THE Accra Fast Track High Court has discharged Prince Tsibu Darko after the state filed a nolle prosequi in the case against him.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Jones Dotse, an Appeal Court judge sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, also vacated its order for the Nyaho Medical Centre to keep the registrar of the court posted on Darko’s health status.
It, however, declined a request from Mr Yoni Kulendi, counsel for the accused, for an order to defreeze the assets of Prince Darko, advising that the issue should be taken up in another application.
Darko was facing one count of engaging in business related to narcotic drugs and, according to the facts of the case, in the middle of 2005 he allegedly exported 3,700 kilogrammes of cocaine to Europe without lawful authority.
At its last sitting on March 27, 2007, the prosecution requested for an adjournment to yesterday because it had not completed investigations into the case.
Mrs Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, a Senior State Attorney, said the prosecution was still conducting investigations into the matter and that the position remained the same.
An application by Mr Kulendi that the court should discharge the accused person until a later date when the prosecution was ready to call him again was not granted.
He was first remanded by the Fast Track Court on November 23, 2006, almost 72 hours after another High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Anthony Abada, had granted him bail in the sum of ¢5 billion with two sureties.
The High Court, on November 20, 2006, granted the accused person bail after his counsel had made an application to that effect but the prosecution had earlier that day entered a nolle prosequi at the circuit court, resulting in the discharge of the accused person.
He was, however, not released on bail because the prosecution preferred fresh charges against him after entering the nolle prosequi at the circuit court.
At the court’s sitting yesterday, Mr Kulendi said he could not oppose the nolle prosequi filed by the State except to state that it should have been filed earlier.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
The Homowo festival of the people of Accra in Ghana
The role of festivals in Ghana: The case of Homowo
The celebration of festivals has been one of the most attractive aspects of the Ghanaian culture. Colourful traditional festivals and durbars are held yearly in all parts of the country. These festivals reveal some common features and beliefs of the Ghanaian society.
Through the festivals, the people remember their ancestors and ask for their protection. Festivals are also held in order to purify the whole state so that people can enter the New Year with confidence and hope.
These days festivals have provided the vistas for development since natives return home to contribute to the development of their areas. As such a bond of unity is exhibited which contributes to harmony and peace.
Examples of some major festivals are Aboakyer (Deer hunting), which is celebrated by the people of Winneba, Bakatue (Fish Harvesting), and Fetu Afahye (Harvest commemorating first contact with whites) celebrated by the people of Cape Coast.
The people of Tamale and Yendi also celebrate the Damba festival, which was originally linked with the birth of Mohammed, the Prophet of Allah while Hogbetsotso, which is celebrated by the Anlos, symbolises their migration from the tyrannical ruler of Notsie in older day Togoland to their present homeland in
Ghana.
Similarly, the Ashantis also celebrate the Adae (festival of purifying of the Ashantis' ancestral stools). It is celebrated every 40th day and is especially magnificent when it falls on a Sunday, Adae Kese (Big Adae) and Odwira (Harvest/Thanksgiving) of the people of the Akropong Traditional Area.
This festival dramatises the traditional myths and legends of the people, and commemorates a period of remembrance and thanksgiving to the gods for their mercies in the past year, and renewal of family and societies.
However, this essay will look at the Homowo festival (Harvest/Thanksgiving) of the Gas in Greater Accra.
The festival starts in the month of may with the planting of crops before the rainy season starts.
Etymology
The word Homowo (Homo - hunger, wo - sleep) can mean to hoot or jeer at hunger. The tradition of Homowo started with a period of hunger leading to famine due to failure of the seasonal rains needed by crops. When the rains returned to normal, the Ga people celebrated by creating the Homowo festival hence it name and meaning.
Therefore, "Homowo" actually means 'making fun of hunger.'
The Homowo festival starts with the planting of crops before the May rainy season and continues through August. The actual time for the August celebration is determined by the Chief Priests after they consult with the Lagoon Oracles.
Sometime in June, there is a total ban on noise making throughout the Ga State, and fishing is limited to certain days.
In early August, the celebrations begin with a special Yam festival in honour of the spirits, the eternal protectors of the Ga people.
All Ga people are required by traditional law to return to the homes of their father's for the celebration of the Homowo festival. The main celebration starts with the arrival of all the Ga people who live outside the state and during the appointed week in the month of August, thousands of people come from near and far to all the Ga cities.
On the Thursday before the main celebration, thousands of people arrive from the outlying villages with their harvested crops of all kind. They are referred to as "Thursday People" or (Soobii). The Soobii, the local townspeople, and parades of musicians meander through the streets all day and into the night.
It is a time for romance. Young people meet each other, get acquainted, and start new relationships.
At dawn on Friday, a memorial service is held to honour all those who died during the previous year. Crying is heard from homes and streets all over the Ga State. Later on in the morning, there is a birthday celebration for all twins. Twins and all multiple births are revered by the Ga people and are regarded as a special blessing from God.
The celebrations continue on Saturday, the Homowo Day itself, the day on which food for the festival, called "kpekpele," is cooked in large quantities. This special dish is prepared by steaming fermented corn meal. This is eaten with traditional palm soup prepared with lots and lots of smoked fish.
During the day, each sub-chief within the city sprinkles some kpekpele at prescribed locations. This is done to please the gods and the ancestors. The head of each family also sprinkles kpekpele in special places.
After these rituals are performed, people begin dancing and drumming through the streets. Visitors and strangers are encouraged to visit any home where they are welcome and invited to share in the traditional meal.
The celebrations continue all Saturday night, and until Sunday morning - which begins the Ga New Year. On Sunday morning the preparations start all over for the coming year.
The celebration of festivals has been one of the most attractive aspects of the Ghanaian culture. Colourful traditional festivals and durbars are held yearly in all parts of the country. These festivals reveal some common features and beliefs of the Ghanaian society.
Through the festivals, the people remember their ancestors and ask for their protection. Festivals are also held in order to purify the whole state so that people can enter the New Year with confidence and hope.
These days festivals have provided the vistas for development since natives return home to contribute to the development of their areas. As such a bond of unity is exhibited which contributes to harmony and peace.
Examples of some major festivals are Aboakyer (Deer hunting), which is celebrated by the people of Winneba, Bakatue (Fish Harvesting), and Fetu Afahye (Harvest commemorating first contact with whites) celebrated by the people of Cape Coast.
The people of Tamale and Yendi also celebrate the Damba festival, which was originally linked with the birth of Mohammed, the Prophet of Allah while Hogbetsotso, which is celebrated by the Anlos, symbolises their migration from the tyrannical ruler of Notsie in older day Togoland to their present homeland in
Ghana.
Similarly, the Ashantis also celebrate the Adae (festival of purifying of the Ashantis' ancestral stools). It is celebrated every 40th day and is especially magnificent when it falls on a Sunday, Adae Kese (Big Adae) and Odwira (Harvest/Thanksgiving) of the people of the Akropong Traditional Area.
This festival dramatises the traditional myths and legends of the people, and commemorates a period of remembrance and thanksgiving to the gods for their mercies in the past year, and renewal of family and societies.
However, this essay will look at the Homowo festival (Harvest/Thanksgiving) of the Gas in Greater Accra.
The festival starts in the month of may with the planting of crops before the rainy season starts.
Etymology
The word Homowo (Homo - hunger, wo - sleep) can mean to hoot or jeer at hunger. The tradition of Homowo started with a period of hunger leading to famine due to failure of the seasonal rains needed by crops. When the rains returned to normal, the Ga people celebrated by creating the Homowo festival hence it name and meaning.
Therefore, "Homowo" actually means 'making fun of hunger.'
The Homowo festival starts with the planting of crops before the May rainy season and continues through August. The actual time for the August celebration is determined by the Chief Priests after they consult with the Lagoon Oracles.
Sometime in June, there is a total ban on noise making throughout the Ga State, and fishing is limited to certain days.
In early August, the celebrations begin with a special Yam festival in honour of the spirits, the eternal protectors of the Ga people.
All Ga people are required by traditional law to return to the homes of their father's for the celebration of the Homowo festival. The main celebration starts with the arrival of all the Ga people who live outside the state and during the appointed week in the month of August, thousands of people come from near and far to all the Ga cities.
On the Thursday before the main celebration, thousands of people arrive from the outlying villages with their harvested crops of all kind. They are referred to as "Thursday People" or (Soobii). The Soobii, the local townspeople, and parades of musicians meander through the streets all day and into the night.
It is a time for romance. Young people meet each other, get acquainted, and start new relationships.
At dawn on Friday, a memorial service is held to honour all those who died during the previous year. Crying is heard from homes and streets all over the Ga State. Later on in the morning, there is a birthday celebration for all twins. Twins and all multiple births are revered by the Ga people and are regarded as a special blessing from God.
The celebrations continue on Saturday, the Homowo Day itself, the day on which food for the festival, called "kpekpele," is cooked in large quantities. This special dish is prepared by steaming fermented corn meal. This is eaten with traditional palm soup prepared with lots and lots of smoked fish.
During the day, each sub-chief within the city sprinkles some kpekpele at prescribed locations. This is done to please the gods and the ancestors. The head of each family also sprinkles kpekpele in special places.
After these rituals are performed, people begin dancing and drumming through the streets. Visitors and strangers are encouraged to visit any home where they are welcome and invited to share in the traditional meal.
The celebrations continue all Saturday night, and until Sunday morning - which begins the Ga New Year. On Sunday morning the preparations start all over for the coming year.
Jailed MP's appeal adjourned sine die
THE Court of Appeal has adjourned sine die (indefinitely) for a new panel of judges to be constituted to hear the appeal filed by Dan Kwasi Abodakpi against his 10-year jail sentence for causing financial loss to the state.
The adjournment is also to enable the record of proceedings to be served on Abodakpi’s counsel who told the court that he had not received the document.
