Claim: The Financial Industry Command Security Operations Centre (FICSOC) is the first to be established across Africa – Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Verdict: False. Nigeria and Egypt have similar systems that detect, report, respond to, and share information on cyber threats against banks in their respective countries.
Full Text
On Wednesday, May 24, 2023, Vice President of the Republic of Ghana and New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential aspirant, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, commissioned the Financial Industry Command Security Operations Centre (FICSOC) built and run by theBank of Ghana (BoG).
The Vice-President took to Twitter andFacebook to post about the event. He claimed that the facility was one of its kind in Africa.
“I commissioned a world-class state-of-the-art Financial Industry Command Security Operations Centre (FICSOC) established and operated by the Bank of Ghana. The first of its kind in Africa,” he claimed.
The centre has been built as a threat information exchange platform intended to enhance collaboration and coordination among banking and financial industry players to manage cybersecurity threats. The platform monitors, prevents shares information, responds to, and detects cyber threats targeted at banks and financial institutions in Ghana.
With an emphasis on ensuring the banking sector’s integrity and resilience against cybersecurity, this innovative facility acts as a primary point for organising security threats and intelligence sharing for banks in the country.
The Bank of Ghana issued theCyber and Information Security Directive (CISD), directed at banks and other financial institutions under its control, in October 2018 in response to the growing cybersecurity risks. All regulated financial companies are required to establish thorough Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) controls under the CISD.
Is Ghana the only country to establish an intelligence-sharing cybersecurity system for banks?
To verify this claim, DUBAWA compared the Bank of Ghana’s FICSOC to similar systems established in some African countries. Other African nations had taken significant steps to strengthen their bank’s digital security before Ghana took the initiative to protect its financial institutions from cyber-attacks.
TheRisk-Based Cybersecurity Framework and Guidelines for Other Financial Institutions (OFI) also doubles as a cybersecurity guideline for other financial institutions in Nigeria. Its objectives are to support the OFI subsector in preventing and combating cybercrimes, promoting the adoption and use of best practices, creating a safer and more secure cybersecurity environment to support OFI operations, and ultimately fostering and preserving public confidence in the OFI subsector.
The Cybersecurity Summit on March 23 and 24, 2022, in Lomé, Togo, brought into force theLomé declaration on cybersecurity and the fight against cybercrime which is a declaration to fight cyber threats in African countries and promote cybersecurity in all sectors, especially the banking industry.
Conclusion
The establishment of the Financial Industry Command Security Operations Centre (FICSOC) by the Bank of Ghana is not the first cybersecurity threat intelligence sharing platform in Africa. Nigeria and Egypt have similar systems that detect, report, respond and share information on cyber threats against banks in those countries. Togo is leading the way to Africa’s cybersecurity research hub. Hence, the claim is FALSE.
This report was produced under the Department of Communication Studies and DUBAWA’s project aimed at improving fact-checking competency and practice among Ghanaian media organisations with support from UNESCO IPDC.
Claim: Edudzi Tamakloe, National Democratic Congress (NDC) communicator, claimed that Ghana received $1.2 billion in oil revenue in 2022.
Verdict: Misleading. Ghana received $1.43 billion in Petroleum revenue in 2022, not $1.2 billion.
Full Text
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s Minister of Finance, presented the 2023 mid-year budget review on July 31.
Political panel discussions before the presentation were centred on predictions and expectations of the review. Supporters of the current government communicators were hopeful that the mid-year budget review would reflect or amplify the measures put in place that have positively impacted economic recovery and growth.
On the other hand, opposition party supporters thought that the review was a waste of time since it would not be a true reflection of the hardships of the citizens.
Mr Edudzi Tamakloe, NDC communicator, in explaining how the current government has been wasteful in their expenditure, claimed that Ghana received $1.2 billion in oil revenues in 2022.
“I am sure they will say oh, free SHS! As we speak, the overall cost of free SHS is a little over GHC 11 billion. Even with GHC 11 billion, Ken Ofori-Atta had only released GHC 5.4 billion, so there are even arrears. Oil revenue alone last year gave us $1.2 billion. Just last year, oil alone,” he said.
He added that he believes the current government is the most resourced recently. However, the government has managed to squander the public purse and resorted to reckless borrowing, unprecedented debt restructuring, and Bank of Ghana financing.
Find the claim from 25:30 to 26:00 on Tv3 Ghana’s Facebook page on July 31, 2023.
