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Newspaper headlines review and other matters arising in Ghana.

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Transcript
00:00 Welcome back on the AM show. Time now for us to dig into the papers that we have
00:04 lined up for you this morning and I'll be introducing to you my guest shortly
00:09 but right before that let me tell you about Endpoint Homepathic Clinic. They
00:13 help us bring you the segment every day and of course they're offering you if
00:17 you're a man prostate screening for free if you're a woman fertility screening
00:21 for free whatever follows yes you might it's your own health it's your wealth
00:25 but if you'd like to locate Endpoint Homepathic Clinic here's where you can
00:29 find them. Here in Accra they are at Spintex opposite the Shell signboard in
00:33 Kumasi Kronum Abuehi behind the Angel Educational Complex. There's Takradi
00:39 Anaji Estate, there's Temma Community 22, there's Techiman Hansua and Esiama
00:45 Enzima. They're call lines you can reach them on 0244 867 068 or 0274 234 321
00:59 Endpoint Homeopathic Clinic the end to chronic disease. And time for me to
01:05 introduce our guest for today Dr. Michael Ayamga he's a development
01:09 economist and he joins the conversation. Doc a very good morning to you sir.
01:16 It's good to have you I see you are representing you know the Northern Belts
01:23 with your smock and your hat and everything. I hear I hear when the hat is
01:28 put in a certain direction it has a meaning when you you know tilt it
01:33 forward it has a meaning left right back it has a meaning or you just leave it. So what are you
01:39 communicating today with your hat?
01:43 No no no I just put it on a you know a statement because where I'm coming from if I make a statement it means it's sick.
01:52 Okay okay okay I get your point but there's also this bit since we're talking about the Northern Belt and Wanchiki I'm sure you've heard about the disturbances in that part of the country.
02:06 There's also been Kintampo a little down south and all of that but how do you react to these pockets of conflict every now and then and people are armed you know people are using all kinds of arms and all that.
02:21 I don't know how you feel about those developments what's your quick reaction?
02:25 It's a worrying trend that is because of the increasing politicization of disagreement between various claimants of skins and stools across the country.
02:40 It's not only a peculiar to Northern Ghana it is an issue now that has taken a different dimension.
02:47 Where anytime there's this claimant emerging whether legitimately or not there is some political interest in getting that fellow to stake a claim.
02:57 So behind these clear lines of deficiencies even in one ethnic household you have politicians deepening it with interest by supporting one party or the other.
03:10 So there are not only ethnic disagreements as far as things go now like they used to be.
03:17 There's always some powerful force behind every disagreement and that is why they have become very difficult to solve to mediate in and to get lasting solutions to them.
03:30 So it's unfortunate sometimes I say you get to the community and there's nothing worth dying for.
03:38 All you have is broken houses, mud, and tattoos and when we should be concerned with providing education to our children using the little resources that we have
03:50 to ensure that we don't allow the generation following us to continue to wallow in poverty and want.
04:00 We use these things to buy weaponry and ammunitions and then try to fight for this tool that virtually is worth nothing apart from the nostalgia and the fame that we did.
04:14 So logically it doesn't make sense and I have been telling people left, right, and center that there are things that I'm not interested in.
04:23 I come from a place where if you look at my mother's side things are going on.
04:28 I grew up from the other side so both parties are known to me.
04:32 Anytime the two of them fight somebody close to me dies.
04:36 So it doesn't make sense and I also blame our so-called intelligentsia living in the south of Ghana.
04:45 I say this and I get into trouble but they seem to only show up when there's a conflict or when there's a funeral.
04:52 And when the people need them to make progress they don't.
04:57 We have so many people needing help.
05:00 This dress I'm wearing, as I said the other time, was given to me by a medical doctor I helped at a school, a university, and when he was going back to star seven he bought me this dress.
05:12 These are the kind of stories we should be known for, not the number of weapons we send back to the village or the pageantry we put on when somebody dies.
05:21 And I think that we, the intelligentsia in northern Ghana and from these villages, we are letting our people down big time.
05:29 And I can't state it more emphatically that we need your resources to grow people rather than your guns to kill our brothers.
05:39 And that's what I would say right away.
