterred new investors, leading to a lack of greenfield exploration.”
It added that “the country’s skew towards large companies with underground mines and brownfield exploration focus goes hand-in-hand with a mining code that favors companies with larger investment power.”
In the Magazine, President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Sulemanu Koney, was quizzed on how the country’s mining industry was taking shape in terms of investment and potential diversification and growth.
He is quoted to have said that “we see a lot of brownfield expansion and rebuilding of mines, but it would be beneficial to see an increase in greenfield investment in Ghana.”
He also said that there was the need for the country to attract more investment.
“Because of the high levels of resource exploitation and challenges in the fiscal regime, Ghana’s attractiveness is waning in comparison to neighboring countries and it is important for the country to reposition itself,” Sulemanu Koney is quoted to have said.
Abdul Razak Alhassan of the Small Scale Miners in Ghana believes that the country’s fortunes in gold production can change if there is more investment in the sector.
An article published on oxfordbusinessgroup.com seems to agree with Mr. Alhassan, stating that recent investments had boosted production of the resource in the country.
“Ghana is one of the world’s top-10 gold producers and the second largest in Africa. As such, the mining industry is a major economic driving force: it is the biggest single contributor to government revenues and a leading source of export earnings. A wave of investments in recent years has boosted production and improved cost efficiency in gold and manganese mining,”
But how did China become the World’s leading producer of Gold?
The World Gold Council, in a 2018 report, explained that China’s “exploration and production is spread across 3,389 gold mining areas, managed by around 400 gold mining companies.
Within this group, the top 13 account for the lion’s share of production, taking 59.77% and 41.04% of finished gold and total mined gold output, respectively. And the top four – China National Gold Group (‘China Gold’), Shandong Gold, Zijin Mining Group and Shandong Zhaojin Group – are dominant.”
The report added that “there is an increased focus across the industry on identifying quality assets, not just domestically but internationally too. Leveraging its position as “the largest gold smelter in the world,” the industry is actively seeking international partnerships and joint ventures.
This outward focus stems partly from an increased recognition of the benefits to be gained from cooperation with overseas peers, but it also reflects the role of gold within China’s “Belt and Road” (B&R) initiative.
For the Asian country to maximise its potential, it was suggested that “mining companies should drive exploration, increase investment in mining assets and cultivate existing resources to improve reserves and ensure the sustainable development of the industry more broadly.
Conclusion
Ghana’s production is hinged on investment. Should there be more local investments in the industry, such additional investment, according to experts, is sure to boost the country’s gold production. Illegal mining is definitely having a toll on the country but with discussions on how to increase Ghana’s gold production, the focus must be on more local investments.
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.
Claim: In Ghana, tinted car windows are illegal and one can be imprisoned for a year for that, a Whatsapp user claims.
Mostly False. According to the Head of Research Education and Training at the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Alexander Obeng, tinting of the front windscreen is illegal but tinting windows is permitted only when the transparency is 30%. Offenders face a fine of not less than twenty-five and not more than fifty penalty units, or a term of imprisonment of not fewer than fifty days and not more than three months.
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A WhatsApp user, claims tinted windows are illegal in Ghana and one can serve up to a year in prison for such an offence.
The claim came up in a group Whatsapp chat as a result of discussions on the rampant road accidents Ghana is facing at the moment.
According to the Whatsapp user,
“You guys erh you should know that if we want to stop road accidents, I think cars with tinted windows must not be allowed on our roads. Even, it is illegal to have tinted windows. One can serve up to one year in prison for having tinted windows.”
Image source: WhatsApp
The claim has been forwarded several times. Dubawa set out to find out the viability of the claim.
Verification
Two claims needed to be fact-checked. The first being that tinted car windows are illegal and that a person can be imprisoned for up to a year if found culpable.
It states that, it is unlawful to have a tinted front windscreen that diminishes the visibility of the one driving and that one can be only allowed to use a tinted screen when there is at least 70% light transmittance to allow the inhabitants to see and be seen.