DUBAWA decided to investigate this claim because of the predictions and expectations the mid-year budget review generated. Party communicators rode on the wave to misinform the audience.
Verification
The Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815) established the Petroleum Holding Fund as a public fund at the Bank of Ghana. The Petroleum Holding Fund receives and disburses petroleum revenue derived from upstream and midstream petroleum operations due to the country.
To investigate this claim, we perused Bank of Ghana data on petroleum revenue for the stated year, 2022. Data from the Ghana Petroleum Fund Report and Financial Statements, 2022 indicate $1,428,760,077 billion in petroleum revenue receipts. This was higher than the $783,325,850 and $666,390,751 received in 2021 and 2020, respectively.
The Public Interest Accountability Committee is the main independent body with the mandate to ensure transparency in the management of petroleum revenue in Ghana under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815). The report indicated that the petroleum revenue of $1.43 billion received in 2022 is the highest for a single year since the inception of petroleum production in Ghana.
Image Source: PIAC Report.
Find other publications that quoted similar figures here, here, and here.
In addition, we monitored the presentation of the 2023 mid-year budget review. Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, in his July 31st presentation in parliament, indicated the receipt of $1.43 billion in petroleum revenue. Find the presentation of petroleum revenue for 2022 from 1:25:49 to 1:26: 10as posted on the Parliament of Ghana’s YouTube channel.
Conclusion
The claim that oil revenue received in 2022 was $1.2 billion is misleading. Ghana received $1.43 billion in petroleum revenue. That is the highest amount received in a year since the inception of petroleum production.
Claim: A video of a Kenyan pastor and gospel singer has gone viral on social media claiming to have turned the America’s Got Talent show into a church.
Verdict: False. The viral video is fabricated. Checks by DUBAWA indicate the original version was a performance by the Mzansi choir emotional performance on May 30, 2023.
Full Text
A video has gone viral claiming to be of a Kenyan pastor preaching at the eighteenth season of America’s Got Talent. The video has been shared widely on social media and can be foundhere, here and here.
In the video, the man preaches passionately to the meditative audience.Simon Cowell, one of the seasoned judges of the show, could be seen shedding tears with some of the audience.
When writing this story, the video had over 884,000 views on TikTok, over 200,000 views on Facebook and 83,000 on YouTube, with over 30,000 comments on all platforms combined. The virality of the content prompted DUBAWA to validate the video’s authenticity.
Verification
The first red flag DUBAWA noticed was the inconsistency in the interplay of videos from the show and that of the pastor is different in quality and sound. We discovered that the video did not properly fit into the scenes, especially the part that got the audience clapping and shedding tears. To further investigate the claim, we surfed through America’s Got Talent’s YouTube page and found nothing related to the viral video posted on their official page.
Further analysis of the video revealed that it is a performance of the Mzansi Youth Choir, a choral group based in Johannesburg, South Africa. The group paid an emotional tribute to Jane Nightbirde Marczewski, a former contestant of AGT and songwriter who passed away on February 19, 2022, after a battle with cancer, by performing her song “It’s Okay,” in honour of the late Season 16 competitor. In the collaged pictures above, frame A represents scenes in the original performance. The second frame, B, represents the same scenes in the edited video.
The moving performance earned the show’s first-ever Audience Golden Buzzer, on May 30, 2023, at the opening of the 18th season ofAmerica’s Got Talent.
Another questionable scene in the video was that the reactions of the judges and the audience did not match what the preacher was saying. Moreover, the performance of the South African-based choir is the first to have received an audience Golden Buzzer. The judges could be seen turning to the audience to ask for their judgment, saying, “What do you think,” and the cheerful audience kept chanting “Golden Buzzer, Golden Buzzer, Golden Buzzer.”. Their position was cemented as Simon Cowell and his colleague judges hit the golden buzzer together, earning the Choir the first-ever audience Golden Buzzer.
Conclusion
The video of a pastor preaching at America’s Got Talent is an edited performance of the Mzansi Choir’s performance on May 30, 2023, to honourJane Nightbirde Marczewski, a former competitor of the show who unfortunately lost her life to cancer. Therefore, the content is FALSE.
This report was produced under the Department of Communication Studies and DUBAWA’s project aimed at improving fact-checking competency and practice among Ghanaian media organisations with support from UNESCO IPDC.
Ghanaian lawmakers voted on May 25, 2023, to abolish the death penalty from the West African country’s penal code some 63 years after its introduction.