Abodakpi, who is the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for Keta, was on February 5, 2007 sentenced to a 10-year jail term with hard labour by the Fast Track High Court after being convicted on all seven counts of conspiracy, defrauding by false pretences and wilfully causing financial loss of $400,000 to the state.
His attempt to get a bail pending the appeal failed when the trial court on April 19, 2007, declined to grant his application for bail on the grounds that it was unmeritorious while its refusal would not occasion any miscarriage of justice to him.
The court held that being a sitting MP did not make Abodakpi’s case any exceptional to justify the granting of bail pending an appeal.
The former Trade and Industries Minister was said to have, between May and December 2000, acted, together with the late Victor Selormey, who is a former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Frederick Boadu, a consultant, and other persons with a common purpose, to wilfully cause financial loss of $400,000 to the state through the Trade and Investment Programme (TIP).
The amount was in respect of a feasibility study for the establishment of a Science and Technology Community Park/Valley Project which was meant to enhance the export of non-traditional products.
They were charged with causing the transfer of the cedi equivalent of $400,000 during their tenure of office in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration when they co-chaired the TIP.
The former ministers were accused of causing the transfer from the TIP interest account lodged with ECOBANK Ghana Limited into the personal account of the project consultant, Dr Boadu.
They were arraigned on October 14, 2002 on three counts of conspiracy, two counts of defrauding and two counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state but both of them pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted self-recognisance bail.
Selormey, however, died in the course of the trial.
When the case was mentioned at the Court of Appeal yesterday, it emerged that one of the panel members had already sat on an earlier submission of no case filed by the appellant.
It therefore became necessary for a new set of judges to be empanelled to hear the case.
Moreover, Mr Charles Hayibor, counsel for the appellant told the court that although he had received the hearing notice he had not been served with the record of proceedings.
“If I had been served with hearing notice earlier I would have gone for it myself”, counsel said.
The court asked counsel to see the registrar to get the document because the case was being adjourned since a panel member would not sit on it.
The adjournment is also to enable the record of proceedings to be served on Abodakpi’s counsel who told the court that he had not received the document.
Abodakpi, who is the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for Keta, was on February 5, 2007 sentenced to a 10-year jail term with hard labour by the Fast Track High Court after being convicted on all seven counts of conspiracy, defrauding by false pretences and wilfully causing financial loss of $400,000 to the state.
His attempt to get a bail pending the appeal failed when the trial court on April 19, 2007, declined to grant his application for bail on the grounds that it was unmeritorious while its refusal would not occasion any miscarriage of justice to him.
The court held that being a sitting MP did not make Abodakpi’s case any exceptional to justify the granting of bail pending an appeal.
The former Trade and Industries Minister was said to have, between May and December 2000, acted, together with the late Victor Selormey, who is a former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Frederick Boadu, a consultant, and other persons with a common purpose, to wilfully cause financial loss of $400,000 to the state through the Trade and Investment Programme (TIP).
The amount was in respect of a feasibility study for the establishment of a Science and Technology Community Park/Valley Project which was meant to enhance the export of non-traditional products.
They were charged with causing the transfer of the cedi equivalent of $400,000 during their tenure of office in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration when they co-chaired the TIP.
The former ministers were accused of causing the transfer from the TIP interest account lodged with ECOBANK Ghana Limited into the personal account of the project consultant, Dr Boadu.
They were arraigned on October 14, 2002 on three counts of conspiracy, two counts of defrauding and two counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state but both of them pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted self-recognisance bail.
Selormey, however, died in the course of the trial.
When the case was mentioned at the Court of Appeal yesterday, it emerged that one of the panel members had already sat on an earlier submission of no case filed by the appellant.
It therefore became necessary for a new set of judges to be empanelled to hear the case.
Moreover, Mr Charles Hayibor, counsel for the appellant told the court that although he had received the hearing notice he had not been served with the record of proceedings.
“If I had been served with hearing notice earlier I would have gone for it myself”, counsel said.
The court asked counsel to see the registrar to get the document because the case was being adjourned since a panel member would not sit on it.
Fraudulent car registration by fugutive coke baron
IT has emerged at the Accra Fast Track High Court that the two vehicles which were used by the fugitive cocaine baron, Sheriff Asem Dakeh, at the Kpone Beach were registered at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) through dubious means.
Apart from the fact that a Daewoo saloon car which was driven by Killer, a Korean who is on the run, had its registered owner being the Korean Embassy, its registration number, GW 2932 V, was found to belong to a different car, a Ssanyoung.
Similarly, a green Toyota Land Cruiser, with registration number GT 21 W and driven by Sheriff, had two DVLA Form Cs with his photographs on them.
That development baffled the trial judge, Mr Justice Anin-Yeboah, a Court of Appeal judge with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, compelling him to remark thus, “We are at risk if the name of the present owner of the car is the Korean Embassy then why did did the car which is supposed to have a diplomatic number plate be in the possession of a private Ghanaian individual”.
“If the DVLA people were here they would have picked this up and look at who did the registration,” he said.
Although the Daewoo had its owner being the Korean Embassy, a personal name on it was J.P. Park.
The fraudulent car registration came to the knowledge of the court when Detective Inspector Charles Adaba testified as the 10th witness for the prosecution in the case in which three policemen are being tried for allegedly aiding Sheriff to abscond with 2,280 kilogrammes of cocaine.
They are alleged to have received an unspecified amount in dollars from the fugitive cocaine owner.
Sergeant Samuel Yaw Amoah, who jumped bail, indicated in his statement to the police that his share of the money given by Sheriff was $3,000.
The accused persons are General Lance Corporal Dwamena Yabson, General Sergeant Daniel Nyarko, General Lance Corporal Peter Bondorin and Detective Sergeant Amoah, who is on the run.
The three have been charged with two counts of engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs and corruption by a public officer.
They have pleaded not guilty to both counts.
Led in evidence by Mr Emmanuel Agyemang Duodu, a Principal State Attorney, Inspector Adaba said when he took over the investigations of the case, the docket, together with the two cars, was handed over to him and it was when he went to the DVLA to ascertain the owners of the cars that he found those revealing deals.
He said the photocopies of the Form C, which gave particulars of the owner were given to him and he tendered them in evidence.
The witness narrated how some fishermen had gone to report the activities of the MV Benjamin to Sgt Amoah at the Tema New Town Police Station and how the policeman mobilised other policemen, including the accused persons, to effect the arrest of the vessel but ended up taking an unspecified amount in dollars from Sheriff to let go the cocaine and him.
He said after mobilising men from the station, Sgt Amoah, who further went to the Kpone Police Station to ask for assistance in order to embark on the operation, was given Corporal Bondorin and another policeman called Sgt Asante.
Inspector Adaba said when the policemen went to the Kpone Beach, Corporal Yabson positioned Corporal Bondorin and Sgt Asante at a certain place and proceeded to the beach, together with the others and the fishermen.
He said at the beach, the policemen saw a van which had been used to cart the cocaine, the Land Cruiser being driven by Sheriff and the Daewoo also being driven by the Korean called Killer. Corporal Yabson and Sgt Nyarko went to talk with Sheriff.
“As they were talking the van was being loaded with the cocaine and so they saw what happened, just like the fishermen, after which Sgt Nyarko and Corporal Yabson called the fishermen to join them in the Land Cruiser, with the van in the lead, followed by the Daewoo,” he said.
He said when the vehicles reached where Corporal Bondorin had been positioned, the Corporal, with the intention of arresting the van, crossed Sgt Nyarko, Corporal Yabson and Sgt Amoah with a taxi when he saw them and the van carting the suspected cocaine.
But he said the other policemen convinced Corporal Bondorin and asked him to follow them in the convoy. At about that time the van and the Daewoo took a different direction, while the Land Cruiser was driven to Sheriff’s residence in Tema.
The witness said while in Tema, Sgt Amoah and Corporal Yabson went inside the house and left Corporal Bondorin outside. Sheriff went out and came later to give money to the policemen and the fishermen at a different place near the oil refinery.
He said he also proceeded to the Tema New Town Police Station to ascertain whether what happened was entered in the diary of events by Sgt Amoah, saying that from the records, no entries about the complaint made by the fishermen were made or reported to any senior police officer, although the accused persons had gone to the Kpone Beach.
Hearing continues on May 2, 2007.
Apart from the fact that a Daewoo saloon car which was driven by Killer, a Korean who is on the run, had its registered owner being the Korean Embassy, its registration number, GW 2932 V, was found to belong to a different car, a Ssanyoung.
Similarly, a green Toyota Land Cruiser, with registration number GT 21 W and driven by Sheriff, had two DVLA Form Cs with his photographs on them.
That development baffled the trial judge, Mr Justice Anin-Yeboah, a Court of Appeal judge with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, compelling him to remark thus, “We are at risk if the name of the present owner of the car is the Korean Embassy then why did did the car which is supposed to have a diplomatic number plate be in the possession of a private Ghanaian individual”.
“If the DVLA people were here they would have picked this up and look at who did the registration,” he said.
Although the Daewoo had its owner being the Korean Embassy, a personal name on it was J.P. Park.
The fraudulent car registration came to the knowledge of the court when Detective Inspector Charles Adaba testified as the 10th witness for the prosecution in the case in which three policemen are being tried for allegedly aiding Sheriff to abscond with 2,280 kilogrammes of cocaine.
They are alleged to have received an unspecified amount in dollars from the fugitive cocaine owner.
Sergeant Samuel Yaw Amoah, who jumped bail, indicated in his statement to the police that his share of the money given by Sheriff was $3,000.
The accused persons are General Lance Corporal Dwamena Yabson, General Sergeant Daniel Nyarko, General Lance Corporal Peter Bondorin and Detective Sergeant Amoah, who is on the run.