“A person shall not drive a motor vehicle with a tinted front windscreen… A person may drive a motor vehicle which has glass other than the windscreen and front glass tinted with light transmittance of at least seventy percent to allow the occupants to see and be seen, if;
The film or tinting material applied to the windscreen or window has a textured surface or is a fixture or an attachment but does not reduce the visibility of the person driving the motor.
The film or material applied to the windscreen or window has a textured surface or is a fixture or an attachment but does not reduce the visibility of the person driving the motor vehicle in any direction.”
To seek more clarity on this, Dubawa spoke to the Head of Research Education and Training at the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Alexander Obeng.
According to him, tinting the front windscreen is illegal, nonetheless tinting the side windscreen is permissible but its transparency should be 30%. This, according to him, is to enable them to see drivers from a distance away.
“Nobody is saying you shouldn’t tint; you can tint the side windows but it must be 30% transparent. This is according to the discretion of the police. Because we should be able to see you as to whether you are adhering to the driving regulations which include you not being on phone and wearing your seatbelt while driving. With the front windscreen, we have noticed some are tinting. We are advising them to remove it because tinting the front window is illegal. The only thing that should be on the front glass is the roadworthy sticker and insurance sticker”.
Deputy Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, Inspector Bright Kwabena Danso, also indicated that driving a vehicle with tinted glasses is illegal even though it has been seen as a symbol of status and lifestyle, while others see it as a security measure or for privacy.
“Vehicle owners must know that there are strict laws around its application. To some people, tinted windscreens do have aesthetic value, and can serve as some level of safety, but they must remember the implications and the law,” he told Daily Graphic in a 2019 interview.
Also, Dubawa found out stories from ghanaweb.com and peacefmonline.com affirming that the tinted car windscreens are illegal.
What is the penalty when you go against the law?
The Head of Research Education and Training at the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Alexander Obeng dismissed claims that a person could serve a year in prison for the offence.
According to Obeng,
“…the law is already there. Our job is to enforce it. So, the law says when you are found culpable you can be convicted to a fine in penalty units where one penalty unit is GH₵12.00. So assuming you are convicted with 2,000 penalty units you just have to multiply GH₵12.00 by the penalty units assigned to you. Also, you can serve a term of imprisonment of not less than 30days. So, reject claims that it is one year”.
Subregulation 6 of regulation 67 of the Road Traffic Regulations Act 2012 also states that “ a person who contravenes this regulation commits an offense is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than twenty-five and not more than fifty penalty units or a term of imprisonment of not less than fifty days and not more than three months or both”.
Conclusion
From the evidence above it is clear that the claim that tinted car windows are illegal and that one can be imprisoned for up to a year if found culpable is misleading.
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.
But a Facebook user, John Kwadwo Stephens, has shared a post that purportedly shows the construction and the completed stage of a highway as a part of the fleet of roads constructed by the government.
In the post, he said “Kumasi-Accra road! Akufo Addo is doing well, I know the enemies of progress will come and be ranting here”
Image source: Facebook
Many Facebook users have questioned whether the supposed photograph is that of the Accra-Kumasi highway.
The photo has been used by pressreader.com and rhodesiatimes.com where it was said to be a highway in Zambia. Other extensive discussions on the road’s origin being Zambia was also held on the Facebook page, Patriotic Front Zambia where users claimed it was the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriage highway.
Dubawa therefore set out to determine the veracity and origin of the image.
Dubawa also found a licensed version of the photo under Wikimedia Commons. This copy of the image provided a clearer view, which enabled us to establish that the image in question was taken in South America.
The signage seen on the right side of the photo reads “retorno”, and we found that retorno is a municipality and town of El Retorno in the Guaviare Department of Colombia.
Additionally, our search revealed that the photo was taken during the announcement of works done on the Rodovia Cezário José de Castilho highway (SP-321) in the São Paulo state of the Baura region in Brazil.
More evidently, prior to the announcement we found a news report dated 2013 by Globo, a Brazilian online news portal where commuters staged a protest calling on the authorities to expand the one lane highway due to the enormous road accidents it has recorded.