The gesture by Ghana’s Parliament makes the nation the 29th country in Africa and 124th globally to abolish the death penalty.
See here for the list of countries that have abolished the death penalty since 1976.
About the death penalty
The death penalty has been in Ghana’s penal code since 1960, with the enactment of the Criminal Code 1960 (Act 29).
Article 13(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana states, “No person shall be deprived of his life intentionally except in the exercise of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence under the laws of Ghana of which he has been convicted.”
Under the Criminal Offenses Act, 1960 (Act 29) as amended, the death penalty is a punishment in cases of serious crimes against a person and specified crimes against state security.
The crimes punishable by death under the Criminal Offenses Act, 1960 (Act 29) and the 1992 Constitution of Ghana are (i) Murder – Section 46; (ii) Attempt to murder by a convict – Section 49; (iii) Genocide – Section 49A; (iv) Treason – Section 180; (v) High Treason – Article 3(3) of the Constitution, 1992.
The Armed Forces Act, 1962 (Act 105) of Ghana also allows for the death penalty in case of treason and mutiny by military personnel during war.
Under the 1992 Constitution, the jurisdiction to deal with capital offences, including murder, has been given to the High Court, with the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal having appellate jurisdictions.
See Article 140 (1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana here.
However, committal proceedings are held in the district courts, after which a bill of indictment is prepared before the trial can begin at the High Court.
Although the death penalty has been in Ghana’s penal code, no one has been executed since 1993 due to a de facto moratorium on executions. Currently, there are over 176 inmates reported to be on death row as of 2022.
The last execution occurred before Ghana was ushered into a democratic rule where at least 12 prisoners convicted of armed robbery or murder were executed.
See a report by the Constitution Review Committee in 2011 here. Also, see a report by Amnesty International here.
Is the death penalty justifiable?
A report of research conducted in Ghana titled “Public Opinion on the death penalty in Ghana,” published in 2015, showed that the views about the death penalty in the country do not appear to be polarised.
“The majority of Ghanaian respondents (48.3%) expressed strong opposition to the death penalty. Only 8.6% indicated a strong endorsement of this form of punishment. Almost six out of every ten respondents supported the abolition of the death penalty in cases of murder,” the report showed.
The report, however, noted that “taken together, the findings from this public opinion survey show a weak public support for the death penalty in Ghana.”
“On the issue of abolishing the death penalty and possible backlash effect, the evidence suggests this is unlikely to be the case. Importantly, the survey reveals the complexity of public opinion on the death penalty and the need for an evidence-based approach to understanding the roots of public concerns to prevent any possible backlash effects that might lead to pressure to reinstate the death penalty,” the report concluded.
Human rights groups Amnesty International and the Death Penalty Project have maintained the use of the death penalty violates international law and standards.
In a July 2000 report on Ghana titled ‘Ghana Briefing on the death penalty,’ Amnesty International said that the death penalty has never shown to be an effective deterrent against violent crimes.
“Scientific studies have consistently failed to find convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime – least of all politically-motivated crime – more effectively than other punishments,” the report said. See page 2 of the report here.
According to the human rights group, The Death Penalty Project, the death penalty is “cruel and often discriminates against the poorest and most disadvantaged members of society.”
In a special report published in November 2022 titled ‘Deterrence and the death penalty,’ the organisation said the most common justification for the retention of the death penalty by many states is the belief that this form of punishment has a unique deterrent effect.
See page two of the report by The Death Penalty Project here.
“Despite the rhetorical prominence of deterrence in justifying the death penalty, there has been a notable lack of empirical research evidence to support claims made about this theory,” the report said.
See page two of the report by the Death Penalty Project here.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy has said that the death penalty is not the appropriate response to any offence, including those related to drugs.
“The Global Commission on Drug Policy reiterates that the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences does not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” – for article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – and thus clearly violates international human rights law,” the body said.
The advocacy towards the abolishing of the death penalty in Ghana
The human rights group Amnesty International has been consistent in its advocacy for the abolishment of the death penalty across the world.
In a special report titled ‘Locked up and forgotten: the need to abolish the death penalty in Ghana,’ Amnesty International said it found “serious breaches of international fair trial standards in the cases of death row inmates.” See page 12 of the report here.
“Several inmates said that their lawyers had not attended all the hearings, and many said that they did not have a chance to talk to their lawyer and prepare their defence during the trial,” the report said. See page 12 of the report here.