The three have been charged with two counts of engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs and corruption by a public officer.
They have pleaded not guilty to both counts.
Led in evidence by Mr Emmanuel Agyemang Duodu, a Principal State Attorney, Inspector Adaba said when he took over the investigations of the case, the docket, together with the two cars, was handed over to him and it was when he went to the DVLA to ascertain the owners of the cars that he found those revealing deals.
He said the photocopies of the Form C, which gave particulars of the owner were given to him and he tendered them in evidence.
The witness narrated how some fishermen had gone to report the activities of the MV Benjamin to Sgt Amoah at the Tema New Town Police Station and how the policeman mobilised other policemen, including the accused persons, to effect the arrest of the vessel but ended up taking an unspecified amount in dollars from Sheriff to let go the cocaine and him.
He said after mobilising men from the station, Sgt Amoah, who further went to the Kpone Police Station to ask for assistance in order to embark on the operation, was given Corporal Bondorin and another policeman called Sgt Asante.
Inspector Adaba said when the policemen went to the Kpone Beach, Corporal Yabson positioned Corporal Bondorin and Sgt Asante at a certain place and proceeded to the beach, together with the others and the fishermen.
He said at the beach, the policemen saw a van which had been used to cart the cocaine, the Land Cruiser being driven by Sheriff and the Daewoo also being driven by the Korean called Killer. Corporal Yabson and Sgt Nyarko went to talk with Sheriff.
“As they were talking the van was being loaded with the cocaine and so they saw what happened, just like the fishermen, after which Sgt Nyarko and Corporal Yabson called the fishermen to join them in the Land Cruiser, with the van in the lead, followed by the Daewoo,” he said.
He said when the vehicles reached where Corporal Bondorin had been positioned, the Corporal, with the intention of arresting the van, crossed Sgt Nyarko, Corporal Yabson and Sgt Amoah with a taxi when he saw them and the van carting the suspected cocaine.
But he said the other policemen convinced Corporal Bondorin and asked him to follow them in the convoy. At about that time the van and the Daewoo took a different direction, while the Land Cruiser was driven to Sheriff’s residence in Tema.
The witness said while in Tema, Sgt Amoah and Corporal Yabson went inside the house and left Corporal Bondorin outside. Sheriff went out and came later to give money to the policemen and the fishermen at a different place near the oil refinery.
He said he also proceeded to the Tema New Town Police Station to ascertain whether what happened was entered in the diary of events by Sgt Amoah, saying that from the records, no entries about the complaint made by the fishermen were made or reported to any senior police officer, although the accused persons had gone to the Kpone Beach.
Hearing continues on May 2, 2007.
Envoy's son guilty of narcotic offence
THE Accra Fast Track High Court has found an employee of the DHL courier service, Roger Ocloo, and Ellis Nyaho Tamakloe, a student, guilty of attempting to export 695 grammes of cannabis to the United Kingdom (UK).
The second accused person is the son of Dr Nyaho Tamakloe, Ghana’s Ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro and former Chairman of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).
The court, presided over by Mrs Justice Iris May Brown, a Court of Appeal judge with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, however, deferred the sentence until May 10, 2007.
That followed a plea of mitigation by Mr Ellis Owusu-Fordjour, counsel for Tamakloe, that the accused was a first-time offender and a young man with good educational background and the fact that counsel for Ocloo was not in court.
The accused persons pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted exportation of narcotic drugs without lawful authority and possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
They were refused bail.
The facts of the case, as presented by Mrs Evelyn Keelson, a Principal State Attorney, were that on August 29, DHL officials, while going through their normal formalities before shipment, detected that one consignment with air waybill number AWB4361050536 and meant for shipment to the UK was “unusually bulky”.
“When that particular shipment was opened, it contained two parcels of compressed dried leaves suspected to be cannabis sativa (Wee), a narcotic drug,” she said.
She said a report was made to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) and investigations revealed that the shipment had been brought in to be sent to an address in the UK by Ocloo.
It was detected that Ocloo used a different route code to outwit the DHL officials that it was he who brought the parcel.
The prosecutor told the court that the senders’ particulars bore the address of Friesland West Africa, a company located at the Airport Residential Area in Accra, but investigations later revealed that Friesland was not the sender of the consignment and that Ocloo had falsified the address.
Ocloo then mentioned Tamakloe as the person who brought the consignment for shipment and when he was also arrested, he mentioned Harry Campbell as the one who gave the parcel to him to DHL.
The prosecutor said Tamakloe had told interrogators that he did not know that the parcel contained cannabis. Later, the police found the airway bill covering the shipment in Ocloo’s house.
The court held that had it not been the vigilance of the DHL officials, the offence would have been completed and the parcel sent to the addressee, explaining that the fact that the parcel was found in the offices of the DHL did not mean that the accused persons should not be held liable.
According to the court, it was not in dispute that Ocloo processed the parcel for shipment to the addressee in London, while he also admitted that he falsified the name of the original sender of the parcel, as well as the route code.
It said the deliberate act of concealing the real sender of the parcel and the route code did not exonerate Ocloo from the offence and found him guilty of the two counts.
Similarly, the court held, in the case of Tamakloe, that an attempt was made to arrest Campbell who was alleged to have given the parcel to Tamakloe but he bolted and had since not been arrested.
The court said although Campbell’s absence was not fatal to the defence of Tamakloe, Tamakloe’s testimony showed that by previous association, he knew the correct procedure in sending parcels through DHL and yet he acted to the contrary in the instant case.
Moreover, the court held that Tamakloe’s complicity in using a false address and wrong signature meant he did that concealment with an awareness of the illegality of the whole exercise.
The second accused person is the son of Dr Nyaho Tamakloe, Ghana’s Ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro and former Chairman of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).
The court, presided over by Mrs Justice Iris May Brown, a Court of Appeal judge with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, however, deferred the sentence until May 10, 2007.
That followed a plea of mitigation by Mr Ellis Owusu-Fordjour, counsel for Tamakloe, that the accused was a first-time offender and a young man with good educational background and the fact that counsel for Ocloo was not in court.
The accused persons pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted exportation of narcotic drugs without lawful authority and possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
They were refused bail.
The facts of the case, as presented by Mrs Evelyn Keelson, a Principal State Attorney, were that on August 29, DHL officials, while going through their normal formalities before shipment, detected that one consignment with air waybill number AWB4361050536 and meant for shipment to the UK was “unusually bulky”.
“When that particular shipment was opened, it contained two parcels of compressed dried leaves suspected to be cannabis sativa (Wee), a narcotic drug,” she said.
She said a report was made to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) and investigations revealed that the shipment had been brought in to be sent to an address in the UK by Ocloo.
It was detected that Ocloo used a different route code to outwit the DHL officials that it was he who brought the parcel.
The prosecutor told the court that the senders’ particulars bore the address of Friesland West Africa, a company located at the Airport Residential Area in Accra, but investigations later revealed that Friesland was not the sender of the consignment and that Ocloo had falsified the address.
Ocloo then mentioned Tamakloe as the person who brought the consignment for shipment and when he was also arrested, he mentioned Harry Campbell as the one who gave the parcel to him to DHL.
The prosecutor said Tamakloe had told interrogators that he did not know that the parcel contained cannabis. Later, the police found the airway bill covering the shipment in Ocloo’s house.
The court held that had it not been the vigilance of the DHL officials, the offence would have been completed and the parcel sent to the addressee, explaining that the fact that the parcel was found in the offices of the DHL did not mean that the accused persons should not be held liable.
According to the court, it was not in dispute that Ocloo processed the parcel for shipment to the addressee in London, while he also admitted that he falsified the name of the original sender of the parcel, as well as the route code.
It said the deliberate act of concealing the real sender of the parcel and the route code did not exonerate Ocloo from the offence and found him guilty of the two counts.
Similarly, the court held, in the case of Tamakloe, that an attempt was made to arrest Campbell who was alleged to have given the parcel to Tamakloe but he bolted and had since not been arrested.
The court said although Campbell’s absence was not fatal to the defence of Tamakloe, Tamakloe’s testimony showed that by previous association, he knew the correct procedure in sending parcels through DHL and yet he acted to the contrary in the instant case.
Moreover, the court held that Tamakloe’s complicity in using a false address and wrong signature meant he did that concealment with an awareness of the illegality of the whole exercise.
SECAPS GETS HOTEL BACK
AFTER six years of litigation over the ownership of the Secaps Hotel in Accra, the Accra High Court has entered judgement in favour of the original owners of the hotel to recover possession from Grobohama Limited.
The court also awarded ¢50 million as general damages for trespass and costs of ¢10 million.
According to the court, the mere fact that the hotel was functioning properly at the time it was seized and the fact that its managing director owed the defendants did not give them the legal right to take over the hotel in the absence of a court order.
“A debt is a debt and it is recoverable within the time limited for its recovery,” the court held.
The Managing Director of the hotel, Mr Smart Binitie, commenced legal action against Grobohama Ltd and four others claiming possession of the hotel and its premises, as well as general damages and special damages for taking over the hotel in or about September 2001.
The take-over was necessitated by a botched agreement entered into between the plaintiffs and the defendants to become business associates.
During the misunderstanding, the management of Grobohama Ltd drove away the staff of the hotel and placed a security firm there to guard the premises, after the managing director of the hotel had been imprisoned.
The matter later went to court and the status quo of the hotel was preserved without any explicit order as to its take- over.
That court, presided over by Mrs Justice H. Inkumsah-Abban, on September 18, 2001 ordered that the property should not be disposed of until the final determination of the matter.
Attempt was later made to sell the hotel through an advertisement in the Business in Africa magazine but the plaintiff indicated that Grobohama Ltd took possession of the hotel without any court order.
On the contrary, Grobohama Ltd argued that it took over the hotel legally.