05:42 It's touching, the stories you've narrated to us, how you affected whichever side gets into conflict in your area and how the intelligentsia, as you put it, from the northern belt could do better.
05:56 I'm worried about how, especially looking at how we border Burkina Faso and others and the spillovers from time to time, all these incursions and the activities of insurgents, terrorists in the region.
06:11 If we don't get a clamp on matters, we could be laughing on the wrong ends of our mouths someday.
06:17 But let's quickly get into the papers and maybe if there are any other reactions we'll get them at the tail end of the review.
06:23 The Daily Graphic this morning says 11.6 billion Ghana cities allocated to settle contractors' arrears.
06:30 That's the Daily Graphic newspaper.
06:33 There's also safety of pre-tertiary students, sexual harassment policy in full force.
06:39 I'll be getting into this because in many places, not just institutions and all of that, and sometimes you see very concerning stuff.
06:47 I was very disappointed. I'll not mention the name of the entity, but I've heard so many stories in the past where, you know, someone goes to a certain place.
06:56 They are applying for a certain job. This person is female.
07:01 And at a point, I will not mention so that people will know the industry, but the person put it on Twitter.
07:08 She was asked to turn around. Stand up and turn around.
07:14 So someone can examine certain vital statistics. The question is, for what reason?
07:19 I've had people share with me how they've gone for interviews, for example, and people, their CV is concrete.
07:28 They have the experience and everything. Yet people are worried about their age.
07:34 When ageism, sexism and all of that should have been things of the past.
07:38 But anyway, I'll get into that story. Donna records trade surplus. We did this story yesterday.
07:44 Energy transition. We won't stop oil exploitation. That's according to the minister.
07:50 No one is saying stop, but I even as we exploit the oil, what have been the benefits to the ordinary Ghanaian?
07:56 Those are the things we should be looking at. Not about we won't stop oil exploitation.
08:00 And then on the back page, chief Imam Peace Ambassador donated dam spillage victims and then Zabala Hospital cries for new and ICU.
08:08 And that's where I'm going to start. The neonatal intensive care unit of the Zabala Hospital in the Boko West District in the upper east region is in dire need of support as it operates from a makeshift structure.
08:21 This is what you were talking about, Doc. The unit, which was established in 2020 with support from the United Nations Children's Fund and other partners,
08:28 is situated in the small cubicle within the hospital's maternity ward.
08:32 The medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Abdul Rahman, I will be said the current state of the unit with only one functional incubator was a huge challenge.
08:41 The management of the hospital stressing that it did not have the capacity to provide the needed health services to preterm babies either delivered at the facility or referred from other places.
08:53 Then I'll come to the banner headline. The country has only started the exploitation of its petroleum resources and cannot sacrifice its midstream sacrifice it midstream on the altar of energy transition.
09:06 The minister of energy, Dr. Matthew Poku, prepared, stated he said, although developed nations were pushing for energy transition,
09:11 a changeover from the use of fossil oils that identified to be polluting the environment to other sources such as solar, lithium and nuclear, together, known as cleaner fuels.
09:20 Countries such as Ghana had only started exploitation of their resources and would continue with such plans to spur industrialization and development.
09:28 I agree with the minister to the extent that, look, you guys are polluted and build your countries, your economies.
09:36 You cannot tell us now that we are hoping to industrialize and we are nowhere near industrializing anyway.
09:40 Planting for food and jobs. One day, one of us achieved nothing close to what the projections were.
09:47 Maybe if increment factories had taken off from then when we're producing Sanyo radios, producing our own boots for our services, producing jute and all of those other items, producing our own tomatoes here.
09:59 Today, we're exporting so many of those. We could have spoken about that.
10:02 I agree with him to the extent that you can't come and tell us when we are now starting at the incubation level or even gestational level that we should stop when you have built your economies already on that.
10:15 That is hypocrisy. And we have to tell the West and the East that in the face.
10:19 But when it comes to the gains, like I said, all this oil that we've been exploiting, the black gold since 2010, Dr.
10:28 How has the ordinary Ghanaian gained from those? That is where the devil is.
10:33 So at least I'll leave you with those two stories for now. The exploitation of oil and then the NICU at the Zabilla Hospital.