According to the report, some legal aid experts confirmed that “lack of resources is a major barrier to providing defendants with proper representation.”
“Not having an effective defence is devastating for anyone accused of a criminal offence; when the sentence is death, the gravity is magnified,” the report said. See page 12 of the report here.
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo called for “education and sensitisation” to address issues around abolishing the death penalty when he met a delegation from Amnesty International in November 2022.
“I think it is important that education and sensitisation are sufficiently well laid to address issues like that…then we should do the logical thing and remove it from our statute books,” the President said. See the report here.
President Nana Akufo-Addo with a delegation from Amnesty International. Photo credit: Myjoyonline
Also, speaking to the members of the Appointment Committee of Ghana’s Parliament, the new Chief Justice of Ghana, Gertrude Torkornoo, noted that the death penalty handed to convicts seemed too definitive.
“As a justice of the Supreme Court, I am mindful of the fact of cases [that] come to court. It will be my duty to preside over it. But on a personal level, I do think the death penalty is too final, and I would be grateful if the legislative body would begin to look at it,” she told the lawmakers on May 26, 2023.
The Chief Justice of Ghana, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo
“The death penalty in Ghana has been frequently used in violation of international law and standard, affecting predominantly those from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, as shown by research carried out by Amnesty International. It is high time the authorities of Ghana acted to abolish it fully,” Justice Gertrude Torkornoo said.
The Death Penalty Project also consulted widely with Ghanaian stakeholders to rally consensus towards abolishing the death penalty.
“In June [2022], The Death Penalty Project was honoured to meet with the Chairman and members of Ghana’s Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee at our office in London, where we discussed the new bills and how, beyond the Memorandum, we could assist local efforts to see capital punishment removed,” the group said.
See a report of the stakeholder engagement undertaken by The Death Penalty Project in Ghana titled ‘Efforts towards abolishing: our recent trip to Ghana’ here.
In May 2014, The Death Penalty Project filed a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee on behalf of one Dexter Johnson, who was sentenced to death for murder after Ghana’s Supreme Court refused to commute his sentence in March 2011. See the case of Johnson v The Republic [2011] 1 SCGLR 601.
Although it admitted Ghana has a moratorium in place, the UN Committee said the country could “resume at any time” to execute inmates on death roll as “occurred in other countries with similar moratoriums.” See the report here.
Declaring its support for the abolishing of the death penalty in Ghana, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) says, “Whilst always treading carefully to respect the sovereign positions of our member nations and territories, the CLA wholeheartedly continues to work towards the proper universal protection of human rights which demands the abolition of the death penalty in our 56 jurisdictions.”
“To that end, the CLA was asked by the Death Penalty Project to support the abolition of the death penalty in Ghana. Saul Lehrfreund MBE, DPP’s articulate and passionate director, has led the advocacy alongside academics and, most importantly, representatives from Ghana,” the Commonwealth Lawyers Association said.
The journey towards abolishing the death penalty began with the tabling of the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the Armed Forces (Amendment) Bill 2022 in Ghana’s Parliament in March 2022.
However, works on introducing the bills to remove the death penalty from the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), and the Armed Forces Act, 1962 (Act 105) started in June 2021. See the report here.
The two Bills, sponsored by a first-time Member of Parliament and a lawyer, Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu, were aimed at replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment for all ordinary and military crimes.
Recounting his experience, the private legal practitioner said, “It has not been an easy journey [because] the concept of the private member’s Bill is relatively new in Ghana, and so the Bills’ supporters and I were negotiating unfamiliar territory as we tried to guide them through Parliament.
Ghanaian lawmaker, Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu
“Some members openly told me they were against my bills, including the Attorney-General and the first Deputy Speaker. As a backbencher, that felt like a major setback, but I was determined to continue to build consensus and get majority support,” he told The Death Penalty Project. See the report here.
The first-time lawmaker said another hurdle he had to face was assuming “financial responsibility for ensuring the [passage of the two Bills]. We needed to hold events with civil society organisations and others to ensure we had the widest possible support base – and getting this together took time and money.”
With the help of The Death Penalty Project and other civil society organisations, Mr Sosu said they rallied the support of Ghanaians toward abolishing the death penalty.
“I have seen first-hand that the death penalty does not bring a sense of justice or closure to the families of crime victims, and neither does it deter offenders,” the Ghanaian lawmaker said. See the report here.
Barely four months after the two bills were tabled, Ghanaian lawmakers sent a clear message to the world by replacing the death penalty as punishment for capital offences with life imprisonment.