Consequently, it was left with the court to determine whether the take-over was legal or not.
According to the court, it was true, from the earlier court ruling on September 18, 2001, that no explicit order was given in favour of Grobohama Ltd and the fact that the hotel was functioning properly at the material time and the fact that its managing director owed did not give Grobohama the legal right to take over the hotel.
It said it was Grobohama Ltd which sued the managing director of Secaps in 2000, adding that that suit was still pending when it took over the possession of the hotel.
According to the court, Grobohama Ltd and its managing director wrongfully arrogated to themselves their own interpretation of the court ruling of September 18, 2000 and acted unlawfully.
“I have no difficulty in holding that they acted unlawfully and so are liable to the act of trespass they committed on September 20, 2001 when they took possession of the hotel,” declared Mrs Justice Beatrice Agyeman-Bempah, who presided over the court.
The court also awarded ¢50 million as general damages for trespass and costs of ¢10 million.
According to the court, the mere fact that the hotel was functioning properly at the time it was seized and the fact that its managing director owed the defendants did not give them the legal right to take over the hotel in the absence of a court order.
“A debt is a debt and it is recoverable within the time limited for its recovery,” the court held.
The Managing Director of the hotel, Mr Smart Binitie, commenced legal action against Grobohama Ltd and four others claiming possession of the hotel and its premises, as well as general damages and special damages for taking over the hotel in or about September 2001.
The take-over was necessitated by a botched agreement entered into between the plaintiffs and the defendants to become business associates.
During the misunderstanding, the management of Grobohama Ltd drove away the staff of the hotel and placed a security firm there to guard the premises, after the managing director of the hotel had been imprisoned.
The matter later went to court and the status quo of the hotel was preserved without any explicit order as to its take- over.
That court, presided over by Mrs Justice H. Inkumsah-Abban, on September 18, 2001 ordered that the property should not be disposed of until the final determination of the matter.
Attempt was later made to sell the hotel through an advertisement in the Business in Africa magazine but the plaintiff indicated that Grobohama Ltd took possession of the hotel without any court order.
On the contrary, Grobohama Ltd argued that it took over the hotel legally.
Consequently, it was left with the court to determine whether the take-over was legal or not.
According to the court, it was true, from the earlier court ruling on September 18, 2001, that no explicit order was given in favour of Grobohama Ltd and the fact that the hotel was functioning properly at the material time and the fact that its managing director owed did not give Grobohama the legal right to take over the hotel.
It said it was Grobohama Ltd which sued the managing director of Secaps in 2000, adding that that suit was still pending when it took over the possession of the hotel.
According to the court, Grobohama Ltd and its managing director wrongfully arrogated to themselves their own interpretation of the court ruling of September 18, 2000 and acted unlawfully.
“I have no difficulty in holding that they acted unlawfully and so are liable to the act of trespass they committed on September 20, 2001 when they took possession of the hotel,” declared Mrs Justice Beatrice Agyeman-Bempah, who presided over the court.
Friday, April 20, 2007
FUGITIVE COCAINE BARON'S BROTHER IN COURT
A brother of the suspected cocaine baron, Sheriff Asem Dakeh, alias “The Limping Man”, has appeared before the Accra Fast Track High Court on charges of laundering proceeds from a narcotic drug offence.
Evans Charwetey Tsikobi, a mechanic, has been remanded and will re-appear on April 19, 2007 for his plea to be taken.
His runaway brother is alleged to have chartered the MV Benjamin, the vessel at the centre of the missing 77 parcels of cocaine, from Dashment Shipping Services to import the substance to Ghana but before the security agencies could get wind of its berth, all but one parcel of the substance had been stolen.
According to the particulars of offence, Charwetey, on September 27, last year, handled a Toyota Land Cruiser belonging to Sheriff.
That car was said to have been used by Sheriff when he went to the Kpone Beach to cart the cocaine, but in the process of bolting, he left the vehicle behind.
However, Charwetey went for it, parked it in his house and covered it with a tarpaulin, with the intent to conceal it.
The statement said Charwetey knew that his brother was wanted for crimes related to cocaine and had reasonable knowledge that the vehicle was directly obtained as a result of the commission of a narcotic drug offence.
His counsel was not in court.
Evans Charwetey Tsikobi, a mechanic, has been remanded and will re-appear on April 19, 2007 for his plea to be taken.
His runaway brother is alleged to have chartered the MV Benjamin, the vessel at the centre of the missing 77 parcels of cocaine, from Dashment Shipping Services to import the substance to Ghana but before the security agencies could get wind of its berth, all but one parcel of the substance had been stolen.
According to the particulars of offence, Charwetey, on September 27, last year, handled a Toyota Land Cruiser belonging to Sheriff.
That car was said to have been used by Sheriff when he went to the Kpone Beach to cart the cocaine, but in the process of bolting, he left the vehicle behind.
However, Charwetey went for it, parked it in his house and covered it with a tarpaulin, with the intent to conceal it.
The statement said Charwetey knew that his brother was wanted for crimes related to cocaine and had reasonable knowledge that the vehicle was directly obtained as a result of the commission of a narcotic drug offence.
His counsel was not in court.
POLICE INVESTIGATOR CONTINUES EVIDENCE IN COKE TRIAL
THE Accra Fast Track High Court hearing the trial of the six persons in connection with the missing cocaine on board MV Benjamin has ordered the registrar of the court to secure the services of a Chinese interpreter to facilitate the speedy trial of the case.
It said the registrar should execute the order judiciously.
The court gave the order after Mr Solomon Korli, counsel for the two Chinese, objected to the tendering of a statement of one of the Chinese nationals by the ninth prosecution witness.
The witness, Detective Inspector Justice Oppong, was continuing with his evidence-in-chief in the case in which the owner of the vessel, Joseph Kojo Dawson; Pak Bok Sil, a Korean; Isaac Arhin and Philip Bruce Arhin, both Ghanaians; and Cui Xian Li and Luo Yin Xing, both Chinese, are alleged to have played various roles leading to the importation of 77 parcels of cocaine, each weighing 30 kilogrammes, into the country.
They have been charged with various counts of using property for narcotic offences, engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotics and possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
Each of them has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and have been remanded into prison custody.
The witness, who said he took statements from the Chinese, wanted to tender the one he took from Li but Li’s counsel objected to it and drew the court’s attention to the fact that he was encountering problems interrogating his clients.
According to him, the substantive Chinese interpreter was outside the jurisdiction and, therefore, he would find it difficult to communicate with his clients to know whether they actually gave statements to the police.
The judge took a look at the statement to ascertain whether it was a confession statement or not after which counsel was given the opportunity to also look at it.
However, after perusing, counsel said he still needed the services of an interpreter.
Consequently, the case was adjourned to April 26, 2007 to enable the registrar of the court to secure the services of another Chinese interpreter.
It said the registrar should execute the order judiciously.
The court gave the order after Mr Solomon Korli, counsel for the two Chinese, objected to the tendering of a statement of one of the Chinese nationals by the ninth prosecution witness.
The witness, Detective Inspector Justice Oppong, was continuing with his evidence-in-chief in the case in which the owner of the vessel, Joseph Kojo Dawson; Pak Bok Sil, a Korean; Isaac Arhin and Philip Bruce Arhin, both Ghanaians; and Cui Xian Li and Luo Yin Xing, both Chinese, are alleged to have played various roles leading to the importation of 77 parcels of cocaine, each weighing 30 kilogrammes, into the country.
They have been charged with various counts of using property for narcotic offences, engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotics and possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
Each of them has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and have been remanded into prison custody.
The witness, who said he took statements from the Chinese, wanted to tender the one he took from Li but Li’s counsel objected to it and drew the court’s attention to the fact that he was encountering problems interrogating his clients.
According to him, the substantive Chinese interpreter was outside the jurisdiction and, therefore, he would find it difficult to communicate with his clients to know whether they actually gave statements to the police.
The judge took a look at the statement to ascertain whether it was a confession statement or not after which counsel was given the opportunity to also look at it.
However, after perusing, counsel said he still needed the services of an interpreter.
Consequently, the case was adjourned to April 26, 2007 to enable the registrar of the court to secure the services of another Chinese interpreter.
MOBILE PHONE COMPANY IN TANGO WITH SHAREHOLDER
THE Commercial Division of the Accra Fast Track High Court has awarded costs of ¢8 million against Scancom Limited, operators of Areeba mobile phone network, in the case in which a Ghanaian businessman is claiming 20 per cent interest in the company.
The award followed Scancom’s delay in filing an application for an extension of time to enable it to file its defence in an application for judgement in default filed by the plaintiff.
The plaintiff, Mr Richmond Aggrey, sued Investcom Holdings LLC, the majority shareholder in Scancom Limited, Scancom Limited and Grandview Management Limited when Scancom decided to engage in a merger deal with South African giants, MTN Incorporated.
The deal has, however, been concluded with the transfer of all shares in Scancom to the South African company.
That was after a High Court order on July 14, last year restraining Investcom LLC and Grandview Management from “continuing, progressing and or concluding the merger with and or acquisition of Investcom LLC by MTN without taking into account and or providing for the plaintiff’s/applicant’s 20 per cent shares in Scancom Limited”.
The closure of the acquisition, according to Mr Aggrey, would occasion the loss of his shareholding in the company by reason of the accrual of the rights of the MTN Group as a third party.
His contention was that his name had been removed from the shareholders’ list of Scancom Limited without any explanation.
Furthermore, the plaintiff is claiming against the defendants, jointly and severally, an order directed to Scancom Limited to pay him his true dividends declared from the 2000 to 2005 financial years and also include his name in the shareholders’ list.
The substantive case has not been heard because of the resort to technicalities, especially by Areeba.