Other organizations including Brazilian fact checking website Lupa and Comprova have verified the photo and affirmed the highway is that of Rodovia Cezário José de Castilho (SP-321) highway in Brazil.
Furthermore, the number plates seen in the photo are clear indications that this image was not taken in Ghana.
Checks from the Ministry of Roads and Highways website did not affirm the picture as purported in the claim. In addition, no major news organization has reported on the commissioning of this claimed highway.
A basic online search for pictures of the Accra to Kumasi highway did not also confirm the picture.
Conclusion
The findings reveal that the alleged image of a highway is not the Accra- Kumasi highway in Ghana.
Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, signed into law the Right To Information, RTI, Act. This came about two months after the parliament passed it after several years of delay.
The Act is primarily meant to allow citizens access to information by public offices as a means to holding the government accountable.
The president in an address said he was happy that the feat had been achieved under his watch and congratulated the parliament for their commitment to the bill.
“I want to thank the seventh parliament for its courage, sense of responsibility, and commitment to good governance in passing this significant piece of legislation,” he said.
“The purposes of the act as set out in its preamble is to provide for the implementation of the constitutional right to information held by any public institution and to foster a culture of transparency and accountability in public affairs,” the president stressed.
The right to information is enshrined in Ghana’s 1992 Constitution but, for many years, the country had struggled to pass the RTI law. The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) drafted an RTI Bill for Ghana as far back as 1999.
Despite this early start, Ghana was unable to adopt an RTI Law until recently. In March 2018, the Right to Information Bill, 2018 (2018 Bill or Bill) was placed before Parliament.
Prior to this, it had been the subject of a series of protests, especially from the media and civil society groups. They accused lawmakers of deliberately delaying the passage of the law because of their own selfish interests.
On their part, the lawmakers had argued that the bill needed fine-tuning in areas bordering on national security.
Journalists in Ghana largely believe that the passage of the bill into law will make their work easier, especially in the area of accessing official government data.
RTI and Misinformation
The spread of misinformation is globally widespread. The effect of social media has broadened the sources of information. Therefore, in recent years, fact-checking has become more prevalent in journalism. This is reflected in the increasing number of fact-checking organizations being established both locally and internationally, such as Dubawa, Africa Check, and other members of the International Fact-Checking Network.
In order to effectively fact-check claims and verify information, journalists in Ghana will sometimes have to rely on the new RTI law to look for information to support their facts. It is, therefore, imperative for them to be familiar with the law.
Here are Five Key Facts You Need to Know About Your Right to Information, under the RTI Law in Ghana.
Know your Right to Access Information
It is the responsibility of the government to make available general information on governance and any person applying for information may do so without giving a reason, according to the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. A person is at liberty to apply for information without giving a reason for the application. There are, however, exceptions to this.
“Where an applicant requests that the application be treated as urgent, the applicant shall state the reason for the urgency,” reads Act 1 subsection 4 of the RTI Law.
Know Who to Contact within the Organisation
Before requesting information from a department or ministry, it helps to know exactly who you must consult to receive the information you request. For many institutions, the data you need will come from an information officer. When applying, request for the information officer’s name, position, and contact information indicating “the form and manner of access required and state the capacity of the applicant to the satisfaction of the information officer to whom the application is made.” reads Section 19 clause 1 (c) and (d) of the RTI Law
Know the Time Limits
An information officer has 14 days to determine the status of your application. If your request has been denied, you are entitled to appeal the decision under sections 31-39 of the RTI Law. The information officer’s immediate supervisor will review the appeal, known as an “internal review.” If access to the information is still denied, you are legally entitled to request for an RTI Commission, a body that will be established to promote, monitor, protect and enforce your right to information.