10:43 Quick thoughts on these. Yes, I know Zabilla very well.
10:49 I think right through the days that I used to consult intensively for acne and the NGOs in northern Ghana.
10:57 One of the things you see there is a town that is emerging, has a very strong historical legacy, a route between Boko and the capital of Gondwana Tanga.
11:12 And it's quite a distance for it not to have a well-functioning ICU as far as health.
11:20 Neonatal ICU, actually, because the children are at risk. You get in there and the place is sprawling.
11:28 There are sporadic developments here and there. The assemblies try to do their best.
11:34 But as I said, you have a place where resources are constrained.
11:41 And even if the place is prioritized, anytime I go there, they talk about the hospital. But hardly anything is done about the ICU and even some other infrastructure in the hospital.
11:54 The problem has to do with the lack of a continuum in our development approaches.
11:58 Every time there is a problem, the project is abandoned.
12:02 Anytime a foundation is sunk, a different government comes and installs because it was not the one that awarded the contract.
12:11 So yes, there is a big problem. And there's also a big challenge that should go to the citizenry.
12:17 This is where I think that every person who comes from that area should begin to support.
12:26 If the O2FOR is supported by Phanagio University, we should also support the upliftment of these small health facilities.
12:35 Our chiefs should put behind it. They should make it a core issue.
12:39 They should travel to Accra when they come and their issue is to do something about our hospital, not maybe be interested in getting elevated to a certain level.
12:49 I think that if we rally behind it, make it a priority.
12:53 Politicians will listen. They go where the interests of the people are.
12:57 Politicians will respond to what the people talk about and what they are likely to do.
13:03 They think that this is what is going to affect them, they will vote and they will do it.
13:06 So we don't have to allow these isolated, let me say, discourses that does not actually rally into a strong force behind the issue.
13:18 The chiefs, the politicians and opinion leaders need to put it at the front burner and push.
13:25 I'm sure that there will be some response.
13:27 But it is not out of place for us, people like us and those living in Accra who come from that area, to make it a project.
13:36 To adopt some of these words here and provide something.
13:43 I, for example, have been very impressed with what is going on in Bologa, Tanga.
13:48 The attempt by some citizens and people from the place to get dialysis machines to the regional hospital.
13:58 And they started with small, young people. You think, okay, that will make an impact.
14:03 And they are getting a response.
14:05 So I think that active citizenship, good citizenship is also required.
14:11 We need to prioritize this. So that's what I would say.
14:15 On the issue of our oil.
14:18 And briefly on that, because there's a plethora of stories we have to get into. On the oil.
14:23 Yes, I tend to agree with you that there is some hint of hypocrisy in the effort to get us to transition.
14:35 But also, you can also make the argument that if they follow the path that is not sustainable, why follow it?
14:44 Sometimes there's an advantage in being behind that. You get to avoid the mistakes those ahead of you make.
14:50 So, yes, I agree that we cannot stop exploiting oil on the back of energy transition.
14:59 We are hundreds of years behind in terms of development.
15:03 We haven't actually contributed anything significant to emissions.
15:10 And I think that even if we continue full swing, we still have a long way to go.
15:17 But here is the issue. We can't depend on oil forever.
15:21 We have been getting oil revenue.
15:23 We have not rightly invested these things into the various strategic aspects of the economy that will allow some complementarity and other sectors to grow.
15:35 And we are rather going to deplete the various funds that were set up with the oil resources.
15:41 So I think that much as we have a right to exploit oil, and I don't think that the emphasis should be on oil transition,
15:48 we should have a road map ourselves that we cannot rely on oil forever with or without climate change.
16:00 The point to be made there, and I think that's what you are re-echoing, is that while we also develop on the back of oil,
16:05 we should also bear in mind that, look, for example, the West and the East, they are not facing the brunt of climate change.
16:12 We are in Africa. Have you checked out the temperatures lately?
16:15 Climate change is happening. So even as we exploit the oil, which I have already given my blessing to that, if it counts,
16:24 that, look, you can't be hypocritical and say that you developed on the back of oil and we shouldn't.
16:29 Let's do that. But we should also, like you're saying, have plans in place because we can't do this for too long.