At the court’s sitting yesterday, Mr Yoni Kulendi, counsel for the plaintiff, said he had an application for judgement in default of defence, as well as another motion for interlocutory injunction by counsel for Grandview Management to stop an arbitration process.
Mr Kulendi wanted to move his motion but counsel for Scancom Limited, Mr Benson Nutsupui, objected and stated that his client had also filed a motion for the extension of time within which to file its defence, although none of the parties had been served, except the court.
That prompted counsel for Investcom LLC, Mr Felix Ntirakwa, to say that he had not received Scancom’s motion and that he had also filed an application to stay proceedings pending an arbitration, which Mr Kulendi was unaware of.
Counsel for Grandview Management, Mr Thaddeus Sory, said he had also filed an application for interlocutory injunction seeking to restrain the parties from going ahead with any arbitration.
Mr Nutsupui replied that Grandview was not a party to the arbitration and, therefore, it was not right for counsel to have filed the application.
The judge cautioned the parties that he was not pleased with the way and manner in which they filed documents in the case and adjourned the matter to April 30 for Mr Kulendi to move his motion for judgement in default.
In a related development, the court adjourned a contempt suit against Scancom and others to May 3, 2007.
The award followed Scancom’s delay in filing an application for an extension of time to enable it to file its defence in an application for judgement in default filed by the plaintiff.
The plaintiff, Mr Richmond Aggrey, sued Investcom Holdings LLC, the majority shareholder in Scancom Limited, Scancom Limited and Grandview Management Limited when Scancom decided to engage in a merger deal with South African giants, MTN Incorporated.
The deal has, however, been concluded with the transfer of all shares in Scancom to the South African company.
That was after a High Court order on July 14, last year restraining Investcom LLC and Grandview Management from “continuing, progressing and or concluding the merger with and or acquisition of Investcom LLC by MTN without taking into account and or providing for the plaintiff’s/applicant’s 20 per cent shares in Scancom Limited”.
The closure of the acquisition, according to Mr Aggrey, would occasion the loss of his shareholding in the company by reason of the accrual of the rights of the MTN Group as a third party.
His contention was that his name had been removed from the shareholders’ list of Scancom Limited without any explanation.
Furthermore, the plaintiff is claiming against the defendants, jointly and severally, an order directed to Scancom Limited to pay him his true dividends declared from the 2000 to 2005 financial years and also include his name in the shareholders’ list.
The substantive case has not been heard because of the resort to technicalities, especially by Areeba.
At the court’s sitting yesterday, Mr Yoni Kulendi, counsel for the plaintiff, said he had an application for judgement in default of defence, as well as another motion for interlocutory injunction by counsel for Grandview Management to stop an arbitration process.
Mr Kulendi wanted to move his motion but counsel for Scancom Limited, Mr Benson Nutsupui, objected and stated that his client had also filed a motion for the extension of time within which to file its defence, although none of the parties had been served, except the court.
That prompted counsel for Investcom LLC, Mr Felix Ntirakwa, to say that he had not received Scancom’s motion and that he had also filed an application to stay proceedings pending an arbitration, which Mr Kulendi was unaware of.
Counsel for Grandview Management, Mr Thaddeus Sory, said he had also filed an application for interlocutory injunction seeking to restrain the parties from going ahead with any arbitration.
Mr Nutsupui replied that Grandview was not a party to the arbitration and, therefore, it was not right for counsel to have filed the application.
The judge cautioned the parties that he was not pleased with the way and manner in which they filed documents in the case and adjourned the matter to April 30 for Mr Kulendi to move his motion for judgement in default.
In a related development, the court adjourned a contempt suit against Scancom and others to May 3, 2007.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL SUED FOR CONTEMPT
THE Accra Fast Track High Court has fixed April 26, 2007, to give judgement in the contempt case filed by a former Deputy Director of Operations of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), Mr Kojo Hodare-Okae, against the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Joe Ghartey.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice P. Baffoe-Bonnie, a Court of Appeal judge with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, fixed the date after listening to submissions made by Mr Akoto Ampaw, counsel for the plaintiff/applicant, and Mr Ghartey, who acted as his own counsel.
The applicant’s motion is seeking to cite the A-G for contempt for failing to comply with the court’s earlier judgement of May 27, 2005, that he should be reinstated in the Public Service where the President so desires, provided the applicant suffered no loss of salary or allowances he received as Deputy Director of the GIS.
The order was to take effect from September 2003 when his appointment was terminated up to the date of judgement when he was to be restored to the government payroll.
Joined to the suit was the Minister of the Interior, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, as well as the GIS.
An affidavit in support of the applicant’s motion said on September 5, 2002, he received a letter signed by Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, then Minister of the Interior, informing him that he had been transferred from the GIS to the Free Zones Board (FZB).
It said the applicant later realised that his transfer was a hoax, since the FZB had no role for him to play. He, therefore, refused to accept his posting.
According to the affidavit, the applicant, in view of the frustrations he went through because the FZB had refused to accept him, petitioned various high government officials to intervene on his behalf but to no avail, compelling him to resort to the law to seek redress.
Consequently, he filed a writ against the A-G, the Interior Minister and the GIS, saying that his transfer amounted to a dismissal and, therefore, wrongful.
He sought for his reinstatement and restoration of all his salaries and entitlements from the time of his transfer to the time of the writ, among other reliefs, and upon which the court granted the reliefs and awarded damages.
Arguing the motion, Mr Akoto Ampaw said after the court judgement, they thought that the matter could be resolved amicably. Therefore, they approached the defendants without using the coercive powers of the court and wrote a letter dated April 10, 2006 to the A-G.
“Portions of the letter showed that we have been having several discussions with the A-G,” counsel said, and added that the letter was written pursuant to the discussions with the hope that the issue could be resolved.
Counsel said it had never been their position to battle the government but wanted the applicant reinstated; however, the A-G kept giving promises to comply with the court order, adding that “the A-G gave the impression that he was amenable to this and we have been particularly urging him on all this while”.
According to Mr Akoto Ampaw, the entry of judgement was made on March 3, 2006 and served on the A-G on April 4, 2006 to enable him to take the necessary steps to have the applicant reinstated.
Counsel agreed with the court when the judge said that the A-G as the principal legal advisor of the President was not his representative and could only give advice which the President was not bound by.
Mr Akoto Ampaw said although the applicant had gone on retirement there was the need for him to go for his retirement benefits and he needed to be placed in an institution to enable him to access it because under the Civil Service he would be asked to indicate where he worked.
“If the President did not reinstate him then it means that there is no remedy for him under the justice system,” counsel said, and added that the reinstatement did not mean that the applicant could go back to work but to enable him to have access to his full entitlements as someone who reached the retirement age while in the service.
Mr Ghartey described the application as totally misplaced and flawed because it attacked his person and not his office and that the applicant had not been able to prove that he disobeyed the court’s order.
“Contempt is quasi-criminal whose punishment is either a fine or imprisonment and, therefore, the applicant must prove a prima facie case of contempt,” he said.
According to him, the first hurdle which had to be cleared by the applicant was whether the person in court was the one the order was made against, since the order for reinstatement was not made against the A-G but the President.
Mr Ghartey further said up until the time that the applicant was to be reinstated, he had not served the A-G with a certificate of judgement to enable him to advice the President; therefore, the President was incapable of reinstating him under Article 119 of the Constitution.
He said if it was entitlement that the applicant was looking for then the best place for that was the Controller and Accountant-General, since the A-G was not responsible for that.
“He has not made the attempt to go for his entitlements. Therefore, the application is in bad taste and with the sole aim of embarrassing the A-G because after 60 years if you want to access your entitlements you do so at the Controller and Accountant General. He has totally brought a wrong person to court,” he added.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice P. Baffoe-Bonnie, a Court of Appeal judge with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, fixed the date after listening to submissions made by Mr Akoto Ampaw, counsel for the plaintiff/applicant, and Mr Ghartey, who acted as his own counsel.
The applicant’s motion is seeking to cite the A-G for contempt for failing to comply with the court’s earlier judgement of May 27, 2005, that he should be reinstated in the Public Service where the President so desires, provided the applicant suffered no loss of salary or allowances he received as Deputy Director of the GIS.
The order was to take effect from September 2003 when his appointment was terminated up to the date of judgement when he was to be restored to the government payroll.
Joined to the suit was the Minister of the Interior, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, as well as the GIS.
An affidavit in support of the applicant’s motion said on September 5, 2002, he received a letter signed by Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, then Minister of the Interior, informing him that he had been transferred from the GIS to the Free Zones Board (FZB).
It said the applicant later realised that his transfer was a hoax, since the FZB had no role for him to play. He, therefore, refused to accept his posting.
According to the affidavit, the applicant, in view of the frustrations he went through because the FZB had refused to accept him, petitioned various high government officials to intervene on his behalf but to no avail, compelling him to resort to the law to seek redress.
Consequently, he filed a writ against the A-G, the Interior Minister and the GIS, saying that his transfer amounted to a dismissal and, therefore, wrongful.
He sought for his reinstatement and restoration of all his salaries and entitlements from the time of his transfer to the time of the writ, among other reliefs, and upon which the court granted the reliefs and awarded damages.
Arguing the motion, Mr Akoto Ampaw said after the court judgement, they thought that the matter could be resolved amicably. Therefore, they approached the defendants without using the coercive powers of the court and wrote a letter dated April 10, 2006 to the A-G.
“Portions of the letter showed that we have been having several discussions with the A-G,” counsel said, and added that the letter was written pursuant to the discussions with the hope that the issue could be resolved.
Counsel said it had never been their position to battle the government but wanted the applicant reinstated; however, the A-G kept giving promises to comply with the court order, adding that “the A-G gave the impression that he was amenable to this and we have been particularly urging him on all this while”.
According to Mr Akoto Ampaw, the entry of judgement was made on March 3, 2006 and served on the A-G on April 4, 2006 to enable him to take the necessary steps to have the applicant reinstated.