Ghana’s Parliament abolished the death penalty for all ordinary crimes, including murder, genocide, piracy and smuggling of gold and diamonds, and attempted murder in prison with the passage of the private member’s Bill amending the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
The abolishment of the death penalty in Ghana has received significant attention from major media organisations – both local and international- worldwide. See here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Also, see the news report by Accra-based TV3 here, starting from minute 0:04 of the video uploaded on YouTube.
Reaction after the abolishing of the death penalty in Ghana
Local and international human rights organisations have congratulated Ghana for the rather bold step in abolishing the death penalty from the country’s penal code.
“Today’s parliamentary vote is a major step by Ghana towards abolishing the death penalty. It is also a victory for all those who have tirelessly campaigned to consign this cruel punishment to history and strengthen the protection of the right to life,” Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa Director, Samira Daoud. said.
Read the press release from Amnesty International here.
On its part, The Death Penalty Project described the gesture as a “historic step” that will pave the way for eliminating the death penalty from Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.
The Co-Executive Director of The Death Penalty, Saul Lehrfreund. Photo credit: Newsroom Guyana
“Today’s vote for abolition is historic and places Ghana squarely within the worldwide trend, which is especially noticeable in Africa: in the past five years, Chad, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Zambia have all taken bold steps to eradicate capital punishment,” the Co-Executive Director of The Death Penalty, Saul Lehrfreund said.
Read the press release from The Death Penalty Project here.
“Francis Sosu MP, who initiated the process by introducing the private member’s bills should be lauded for his courage, tenacity, and his principled opposition to the death penalty because all citizens should be guaranteed the right to life and to live free from torture and cruelty,” he added.
The local human rights group, in a statement on May 26, 2023, said that “although long-awaited, the abolishment of the death penalty is a clear demonstration of the readiness and willingness of Members of Parliament to drive reforms in the country’s criminal justice system.”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk has lauded Ghana’s Parliament for the historic decision.
“I warmly welcome the passing of a historic bill by Ghana’s Parliament on Tuesday to abolish the death penalty in the country,” he said. See the report here.
“Infliction by the State of the death penalty – the most severe and irreversible of punishments – is profoundly difficult to reconcile with human dignity and with the fundamental right to life.
It is an atavistic relic from the past that should be shed in the 21st Century,” he noted.
However, one Ghanaian lawmaker remains opposed to the abolishment of the death penalty.
Speaking to Accra-based Joy FM hours after the passage of the bills abolishing the death penalty, Cletus Seidu Diplah said he is unhappy with what his colleagues did in Parliament.
The Member of Parliament for Jirapa Constituency, Cletus Seidu Dapilah. Photo credit: Myjoyonline
“I’m not happy. It should have remained,” he said. See the news report here.
According to him, the reason offered by the abolitionist groups is not so significant as to warrant what happened in Ghana’s Parliament.
“It should have remained, and the reason for the proponents of abolishing the death penalty is that no president since the Fourth Republic has signed for anyone to be executed,” he said.
Conclusion
The passage of the two bills amending the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) and the Armed Forces Act, 1962 (Act 105) will require the assent of Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo, to have effect.
However, the death penalty still finds expression in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, despite the repeal of capital punishment by Ghanaian lawmakers.
For Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa Director, Samira Daoud, abolishing the death penalty from Ghana’s penal code will not be complete if a similar amendment is not implemented to remove the punishment from the 1992 Constitution.
“Although a landmark decision, the total abolition of this draconian punishment would not be complete without revising the Constitution, which still provides for high treason to be punished by death,” Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa boss said.
Claim: News reports claim Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has invited the 98 New Patriotic Party Members of Parliament for a meeting over their threat to boycott the 2023 budget presentation.
Verdict: Completely false. A statement released from the former President’s office and signed by his Senior Aide and Spokesperson, Dr Kwabena Osei-Adubofour, described the reports as untrue.
Full Story
The claim that Former President Kufuor has invited some NPP Members of Parliament threatening to boycott the 2023 budget presentation if President Akufo-Addo does not sack Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta went viral, with several news portals publishing it. These news reports claim the former president wants to resolve the matter amicably.
Already, President Akufo-Addo has pleaded with the MPs to hold on till Ghana concludes negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The President says that terminating the appointment of Mr Ofori-Atta will disrupt the program. The MPs claim that the current economic hardship in the country is enough grounds for the finance minister to be sacked.