16:35 The climate change is impacting Africa way more than it is impacting those in the temperate zones here in the tropics.
16:42 It's quite a situation. The pollution, the effect of climate change doesn't stay where the pollution emerged from.
16:50 So we might be contributing very little to it, but we are impacted most because of our weak adaptive positions.
16:58 So it's our job and we need to be worried about it.
17:03 But there is a balance between exploiting oil for development and a concrete plan long term towards reducing the dependence of our economy on oil.
17:16 All right. Let's get into other stories. Safety of pre-tertiary students, sexual harassment policy in full force.
17:21 Now, the GES has launched a sexual harassment awareness and prevention policy intended to make the school environment safe for students in pre-tertiary educational establishments.
17:31 The policy contains guidelines on what constitutes sexual harassment avenues for awareness creation for teachers and students,
17:38 opportunities for training stakeholders on sexual harassment and punitive regimes for culprits.
17:44 Even in our schools, Doc, we have seen such egregious situations.
17:50 I don't know. There was a headmaster who was dating one of his students sometime back.
17:54 They had a whatever video. Other things have come up in the past and it just makes you concerned.
18:02 We've also had the BBC's expose, you know, in some parts of Africa, including Ghana,
18:09 where some lecturers were supposedly taking advantage of, you know, students.
18:16 And it is common knowledge. For example, sometimes you would hear people tell you that, oh, this lecturer and that lecturer.
18:22 And you have to do this and you have to do that. It's happening at the workplace as well.
18:26 In many workplaces, it's happening. It's going on. I don't know, but I don't think we are taking this matter seriously in this country.
18:36 And the politicians, too, from time to time, you hear some of them ensnared in some of these matters.
18:41 What is your quick take in some 30 seconds? What do you think about this?
18:46 Yeah, I think that is one of the oldest problems with African, especially men.
18:54 And we tend to think that it's our right to exploit every lady that walks through our doors.
19:01 And institutions are not doing enough to ensure that people who don't want to indulge in it do not.
19:10 You see, whether you like it or not, there are others who take pride in doing it.
19:16 They go to the school there for various reasons and start doing it.
19:19 There are others who are compelled and coerced to do it unwillingly.
19:23 And I think that the laws should bite strongly on this.
19:29 When these things happen, you have backdoor channels, negotiations here and there,
19:33 and the victims end up suffering and then they're perpetrators and nothing happens to them.
19:40 So that is the issue. But every institution, first of all, must ensure that they have a sexual violence act rightly,
19:53 maybe disseminated, and then channels of reporting that are sometimes maybe discreet put in place.
20:02 The problem sometimes is when you report, people know who has reported.
20:07 And once someone is being investigated, people know who is being investigated.
20:11 So for the fear of victimization, victims are silenced. And that is the key issue here.
20:18 I am very happy with the way universities have gone about it.
20:23 In our university here, our sexual harassment policy is in full swing.
20:30 We have channels for reporting and you can go report without necessarily identifying yourself or a person.
20:39 And that allows us to investigate the issues objectively and deal with the culprits.
20:46 The problem also has to do with corporate garner.
20:50 There are attempts to employ the fiscal features of women for exploitation of men.
20:59 You go to some companies and they want certain features because they think that you are going to be working with men and you should be beautiful.
21:06 Nobody is interested in what is in your CV. They think that your fiscal appearance is what matters.
21:13 And anyone you are trying to employ because of their fiscal appearance is a victim of the one going to employ them.
21:20 So they know you are there because of the way you appear and you are under pressure to constantly look beautiful.
21:25 You are under pressure to attract customers with your appearance rather than your CV.
21:31 So is there in our banking sector, communication sector, what we call corporate prostitution, if you may call it.
21:39 It is rising in our society so we don't need to pretend that it's not there.
21:43 Politicians in and out, they are traveling around the country. You see what they carry in their car and vehicles.
21:49 Some call them laptops. Anytime we are traveling here, you see them going with women.
21:56 When you hear them saying, "Okay, where is your laptop?" they are talking of a girlfriend.
22:00 Scientificism and mistress issues are becoming normalized in society.
22:06 So we cannot eat our cake and have it. If we want to say it's wrong, it's wrong and society must frown on it.