Counsel agreed with the court when the judge said that the A-G as the principal legal advisor of the President was not his representative and could only give advice which the President was not bound by.
Mr Akoto Ampaw said although the applicant had gone on retirement there was the need for him to go for his retirement benefits and he needed to be placed in an institution to enable him to access it because under the Civil Service he would be asked to indicate where he worked.
“If the President did not reinstate him then it means that there is no remedy for him under the justice system,” counsel said, and added that the reinstatement did not mean that the applicant could go back to work but to enable him to have access to his full entitlements as someone who reached the retirement age while in the service.
Mr Ghartey described the application as totally misplaced and flawed because it attacked his person and not his office and that the applicant had not been able to prove that he disobeyed the court’s order.
“Contempt is quasi-criminal whose punishment is either a fine or imprisonment and, therefore, the applicant must prove a prima facie case of contempt,” he said.
According to him, the first hurdle which had to be cleared by the applicant was whether the person in court was the one the order was made against, since the order for reinstatement was not made against the A-G but the President.
Mr Ghartey further said up until the time that the applicant was to be reinstated, he had not served the A-G with a certificate of judgement to enable him to advice the President; therefore, the President was incapable of reinstating him under Article 119 of the Constitution.
He said if it was entitlement that the applicant was looking for then the best place for that was the Controller and Accountant-General, since the A-G was not responsible for that.
“He has not made the attempt to go for his entitlements. Therefore, the application is in bad taste and with the sole aim of embarrassing the A-G because after 60 years if you want to access your entitlements you do so at the Controller and Accountant General. He has totally brought a wrong person to court,” he added.
GPHA EX-WORKERS LOSE APPEAL
THE Court of Appeal today set aside the High Court decision that the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) should pay billions of cedis in compensation for the wrongful dismissal of 4,194 casual workers.
The court, by a 2-1 decision, however, dismissed the appeal by the GPHA in respect of one of the dismissed workers, Clement Agbesi, and held that he should be paid entitlements similar to those paid to permanent workers because his dismissal violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
While the majority, comprising Mr Justice J. B. Akamba and Mr Justice G. M. Quaye, dwelt on procedural errors, Mr Justice E. A. Addo, who dissented, dwelt on the substance of the matter and stated that the award of compensation was right in law.
The High Court in Tema, on January 18, 2006, entered judgement in favour of the dismissed workers, some of whom worked for periods varying from one to 10 years, and ordered the GPHA to pay billions of cedis in damages for breach of the CBA, compensation, severance awards and costs.
The court had ordered that ¢5 million should be paid to each of the ex-workers as damages for breach of the CBA, ¢10 million to each of them for each year of service after the expiration of 154 days of continuous work in the authority as compensation for illegal conduct in keeping them as casual workers, violation of their economic rights and discrimination against them, contrary to the 1992 Constitution.
It further ordered that severance awards comprising three months’ salary for each year of service, ¢3 million in lieu of rent, ¢2 million for medicals, two bags of rice, two gallons of oil, 2001 bonus for those who qualified and ¢1.5 million as conveyance fees should be given to the ex-workers.
The rest were five months’ salary as handshake, long service awards, interest on all sums due each of the ex-workers at current commercial bank rate from October 1, 2002 to the date of judgement and ¢10 million as costs.
The suit was filed by Clement Agbesi and four others on behalf of the dismissed workers.
But the authority appealed against the decision, describing the awards as meaningless, perverse and baseless in law and prayed that they should be set aside.
According to the ex-workers, they were employed by the authority as casual or non-permanent employees until September 2002 when the re-organisation led to their being laid off, without receiving any payment in lieu of notice, apart from some meagre amounts described by the authority as golden handshake.
However, they said, detailed severance packages were paid to each of the authority’s permanent employees.
They stated that by the provisions of the various CBAs negotiated on their behalf at various times during their employment with the authority, they ought to have been made permanent employees after working continuously for 154 days in a calendar year.
In its statement of appeal, the authority stated that the trial judge erred in giving judgement for all the ex-workers as if they were parties in the action, although the record of proceedings and the relevant rules of the court clearly indicated that they were not.
According to the authority, it was during the trial that the ex-workers filed a document entitled “List of Plaintiffs” to which was annexed the list of 3,839 others and a subsequent motion to add 356 more people as plaintiffs.
It said the judge’s finding that the authority acted illegally and unlawfully in treating the ex-workers as non-permanent employees for all the period of the plaintiffs’ employment with the defendant was erroneous because there was no evidence on record of the period of employment of each of the ex-workers.
Mr Justice Akamba, who read the majority decision, said the action brought by the ex-workers did not qualify as a class action, since it lacked consistency in the list of the plaintiffs/respondents.
He said the five ex-workers who sued did so on their own behalf and capacity and that the rest of the plaintiffs were only joined after the statement of claim had been filed.
In the case of the four others whose names were listed, the court held that they did not provide their staff numbers as to when they worked and how much was due them.
He said information concerning the list of full plaintiffs did not bear any circumstantial evidence for consideration by the court and that it was only the first plaintiff who was entitled to be paid salary, allowance and benefits.
The rest of the plaintiffs, he noted, failed to discharge their evidential burden that the GPHA breached the CBA and found no justification in entering judgement in their favour.
Mr Justice Addo upheld the trial court’s judgement in the plaintiffs’ favour and said after the expiration of 154 days of continuous work, the plaintiffs became permanent staff and ought to be treated as such.
The court, by a 2-1 decision, however, dismissed the appeal by the GPHA in respect of one of the dismissed workers, Clement Agbesi, and held that he should be paid entitlements similar to those paid to permanent workers because his dismissal violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
While the majority, comprising Mr Justice J. B. Akamba and Mr Justice G. M. Quaye, dwelt on procedural errors, Mr Justice E. A. Addo, who dissented, dwelt on the substance of the matter and stated that the award of compensation was right in law.
The High Court in Tema, on January 18, 2006, entered judgement in favour of the dismissed workers, some of whom worked for periods varying from one to 10 years, and ordered the GPHA to pay billions of cedis in damages for breach of the CBA, compensation, severance awards and costs.
The court had ordered that ¢5 million should be paid to each of the ex-workers as damages for breach of the CBA, ¢10 million to each of them for each year of service after the expiration of 154 days of continuous work in the authority as compensation for illegal conduct in keeping them as casual workers, violation of their economic rights and discrimination against them, contrary to the 1992 Constitution.
It further ordered that severance awards comprising three months’ salary for each year of service, ¢3 million in lieu of rent, ¢2 million for medicals, two bags of rice, two gallons of oil, 2001 bonus for those who qualified and ¢1.5 million as conveyance fees should be given to the ex-workers.
The rest were five months’ salary as handshake, long service awards, interest on all sums due each of the ex-workers at current commercial bank rate from October 1, 2002 to the date of judgement and ¢10 million as costs.
The suit was filed by Clement Agbesi and four others on behalf of the dismissed workers.
But the authority appealed against the decision, describing the awards as meaningless, perverse and baseless in law and prayed that they should be set aside.
According to the ex-workers, they were employed by the authority as casual or non-permanent employees until September 2002 when the re-organisation led to their being laid off, without receiving any payment in lieu of notice, apart from some meagre amounts described by the authority as golden handshake.
However, they said, detailed severance packages were paid to each of the authority’s permanent employees.
They stated that by the provisions of the various CBAs negotiated on their behalf at various times during their employment with the authority, they ought to have been made permanent employees after working continuously for 154 days in a calendar year.
In its statement of appeal, the authority stated that the trial judge erred in giving judgement for all the ex-workers as if they were parties in the action, although the record of proceedings and the relevant rules of the court clearly indicated that they were not.
According to the authority, it was during the trial that the ex-workers filed a document entitled “List of Plaintiffs” to which was annexed the list of 3,839 others and a subsequent motion to add 356 more people as plaintiffs.
It said the judge’s finding that the authority acted illegally and unlawfully in treating the ex-workers as non-permanent employees for all the period of the plaintiffs’ employment with the defendant was erroneous because there was no evidence on record of the period of employment of each of the ex-workers.
Mr Justice Akamba, who read the majority decision, said the action brought by the ex-workers did not qualify as a class action, since it lacked consistency in the list of the plaintiffs/respondents.
He said the five ex-workers who sued did so on their own behalf and capacity and that the rest of the plaintiffs were only joined after the statement of claim had been filed.
In the case of the four others whose names were listed, the court held that they did not provide their staff numbers as to when they worked and how much was due them.
He said information concerning the list of full plaintiffs did not bear any circumstantial evidence for consideration by the court and that it was only the first plaintiff who was entitled to be paid salary, allowance and benefits.
The rest of the plaintiffs, he noted, failed to discharge their evidential burden that the GPHA breached the CBA and found no justification in entering judgement in their favour.
Mr Justice Addo upheld the trial court’s judgement in the plaintiffs’ favour and said after the expiration of 154 days of continuous work, the plaintiffs became permanent staff and ought to be treated as such.
JAILED MP REFUSED BAIL
THE Accra Fast Track High Court has refused the bail application, pending appeal, filed by Dan Kwasi Abodakpi against his 10-year sentence for causing financial loss to the state.
The former Trade and Industry Minister, who is also the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for Keta, was on February 5, 2007 sentenced to a 10-year jail term with hard labour by the court after being convicted on all seven counts of conspiracy, defrauding by false pretences and wilfully causing financial loss of $400,000 to the state.
Abodakpi was said to have, between May and December 2000, acted, together with the late Victor Selormey, who was a former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Frederick Boadu, a consultant, and other persons with a common purpose, to wilfully cause financial loss of $400,000 to the state through the Trade and Investment Programme (TIP).