Know What You Do Not Have Access to
The following information is exempt from public access:
Information submitted or prepared for submission to the President or the Vice President
Information submitted or prepared for submission to Cabinet
Information whose disclosure can reasonably disrupt, endanger, impede, or interfere with law enforcement and public safety
Information whose disclosure can reasonably affect the security of the state
Information whose disclosure can reasonably affect international relations
Economic information and any other interests prior to official publication
Economic information of third parties
Information whose disclosure can reasonably infringe on Parliamentary privilege, prejudice fair trial, and constitute contempt of court
Privileged information
Information on personal matters/Personal Information
Know When to Pay – and When Not to Pay
Any applicant requesting information must pay a fee approved by Parliament in accordance with the Fees and Charges Act of 2009. If the information needed is in another language, another fee can be imposed. No fees or charges should be payable for the following:
Reproduction of personal information of the applicant;
Reproduction of personal information of a person on whose behalf an application is made;
Reproduction of information that is in the public interest;
Information that should have been provided within the stipulated time under this Act;
Information to an applicant who is indigent;
Information to a person with a disability;
Time spent by an information officer or information reviewing
Officer in charge of reviewing the information requested;
Time spent by an information officer or information reviewing officer in examining whether the information requested is exempt information
Time or preparing the information for which access is to be provided.
It is recognizably important for journalists and fact-checkers to familiarize themselves with the RTI law to be able to use it effectively to enhance fact-checking.
The Researcher produced this Media Literacy Article per the 2021 Kwame Karikari Fact-checking Fellowship in partnership with ADARS FM to facilitate the ethos of truth in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.
Claim: Social media users claim Burkinabes are illegally migrating to Ghana
Insufficient evidence to say Burkinabe refugees have been migrating illegally to Ghana. While the Ghana Immigration Service says no mass immigration into the country has been recorded by their outfit, we are unable to independently confirm the origin of the video.
The video shows tens of people, both women and men including children, appearing to be escaping from a looming danger, in what appears to be an arid environment.
Given the look of the environment, many people have taken to social media to speculate that these are “Burkinabes illegally migrating to Ghana,” one of the posts claimed.
One poster labelled the post as a ‘Security alert!…., suggesting that the presence of the people could somehow be a threat.
Several families have fled their homes after attackers killed 138 people in Solhan according to a report by Al Jazeera.
Following the attack, the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, Christophe Dabire paid a visit to the affected areas.
Verification
According to the Head of Public Relations, Ghana Immigration Service Assistant Superintendent, Martin Tioseh Soyeh, no such mass movement of people from Burkina Faso has been recorded by the Service.
In addition to this, he said the Service has not picked up any intelligence regarding these Burkinabes, seen in the viral video on social media, from any of their day and night patrols or from informants along the border communities or townspeople could attempt to enter illegally.
However, he maintained that since those people are alleged to be running away due to the conflict in their village, the Immigration Service will not attempt to stop them should they come across such persons but profile them.
This is meant to ensure that the entry of the people will not disrupt the peace in the country or affect the social or economic wellbeing of Ghanaians. He said these cautionary measures would be taken in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service, National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the Social Welfare.
The Upper East Regional Police Command also disclosed in the cause of investigating this viral claim that no information to this effect has come to their notice. They maintained that the Command has not gathered any intelligence on this development while suggesting that an alert would have been issued if any possible situation had been sighted.
Conclusion
Based on the evidence gathered so far, it is insufficient to suggest that the Burkinabe refugees were entering any town in Ghana as seen in the video circulating on social media.
The researcher produced this fact-check per the Dubawa 2021 Kwame KariKari Fellowship partnership with Ghana Business News to facilitate the ethos of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.
Claim: Ghana has been ranked 6th in 2021 world ranking of most corrupt countries.
Ghana did not rank 6th in the 2021 report. The said ranking was rather from a 2018 report by the US And World Report.
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A story by the news website reportghana.com sighted by Dubawa Ghana claims Ghana placed 6th in a 2021 report that ranked the most corrupt countries in the world.
“JUST IN: Most Corrupt Countries 2021 , Ghana takes the sixth position,” the headline of the report reads.
The body of the story itself details the country’s performance on corruption for instance as reported by the Corruption Perception Index.
Verification
Dubawa found that unlike the story’s headline that the report is that of 2021, the author rather used the 2018 report from the organization, US News & World Report as their source.