22:14 But we cannot begin promoting discourses of polygamy and the rest and then expect that people shouldn't exploit women.
22:23 My worry, especially in secondary schools, where people who are underage are being forced into sexual acts.
22:34 And that's exactly the point we're making. From all angles, hopefully we can have better and do better as far as protecting these young ones are concerned.
22:42 I noticed a lot of you have been saying it over the last few days. Facebook seems to have changed its video options.
22:48 So when you go to join us on Facebook, you now have to look for videos before you can go down and find the news review.
22:55 It's not on the normal thread like you would have found it.
23:01 All right. I see Adna Kofinu saying, "Good morning, Sir Benjamin." I've not been knighted yet, but thank you.
23:09 "Watching you live from Takrati. Keep up the good work." Well, it's good to know that you're watching and thank you for doing it.
23:15 There's also Maldina Cruz, who says you are watching from Indianapolis, Kumasi, Tanoso, Kesven Junction.
23:25 You have all kinds of places in Ghana. You have Israel. You have Russia.
23:30 You have Hong Kong and all of that. But let's let's quickly make tracks with these next stories and call it a review.
23:39 The Ghanaian Times. Government spends 40 million Ghana cities on victims. Additional funds to be released after needs assessment.
23:46 That's the chief of staff. And it has to do with the victims of the dam spillage.
23:50 But I am asking, even as we look at these victims and all of that vaccines again, Doc, vaccines for our children.
23:58 I'm not even talking COVID-19 for our children. Months ago, we had issues many months ago.
24:04 Now, in recent times, we've heard that there are issues again. Vaccines.
24:08 I mean, when you run short of vaccines for children, then you get to the point where you realize something is fundamentally wrong, wrong with us as a country.
24:17 But then on the back page, I want to just highlight the story. Ghana faces hazardous chemical threats.
24:25 That's according to the EPA. So what are they saying? Ghana faces a huge public health threat from hazardous chemicals and plastics.
24:31 If efforts are not strengthened to enforce waste management regulations, the national focal person on chemical and waste related multilateral agreements with the Environmental Protection Agency.
24:41 Dr. Sam Edukumi says the chemicals from the tons of plastic generated in the country do not only pose risks to the environment, but to the human population.
24:51 Speaking at the opening of a three day conference on sustainable waste management in Accra yesterday, he said, quote,
24:56 Recent studies show that about 13000 hazardous chemicals are found in plastics alone, and 13 of these are of high concern because they are associated with endocrine disruptions,
25:08 which interfere with the body's hormones, carcinogenicity, that is cancerous developments, which increases the incidence of cancer,
25:17 reproductive toxicity, among others that increases that increasingly affects the ecology.
25:22 We are being told that if we are not careful very soon, when we go to fish, we'll get more plastic than fish.
25:29 And yet here we are. I'll add some thoughts from the Data Guide newspaper before you come in.
25:36 Accident claims nine lives in a row. And that's a very sad development.
25:42 Bamiya and Skind Unity chief. And I saw the vice president in one of the photos recently up north lying down to the chief and all of that.
25:52 Interesting what our politicians would do, isn't it? When it comes to securing power.
25:56 Drop Nana. NDC caucus tells Mahama we're talking about Jane Nana, Opoku Ajaman.
26:02 But will he? Will he or will he not? The former president has said that come next year, that is when he will get a running mate.
26:11 And then there's government reintroduces visa on arrival and coup plotters face judgment January 2024.
26:17 Your quick take and then we'll get ready to wrap. Yes, I think I want to talk about the issues of waste in the country.
26:28 Now, I think that we have been reacting rather than being proactive.
26:33 And if we need to put in policies that allow some self cleaning to take place, plastics are thrown all over the place because there is no incentive to package them.
26:47 Our waste recycling approaches are completely wrong.
26:51 Let me give an example. I think some time last year, my colleague and I were in Berlin and we're leaving somewhere that we weren't quite familiar with the route.
27:01 So I bought some water and after drinking it, I used the bottle to mark where I was supposed to take so that I could get back to my place.
27:09 And by the time we're returning, the junkie have taken me because that is money.