The amount was in respect of a feasibility study for the establishment of a Science and Technology Community Park/Valley Project which was meant to enhance the export of non-traditional products.
They were charged with causing the transfer of the cedi equivalent of $400,000 during their tenure of office in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration when they co-chaired the TIP.
The former ministers were accused of causing the transfer from the TIP interest account lodged with ECOBANK Ghana Limited into the personal account of the project consultant, Dr Boadu.
They were arraigned on October 14, 2002 on three counts of conspiracy, two counts of defrauding and two counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state but both of them pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted self-recognisance bail.
Selormey, however, died in the course of the trial.
The court described the bail application as unmeritorious and that its refusal would not occasion any miscarriage of justice to the applicant, while being a sitting MP did not make his case any exceptional to justify the granting of bail pending an appeal.
In its ruling, the court said its conclusion to convict and sentence the applicant was based on evidence before it and could not be said to be erroneous in fact or law.
It said the assertion by counsel for the applicant that he had been a sitting MP since 1993 was true but the same could not be said about the fact that all his relatives were in the country and, therefore, he could not run away.
The court said during the trial of the applicant, it was established that some of his children were outside the country.
The court was packed by sympathisers of the jailed MP who were in court very early.
After the court’s ruling, some members of the audience were still glued to their seats, apparently shocked because their expectation had not been met and those who stood up either folded their arms or placed them in their pockets.
Meanwhile, the appeal has been fixed for April 23, 2007 at the Court of Appeal.
The jailed MP’s counsel, Mr Charles Hayibor, on March 15, 2007 moved the court to admit his client to bail because his appeal pending at the Court of Appeal had a great chance of success.
According to counsel, the application was based on the provisions of Section 33 (1) of the Courts Act and Section 96 of the Criminal Procedure Code Act 30, both of which related to the granting of bail to an accused person pending an appeal.
He said the defence was dissatisfied with the court’s judgement and it was its humble view that there were exceptional grounds which justified the application.
For instance, counsel said, the applicant had been a sitting MP since 1993 and during his trial he never flouted the bail conditions, while he had no means to the country if granted bail.
However, the prosecution, led by the acting Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms Gertrude Aikins, opposed the application and described it as a waste of resources if the trial court granted bail to the applicant, while there was also no exceptional circumstance to warrant the grant of bail.
The former Trade and Industry Minister, who is also the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for Keta, was on February 5, 2007 sentenced to a 10-year jail term with hard labour by the court after being convicted on all seven counts of conspiracy, defrauding by false pretences and wilfully causing financial loss of $400,000 to the state.
Abodakpi was said to have, between May and December 2000, acted, together with the late Victor Selormey, who was a former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Frederick Boadu, a consultant, and other persons with a common purpose, to wilfully cause financial loss of $400,000 to the state through the Trade and Investment Programme (TIP).
The amount was in respect of a feasibility study for the establishment of a Science and Technology Community Park/Valley Project which was meant to enhance the export of non-traditional products.
They were charged with causing the transfer of the cedi equivalent of $400,000 during their tenure of office in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration when they co-chaired the TIP.
The former ministers were accused of causing the transfer from the TIP interest account lodged with ECOBANK Ghana Limited into the personal account of the project consultant, Dr Boadu.
They were arraigned on October 14, 2002 on three counts of conspiracy, two counts of defrauding and two counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state but both of them pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted self-recognisance bail.
Selormey, however, died in the course of the trial.
The court described the bail application as unmeritorious and that its refusal would not occasion any miscarriage of justice to the applicant, while being a sitting MP did not make his case any exceptional to justify the granting of bail pending an appeal.
In its ruling, the court said its conclusion to convict and sentence the applicant was based on evidence before it and could not be said to be erroneous in fact or law.
It said the assertion by counsel for the applicant that he had been a sitting MP since 1993 was true but the same could not be said about the fact that all his relatives were in the country and, therefore, he could not run away.
The court said during the trial of the applicant, it was established that some of his children were outside the country.
The court was packed by sympathisers of the jailed MP who were in court very early.
After the court’s ruling, some members of the audience were still glued to their seats, apparently shocked because their expectation had not been met and those who stood up either folded their arms or placed them in their pockets.
Meanwhile, the appeal has been fixed for April 23, 2007 at the Court of Appeal.
The jailed MP’s counsel, Mr Charles Hayibor, on March 15, 2007 moved the court to admit his client to bail because his appeal pending at the Court of Appeal had a great chance of success.
According to counsel, the application was based on the provisions of Section 33 (1) of the Courts Act and Section 96 of the Criminal Procedure Code Act 30, both of which related to the granting of bail to an accused person pending an appeal.
He said the defence was dissatisfied with the court’s judgement and it was its humble view that there were exceptional grounds which justified the application.
For instance, counsel said, the applicant had been a sitting MP since 1993 and during his trial he never flouted the bail conditions, while he had no means to the country if granted bail.
However, the prosecution, led by the acting Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms Gertrude Aikins, opposed the application and described it as a waste of resources if the trial court granted bail to the applicant, while there was also no exceptional circumstance to warrant the grant of bail.
ON REMAND FOR 14 YEARS WITHOUT TRIAL
RELIEF came to Aryee Ayeetey (not Ataa Ayi) when the Accra Fast Track High Court cautioned and discharged him on alleged robbery charges, after being on remand for 14 years without trial.
He was in the dock with two others, namely, Daniel Kwashie Ayivor, who was sick and could not make it to court, and Peter Aflagaji, but the two could not be released because they were already serving life sentences for an earlier robbery case.
They had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
Ayeetey’s reprieve, which was at the instance of the prosecution because witnesses in that case could not be traced, came when five robbery suspects who had been on remand for 14 years without trial let out their plight and pleaded for mercy.
Either because there was no docket on them or the prosecution could not trace witnesses to commence their trial, the suspects had to languish in jail at the Nsawam Prisons.
However, the judge, Mrs Iris May-Brown, reminded Ayeetey about the circumstances of his discharge and explained that he could be picked up anytime, since he had not been discharged. She, therefore, advised him to tread cautiously.
In the other case, the two suspects’ plea for mercy was not heeded, as the court assigned lawyers for them and ordered the registrar to serve hearing notices for their trial to begin.
After Ayeetey had been discharged, another suspect who found himself in a similar situation drew the court’s attention by a raised hand, saying, “My Lord, have mercy on me.”
The suspect, Francis Agyare, together with Henry Clottey Abbey, was given the opportunity to say whatever problem he had and Agyare said they had been on remand for 14 years without trial.
He said they had written various petitions to the Attorney-General drawing attention to their plight, but to no avail, since their docket could not be traced, while no relative came to visit them at Nsawam.
When the judge asked a Senior State Attorney, Mrs Evelyn Keelson, why those men were in prison custody, she replied that there could be a docket on them but it was not in court.
Following that explanation, the judge assigned a lawyer to the suspects and directed the registrar to serve hearing notices to facilitate the commencement of their trial.
One of the suspects told the court that their plight was not being attended to but the judge responded that the case was making a headway, since she had assigned a lawyer to them.
Another suspect, Henry Lamptey, had also been on remand for eight years without trial, was also assigned a lawyer for his plea to be taken for trial to begin within two weeks.
However, the senior state attorney replied that she might not be able to locate witnesses and asked for a longer adjournment to enable her to locate the witnesses.
The court said the prosecution should proceed with the trial and that if by the next sitting that had not been done, she would consider the bail application of the suspect’s counsel.
He was in the dock with two others, namely, Daniel Kwashie Ayivor, who was sick and could not make it to court, and Peter Aflagaji, but the two could not be released because they were already serving life sentences for an earlier robbery case.
They had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
Ayeetey’s reprieve, which was at the instance of the prosecution because witnesses in that case could not be traced, came when five robbery suspects who had been on remand for 14 years without trial let out their plight and pleaded for mercy.
Either because there was no docket on them or the prosecution could not trace witnesses to commence their trial, the suspects had to languish in jail at the Nsawam Prisons.
However, the judge, Mrs Iris May-Brown, reminded Ayeetey about the circumstances of his discharge and explained that he could be picked up anytime, since he had not been discharged. She, therefore, advised him to tread cautiously.
In the other case, the two suspects’ plea for mercy was not heeded, as the court assigned lawyers for them and ordered the registrar to serve hearing notices for their trial to begin.
After Ayeetey had been discharged, another suspect who found himself in a similar situation drew the court’s attention by a raised hand, saying, “My Lord, have mercy on me.”
The suspect, Francis Agyare, together with Henry Clottey Abbey, was given the opportunity to say whatever problem he had and Agyare said they had been on remand for 14 years without trial.
He said they had written various petitions to the Attorney-General drawing attention to their plight, but to no avail, since their docket could not be traced, while no relative came to visit them at Nsawam.
When the judge asked a Senior State Attorney, Mrs Evelyn Keelson, why those men were in prison custody, she replied that there could be a docket on them but it was not in court.
Following that explanation, the judge assigned a lawyer to the suspects and directed the registrar to serve hearing notices to facilitate the commencement of their trial.
One of the suspects told the court that their plight was not being attended to but the judge responded that the case was making a headway, since she had assigned a lawyer to them.
Another suspect, Henry Lamptey, had also been on remand for eight years without trial, was also assigned a lawyer for his plea to be taken for trial to begin within two weeks.
However, the senior state attorney replied that she might not be able to locate witnesses and asked for a longer adjournment to enable her to locate the witnesses.
The court said the prosecution should proceed with the trial and that if by the next sitting that had not been done, she would consider the bail application of the suspect’s counsel.
Monday, April 16, 2007
THIEF IN COURT
A 43-year-old businessman was has been arraigned before an Accra circuit court for allegedly stealing telephone cards valued at ¢2.3 billion belonging to the Ghana Telecommunications (GT) Company Limited.