We first examined the social media handles of the office of Former President John Agyekum Kufuor to find out if such a call had been made to these NPP MPs, but there was none.
DUBAWA, however, found out that the office of the former president has described such reports as false. This was sighted in a statement on Thursday, November 17, signed by his Senior Aide and Spokesperson, Dr Kwabena Osei-Adubofour.
“We wish to bring to the public’s attention that there is no truth to the said publication,” the statement indicated.
It further added that the former president “vehemently detests the developing trend in disinformation that mischievously seeks to draw President Kufuor into issues that he has not commented on.”
“The former President is as concerned as, or more so than others, for the wellbeing and stability of Ghana, and is in his own way doing whatever he can for the nation to get on top of the seemingly intractable difficulties currently engulfing our society, and would be the last person to play petty and uninformed politics in the circumstances.”
Source: Office of H.E John Agyekum Kufuor
The office also expressed worry over what it felt has become a blatant attribution of stories to the former President.
“The office of the former President vehemently detests the developing trend in disinformation that mischievously seeks to draw President Kufuor into issues that he has not commented on,” the statement added.
Conclusion
The report that former President John Agyekum Kufuor has invited the 98 NPP Members of Parliament over their call on President Akufo-Addo to sack Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is false.
Claim: Communication Team Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kwaku Owusu Banahene, claims the Single Spine Pay Policy in Ghana was implemented in 2013.
Verdict: False. A statement issued by the Finance Ministry in 2012, when John Mahama was president, indicated the policy was implemented in 2010 under former President John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills, not in 2013.
Full Story
A communication team member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kwaku Owusu Banahene,has claimedthat the Single Spine Pay Policy was introduced in 2013 when former President John Mahama was in office.
On the show, he said, “In 2013, when we started the single spine pay policy, the wage bill had increased by 49%.” He made the claim when there was a discussion on the newly approved minimum wage by the government, which is expected to take effect from January 1, 2023.
Right in the middle of his commentary, a New Patriotic Party member on the show challenged Mr Banahene, insisting the single spine pay policy was implemented in 2011 under the late John Mills and not under ex-president John Mahama in 2013.
As a result of the controversy the commentary has generated, DUBAWA decided to fact-check the claim.
More so, it has become necessary to fact-check this assertion because of the recent proposal made by the public sector workers for government to increase their base pay by 60% due to the recent announcement of the increase in the minimum wage.
Verification
Our first research lens was directed at documents issued by the government on the Single Spine Pay Policy. DUBAWA found out that a white paper was issued in November 2009 by the late President John Evans Atta Mill’s administration. The policy was to restore equity and transparency in public service pay administration, including salary inequalities and distortions.
When the white paper was published, it indicated that the “policy would be implemented in phases over a five-year period effective January 1, 2010.”
It further stated, “The first six months of the implementation process will be used to address some persistent technical problems to ensure that the policy does not re-introduce inequities which it was designed to address.”
But was it implemented on January 1, 2010, as intended?
According to him, “the government took the mantle of implementing the SSPP in 2010. This is the culmination of attempts that had been initiated in the 1990s. The rationale for formulating the SSPP is to resolve four important issues in public sector pay management.”
Review of the Single Spine Pay Policy
There have, however, been various calls for the review of the policy. In view of this, President Akufo-Addo said on May 1, 2022, as captured by citinewsroom.com, that a technical committee has been set up to review the policy.
According to him, the report from the committee, when completed, would help to avert the many agitations on the labour front, especially those involving public sector workers.
“I am happy to announce that following the national labour conference at Kwahu, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations and the partners have set up a technical committee to review the Single Spine Pay Policy and advise the government accordingly.
“The goal is to find out whether the Single Spine Pay Policy is living up to expectations and, if not, find a way forward. I hope that the report, which is expected to be ready in July, will help to end most of the unrest we see on the labour front involving public sector workers,” President Akufo-Addo said during a May Day celebration at Independence Square in Accra.
Conclusion
With the explanation given, DUBAWA can conclude that the Single Spine Pay Policy was not implemented in 2013, as claimed by NDC’s Kwaku Owusu Banahene. The policy was implemented in 2010 as intended.
Claim: Social media users are quoting minimum wage figures for France, the UK, and Germany to make a case that Ghana’s increased wage is insufficient.
Whilst it is true that Ghana’s minimum wage, when compared to France, the UK, and Germany is very low, the figures being quoted for the European countries are inaccurate.