27:14 You pick these things and take them back to the company. You get a reduction of what you're going to buy next.
27:20 Oh, you get some coins off. And I think that we need to begin to adopt these approaches.
27:26 First of all, they need to brand the plastic so that we can identify those who make them and then punish them.
27:33 The fact that every polythene bag is black, it doesn't matter who makes it. It's a problem.
27:38 So we have to start from actually identifying the various brands, compelling the producers to rightly brand their products and their plastic containers.
27:48 So that if we find plastics in our ground, we know which company is responsible for them and we can ban them.
27:55 Secondly, you see, we should put some margin on the bottle you buy so that if you return it, some money is given back to you.
28:02 Somebody will not just throw it because it is an empty container. He's going to receive money in it.
28:08 That is how some of these cities have managed to keep the huge amounts of waste they have generated.
28:14 We cannot just sit down and sometimes when the waste is becoming a problematic issue, then we hit the headlines and we are talking.
28:22 You look at whether it is the dams, it is the shortage of vaccines and it's somebody sleeping on the job.
28:30 Vaccines for children is not something which you have a stock less than one year.
28:36 So when we are a year away to experiencing shortages, that is when we should be dealing with it.
28:43 By the time we are now dealing with shortages and we are talking about it, somebody ought to answer questions.
28:49 I said the other time, I've heard also about dams being spilled about two or three times.
28:53 In the time that technology was not good as it is today, people got it right.
28:58 Now, people have not been able to predict and to plan the spillage of the dam and we are here talking about a release.
29:07 That is poorly coordinated. Government is not actually trying to restore livelihood, let alone even begin to provide compensation.
29:15 Because the amount located has nothing to do with the destruction that has taken place.
29:21 And it's because we get away with some of these things. Nobody is answering. As we speak now, no one has resigned.
29:28 Answerability is the problem and we don't crack the whip.
29:33 Doc, unfortunately we have to go now, but you've made very important points.
29:38 And again, I'll reiterate what you said about those of northern extraction from Ghana, the intelligentsia,
29:44 and how much more they can do to help the different communities, especially those in some factional turmoil.
29:51 But, Doc, we're grateful that you took the time to join us this morning for the discussion.
29:55 It's always good to have you. Dr. Michael Ayamga. Thank you so much.
30:00 He's an economist, a development economist to be specific, joining the conversation.
30:04 Right before we go, Samuel Amir here. He always is around the Kukumlimle environment of our office.
30:13 You are 88 years old today. Samuel Amir here of Methodist, Mespa Methodist, new boy town.
30:22 You are 88 today. We thank God for your life. We pray that you have many,
30:26 many more years to see even more grandchildren and inspire some of us.
30:31 I'd also like to extend congratulations to Professor John Japong for being named the African Research Universities Alliance next leader.
30:42 And this is just to congratulate you on that appointment as secretary general of the African Research Universities Alliance.
30:50 Interestingly, he takes over from Professor Ernest Aite right there.
30:56 And I'd also like to put this out there. A wonderful personality, a father figure, Professor Ivan Adiamans,
31:02 our former vice chancellor of the University of Ghana. He has a book out.
31:05 It's not been launched yet as far as I know, but it's titled My Life, a Historical Narrative.
31:11 And that's one you should look forward to. These are the people we should be reading about.
31:15 They've been there, done that, set the right example, and they are still sharing their story with us.
31:20 I hope many more will share their stories. But that one, My Life, a Historical Narrative by,
31:25 it's an autobiography of Professor Ivan Adiamans. Right before we go, the segment always brought to you by Endpoint Homeopathic Clinic.
31:33 And they are offering you prostate screening if you're a man for free, fertility screening if you're a woman.
31:38 Also for free. Here's where you can reach them. Spintex opposite the Shell signboard.
31:43 That's in Accra. Kumasi, Krono Mabwehi behind the Angel Educational Complex.
31:47 Pakradi Anaji State, Temakuninsi 22, Tetchiman Hansoa and Esiaman Zama. Their call lines 0244-867-068 or 0274-234-321.
32:01 Endpoint Homeopathic Clinic. The end to chronic disease.
32:05 Sports is up next as we bring you the latest tidbits from the world of sports.

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