The last but one paragraph of the article reads,
“The top 10 most corrupt nations, according to the 2018 U.S. News & World Report rankings, are…”
This was proof that the said report was commissioned in 2018 and not 2021 as suggested in the claim.
In order to set the records straight, Dubawa accessed the reports from 2018 and 2021 to verify this claim.
The 2018 report recovered from the news site source, US News & World Report, showed that Ghana placed 71st out of countries ranked as ‘Best Countries’ in 2018 and placed 6th in the ‘Most Corrupt Countries’ section.
The report scored in the areas of Entrepreneurship, Adventure, Citizenship, Cultural, Influence, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power and Quality of Life.
In the 2021 report however, Ghana was not part of the countries listed.
The US News & World Report Rankings
The report by the United States based news agency, US News, provides a list of survey rankings for countries in various areas.
Various surveys are organized to arrive at conclusions based on perceptions on issues. This includes their ‘Best Countries Ranking’ report which describes 78 countries (the present report) based “on a survey of more than 17,000 global citizens”.
This characterization, which includes countries that are transparent and best to invest in, tries to conclude on which countries are best. Countries that fall at the bottom of the rankings pass as the most corrupt.
Countries that made the top of this year’s rankings include Denmark, Canada and Germany; presented as the most transparent.
Iraq passed as the most corrupt country as they say at the bottom of this year’s list. Other countries include Azerbaijan, El Salvador, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Guatemala, Russi, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.
Conclusion
The claim that Ghana placed 6th in 2021 in the report is totally wrong as the country that took the 6th position was the South-American country, Guatemala. It is a case of a misleading headline which does not match the content of the story.
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.
Like several infrastructure projects in Ghana, there is always the “we did it” fight among the two major political parties in Ghana, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The new Pokuase interchange yet to be launched somewhere at the end of July has not been left out of this “claim game”.
The Pokuase interchange is Ghana’s first four-tier interchange. Ever since the project took shape, there have been several claims on when it started, whose project it is, the amount of money involved and others. To help settle the debate and put some clarity on issues raised, Dubawa Ghana in this report presents the facts surrounding the project.
How Did it All Begin?
The Government of Ghana signed a loan agreement with the African Development Bank on the 17th of November, 2016, to provide 83 million US Dollars for the construction of the Pokuase interchange. The total cost of the project was supposed to be 94 million US Dollars. The Government of Ghana was to provide 11 million dollars to supplement the loan.
The Pokuase Interchange was initially planned as a three-tier interchange under the John Dramani Mahama administration. The project comprised the construction of a five-kilometre Awoshie-Pokuase road, a three-tier interchange at Pokuase ACP Junction, a two-kilometre Accra-Nsawam Highway, a two-kilometre Kwabenya road and a 10-kilometre local roads.
The interchange was scheduled to commence in the first quarter of the next year, that is, between January and March 2017. It was scheduled to be completed after 36 months. However, construction did not start until July 2018, more than a year after the Akufo-Addo led administration took over in 2017.
The project is being undertaken by Messrs China Zhongmei Engineering Company Limited and forms part of the Accra Urban Transport Projects. The objective of the project is to promote sustainable economic growth, enhanced inclusive urban development and reduced poverty as well as promote affordable transport services.
Artistic impression of the initial three -tier interchange.
Redesigning into a 4-Tier Interchange
Almost a year after work began on the project, it was converted into a 4-tier interchange. According to a news report by the Ghanaian Times the contractor proposed to construct a 4-tier Stack Interchange after undertaking a value engineering assessment which was approved by the Ministry for Roads and Highways.
The cost for the project was not affected by the new design. Additionally, the new design is to help improve the efficiency of the project and allow the free flow of vehicles.
Per facts above, the planning of the Pokuase interchange began in 2016. In fact, according to the data portal of the African Development Bank Group, the appraisal of the project was done in 2016. This indicates that preparations for construction of the interchange including the signing of the loan had been made during John Mahama administration. The execution of the project started under the Akufo-Addo administration. Although with the same loan agreement, the NPP government negotiated and changed the plan of the project from a 3-tier to a 4-tier interchange.