The figure, which stood at GHC 13.53, was set to be increased to GHC 14.88 with effect from January 1, 2023.
Following the announcement, Ghanaians took to various social media platforms to react to the development. Essentially, they were comparing the new minimum wage to that in other countries such as France, Germany, and the UK.
A tweet by Berla Mundi, a popular Ghanaian media personality, was found among several others making such comparisons here, here, and here.
The claimants asserted that whereas Ghana’s minimum wage was GHC 14.88 ($1.06), the minimum Wages in France, the UK, and Germany were $10.71 per hour, $11.43 per hour, and $ 10.59 per hour, respectively.
A collage showing several online users who have made the claim.
It will not be surprising if the minimum Wages in France, the UK, and Germany are higher than that of Ghana, considering the strength of their respective economies. However, how accurate are the figures quoted by the claimants?
When we converted 11.06 euros to US Dollars, the figure became $11.44. Using a rate of 1.03 – this is above the $10.71 quoted by the claimants.
Currently, the minimum wage for people who are 23 years and above in the UK is 9.50 pounds. When the conversion to US Dollars is done, the figure becomes $11.32, using a rate of 1.19. The UK’s $11.32 minimum wage per hour is lower than the $11.43 quoted by the claimants.
With regard to the minimum wage in Germany, DUBAWA Ghana found that it has been pegged at 9.82 euros per hour since January 1, 2022. When the Euro-to-US Dollar conversion is done, the figure will be $10.16, using a rate of 1.03. Whereas we found Germany’s minimum wage per hour to be $10.16, the claimants quoted $10.59.
Country
Claimed rate
Official rate (in original currency)
Rate when converted to US Dollars
Rate when converted to GHC
France
$10.71
11.06 Euros
$11.44 (at a rate of 1.03)
165.91 (at a rate of 15.00)
United Kingdom
$11.43
9.50 Pounds
$11.32 (at a rate of 1.19)
163.85 (at a rate of 17.25)
Germany
$10.59
9.82 Euros
$10.16 (at a rate of 1.03)
147.31 (at a rate of 15.00)
A collage showing DUBAWA Ghana’s conversion.
Evidently, the figures quoted by the claimants are inaccurate.
How does Ghana’s current minimum wage compare to what exists in neighbouring countries?
Ghana’s neighbours are Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Togo.
In finding out about the wage situation in these three countries, we relied on data from WageIndicator Foundation, an organisation that “provides coherent, independent and accessible labour market information for 206 countries.”
The wages (monthly) for Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Togo are originally in CFA West African Franc but would be converted to US Dollars. Also, the monthly wage will be divided by 30 days to ascertain the daily value before the conversion.
Country
Monthly Wage / Daily Wage
Conversion to US Dollars (at a rate of 0.0016)
Rate when converted to Ghana Cedis (at a rate of 0.023)
According to WageIndicator, these figures are valid as of November 2022.
Conclusion
The minimum wage figures quoted for France ($10.71), the UK ($11.43), and Germany (10.59) by the claimants are inaccurate. However, even among neighbouring countries, Ghana’s revised minimum wage of GHC 14.88, which is equivalent to $1.03 (at a rate of 0.069), is far less when compared to the rates in neighbouring countries.
“The claim is false. The equipment officer, Alex Asante, mailed the kits to Qatar because it is of no use shipping them here to Abu Dhabi, where they are based and then get them back to Qatar in just a few days,” he told DUBAWA Ghana.
“Puma sends the consignment and Alex handles how it is handled and distributed. Also, the training kits and other apparel have been made available to the team here,” Yaw Ofosu continued.
Moreover, two videos posted on Twitter by the team captured their first training session in Abu Dhabi. In these videos, the players can be seen to have their kits on, which contradicts the claims that have gone viral.
Players in their kit during a training session ahead of their friendly game against Switzerland [Photo credit: Black Stars Twitter].
Conclusion
There is visual evidence that the necessary kits for the Black Stars as they begin pre-tournament preparations are with the team.
Claim: Leader of the National Democratic Congress, John Mahama, has stated that Ghana has the highest food inflation in the world
Having analysed the World Bank’s Food Security Update for October 13, 2022, we found the affirmation to be false.
Full Text
Leader of the opposition National Democratic Congress, John Mahama, on Thursday, October 27, 2022, delivered a speech at the University of Professional Studies, Accra.
During the lecture, themed “Building the Ghana we want,” the former President spoke about the state of the country’s economy. He also proffered solutions to the Akufo-Addo-led government for turning the situation around.
While quoting figures from some of the country’s economic indices, he stated that Ghana has the highest food inflation in the world.
“Ghana is on record as having the highest food inflation in the world at 122% notwithstanding the much-touted but grossly mismanaged planting for food and jobs program,” he said.
The announcement can be found between minutes 55:04 to 55:20 of his speech which was widely televised and streamed on various media platforms across the country.
According to the report, “domestic food price inflation (measured as year-on-year change in the food component of a country’s Consumer Price Index (CPI)) remains high.
“Information from the latest month between June and September 2022 for which food price inflation data are available shows high inflation in almost all low- and middle-income countries,” the report added.
The World Bank explained that “high energy and fertiliser costs, poor weather in key producing countries, and risks from the war in Ukraine have led to high domestic food price inflation with most countries experiencing year-on-year increases of between 10 and 30 pe cent.”
In Real Food Inflation terms, which the report defined as food inflation minus overall inflation, Ghana was not listed among the top 10. Zimbabwe in southern Africa tops the chart with 68%.
A chart showing the rate at which the cost of food has increased in Sub-Saharan [Source: World Bank].
DUBAWA Ghana reached out to Svetlana Markova, an External Affairs Officer for Western and Central Africa, World Bank, for further clarifications regarding the two reports.
We sought to understand if the chart in the Africa Pulse Report featured the top ten countries with high food inflation in Sub-Saharan Africa and, more importantly, whether Ghana could be said to have the highest food inflation in the world.
In her response, she indicated that the Africa Pulse Report on food inflation only featured selected countries.
“In Africa’s Pulse, Figure 1.23 only depicts the food inflation of select countries (ten in total) in the region. The set of countries with food inflation in the region is larger than that. We never stated in the report that these countries have the highest food inflation in the region,” she said via email correspondence.
Commenting on the Food Security Report, she explained that the report “collects data on food inflation of all countries available in the region.”
“Zimbabwe has not only the highest rate of headline inflation but also food inflation in Africa,” she added.
Email correspondence with Svetlana Markova of the World Bank Group.
Conclusion
While the cumulative inflation figure for January to September 2022 is indeed 122%, as was reported by the ex-president, the figure cannot be said to be the highest inflation rate across the world. Data from the World Bank does not back the assertion that Ghana has the highest food inflation in the world. Again, the data we believe John Mahama relied on only featured selected countries, including Ghana. Hence, it will be wrong to assert that Ghana has the highest food inflation in the world.
At least Zimbabwe, Lebanon, and other countries rank higher than Ghana when food inflation is discussed.
Claim: Member of Parliament for Tamale North constituency Alhassan Suhuyini contends that inflation rates during former finance minister Seth Terkper’s reign were nearly single-digit.
False. Data from the Bank of Ghana, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Ministry of Finance recorded double-digit inflation rates. The member of Parliament for Tamale North constituency Alhassan Suhiyini in the Northern Region of Ghana stated that during the reign of Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper, inflation rates recorded were nearly single digit.
According to Mr Suhiyini, “When Seth Terkper was finance minister, what was our inflation rate? It was around a single digit. Today we are talking about 37%.”
He made the assertion when he backed calls for the resignation of finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta. Already, some 80 NPP Members of Parliament on Monday, October 24, 2022, called for his resignation due to the country’s economic difficulties.
Verification
According to the Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana’s current inflation rate stands at 37%. The higher the inflation, the higher the prices of goods and services.
To verify the contention, we first had to establish which years Seth Terkper acted as Finance Minister and the inflation figures during that period.
Mr Terkper was appointed Finance Minister in 2013, shortly after President John Mahama was voted into power in the 2012 elections. He left office in 2017 together with the Mahama-led administration after they lost power in 2016.
For the IMF, inflation rates from 2013 to 2016 were 11.7%, 15.5%, 17.2%, and 17.5% respectively.
For the World Bank, inflation rates from 2013 to 2016 were 11.7%, 15.5%, 17.1%, and 17.5%, respectively.
On page 10 of the Annual Report of the Bank of Ghana, inflation rates during the reign of the former finance minister were 13.5%, 17.0%, 17.7%, and 15.4%, respectively.
From 2013-2016, the period in which Seth Terkper was Finance Minister data from the World Bank, IMF, Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana, suggests that inflation figures rose from 11% to 17% away from the single digit. Therefore to suggest that inflation was around single digit is false.