The accused person, Salisu Adams, pleaded not guilty to three counts of conspiracy, unlawful entry and stealing and was granted bail in the sum of ¢500 million with two sureties, one of which is to be justified.
A bench warrant was issued for the arrest of his accomplice, Christian Kumi, a private security person, who is at large.
The case was adjourned to May 2, 2007.
Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector B.Y. Dadzie told the court that on November 22, last year, the Fixed Network Services Unit of GT reported the theft of 28,000 pieces of its Easy Phone cards, valued at ¢2.3 billion, from its stores at Adenta in Accra.
He said following the discovery of the theft, the management of the company took measures to prevent the thieves from using the cards and subsequently blocked the cards.
After that, he said, the Revenue Assurance and Fraud Unit of the company was tasked to liaise with the police to track down those who might have stolen the cards.
Inspector Dadzie said their investigations led to the hideout of the accused person at Weija, near Accra, on April 12, 2007, where he was arrested by police personnel.
When the house of the accused person was searched, some GT items were found and that prompted the police to conduct a further search in his shop on the Weija-Kasoa Road which led to the retrieval of 27,469 of the stolen cards, valued at ¢2.25 billion.
The accused person, Salisu Adams, pleaded not guilty to three counts of conspiracy, unlawful entry and stealing and was granted bail in the sum of ¢500 million with two sureties, one of which is to be justified.
A bench warrant was issued for the arrest of his accomplice, Christian Kumi, a private security person, who is at large.
The case was adjourned to May 2, 2007.
Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector B.Y. Dadzie told the court that on November 22, last year, the Fixed Network Services Unit of GT reported the theft of 28,000 pieces of its Easy Phone cards, valued at ¢2.3 billion, from its stores at Adenta in Accra.
He said following the discovery of the theft, the management of the company took measures to prevent the thieves from using the cards and subsequently blocked the cards.
After that, he said, the Revenue Assurance and Fraud Unit of the company was tasked to liaise with the police to track down those who might have stolen the cards.
Inspector Dadzie said their investigations led to the hideout of the accused person at Weija, near Accra, on April 12, 2007, where he was arrested by police personnel.
When the house of the accused person was searched, some GT items were found and that prompted the police to conduct a further search in his shop on the Weija-Kasoa Road which led to the retrieval of 27,469 of the stolen cards, valued at ¢2.25 billion.
COURT REGISTRAR ASKED TO LOOK FOR CHINESE INTERPRETER
THE Accra Fast Track High Court hearing the trial of the six persons in connection with the missing cocaine on board MV Benjamin has ordered the registrar of the court to secure the services of a Chinese interpreter to facilitate the speedy trial of the case.
It said the registrar should execute the order judiciously.
The court gave the order after Mr Solomon Korli, counsel for the two Chinese, objected to the tendering of a statement of one of the Chinese nationals by the ninth prosecution witness.
The witness, Detective Inspector Justice Oppong, was continuing with his evidence-in-chief in the case in which the owner of the vessel, Joseph Kojo Dawson; Pak Bok Sil, a Korean; Isaac Arhin and Philip Bruce Arhin, both Ghanaians; and Cui Xian Li and Luo Yin Xing, both Chinese, are alleged to have played various roles leading to the importation of 77 parcels of cocaine, each weighing 30 kilogrammes, into the country.
They have been charged with various counts of using property for narcotic offences, engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotics and possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
Each of them has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and have been remanded into prison custody.
The witness, who said he took statements from the Chinese, wanted to tender the one he took from Li but Li’s counsel objected to it and drew the court’s attention to the fact that he was encountering problems interrogating his clients.
According to him, the substantive Chinese interpreter was outside the jurisdiction and, therefore, he would find it difficult to communicate with his clients to know whether they actually gave statements to the police.
The judge took a look at the statement to ascertain whether it was a confession statement or not after which counsel was given the opportunity to also look at it.
However, after perusing, counsel said he still needed the services of an interpreter.
Consequently, the case was adjourned to April 26, 2007 to enable the registrar of the court to secure the services of another Chinese interpreter.
It said the registrar should execute the order judiciously.
The court gave the order after Mr Solomon Korli, counsel for the two Chinese, objected to the tendering of a statement of one of the Chinese nationals by the ninth prosecution witness.
The witness, Detective Inspector Justice Oppong, was continuing with his evidence-in-chief in the case in which the owner of the vessel, Joseph Kojo Dawson; Pak Bok Sil, a Korean; Isaac Arhin and Philip Bruce Arhin, both Ghanaians; and Cui Xian Li and Luo Yin Xing, both Chinese, are alleged to have played various roles leading to the importation of 77 parcels of cocaine, each weighing 30 kilogrammes, into the country.
They have been charged with various counts of using property for narcotic offences, engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotics and possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
Each of them has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and have been remanded into prison custody.
The witness, who said he took statements from the Chinese, wanted to tender the one he took from Li but Li’s counsel objected to it and drew the court’s attention to the fact that he was encountering problems interrogating his clients.
According to him, the substantive Chinese interpreter was outside the jurisdiction and, therefore, he would find it difficult to communicate with his clients to know whether they actually gave statements to the police.
The judge took a look at the statement to ascertain whether it was a confession statement or not after which counsel was given the opportunity to also look at it.
However, after perusing, counsel said he still needed the services of an interpreter.
Consequently, the case was adjourned to April 26, 2007 to enable the registrar of the court to secure the services of another Chinese interpreter.
POLICE INVESTIGATOR CONCLUDES EVIDENCE
THE police investigator in the cocaine case involving Kwabena Amaning, alias Tagor, and Alhaji Issa Abass has concluded his evidence-in-chief after the Fast Track High Court had played the compact disc (CD) which had the secret voice recording of the accused persons.
Detective Inspector Charles Adaba, the seventh witness for the prosecution, will be crossed-examined today by the defence counsel.
The secret voice recording, according to the police investigator, was requested for by the voice and speech experts in the United Kingdom to assist them to ascertain the true voices of the five persons who participated in a conversation relating to the missing 77 parcels of cocaine in ACP Kofi Boakye’s house.
The subject of the recorded conversation is the result of the trial of Tagor, who is facing four counts of conspiracy, engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs, buying of narcotic drugs and supplying narcotic drugs, and Alhaji Issa Abbas, who faces two counts of conspiracy and supply of narcotic drugs.
They have pleaded not guilty to all the counts and have been refused bail by the court, presided over by Mr Justice Jones Dotse, a Court of Appeal judge sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge.
The court overruled an application by Mr William Kpobi, a Principal State Attorney, that the CD containing the secret voice recordings should be played in camera, since he did not want its content to be heard by the public.
Counsel for Tagor, Mr Ellis Owusu-Fordjour, objected to the application on the grounds that since the main tape, which was the subject of the trial, had been played to the hearing of the public, there was no need to hear the voice recording in camera.
Detective Inspector Adaba said Tagor refused to give a statement after his arrest, after insisting that he wanted to do so in the presence of his counsel.
He said when Tagor’s counsel was contacted on telephone, he stated that he was outside Accra and would like to be present before his client’s statement was taken. But that did not materialise.
Abass, he noted, gave his statement in the presence of an independent witness.
The witness said his investigations revealed that ACP Boakye invited the accused persons and others to his house to find out from them who was peddling rumours that he (ACP Boakye) had gone to steal 77 parcels of cocaine from the MV Benjamin at the Tema Port.
He said the fishing vessel used by the fugitive drug baron, Sheriff Asem Dakeh, berthed at the breakwaters of the Tema Port with the substance on April 25, 2006 but before the security agencies could get on board, 76 of the said parcels had been taken away.
Detective Inspector Adaba said his investigations further revealed that the 76 parcels were stolen by a group of cocaine dealers who turned out to be the accused persons.
He said it was based on that fact that ACP Boakye invited the accused persons and the others to his house to question them about the whereabouts of the missing cocaine, since his name was being peddled in town that he had gone for the cocaine.
According to the witness, the accused persons, during their meeting with ACP Boakye, openly confessed to their past dealings in cocaine but denied having spread rumours that ACP Boakye had stolen the 76 parcels of cocaine.
“In the end, all of them conspired to look for the people who went to steal the 76 parcels of cocaine, since the quantity was such that one person could not have gone to steal it,” Detective Inspector Adaba said, and added that after finding the culprits, the suspects hoped to get their share.
In a brief cross-examination by Mr Owusu-Fordjour, the witness said he took a statement from Chris Kumi Asher whose name came up in the conversation recorded in ACP Boakye’s house, after interrogating him, but said he did not remember saying under oath that Asher had said that Tagor’s driver had bought a house from him.
Detective Inspector Charles Adaba, the seventh witness for the prosecution, will be crossed-examined today by the defence counsel.
The secret voice recording, according to the police investigator, was requested for by the voice and speech experts in the United Kingdom to assist them to ascertain the true voices of the five persons who participated in a conversation relating to the missing 77 parcels of cocaine in ACP Kofi Boakye’s house.
The subject of the recorded conversation is the result of the trial of Tagor, who is facing four counts of conspiracy, engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs, buying of narcotic drugs and supplying narcotic drugs, and Alhaji Issa Abbas, who faces two counts of conspiracy and supply of narcotic drugs.
They have pleaded not guilty to all the counts and have been refused bail by the court, presided over by Mr Justice Jones Dotse, a Court of Appeal judge sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge.
The court overruled an application by Mr William Kpobi, a Principal State Attorney, that the CD containing the secret voice recordings should be played in camera, since he did not want its content to be heard by the public.
Counsel for Tagor, Mr Ellis Owusu-Fordjour, objected to the application on the grounds that since the main tape, which was the subject of the trial, had been played to the hearing of the public, there was no need to hear the voice recording in camera.
Detective Inspector Adaba said Tagor refused to give a statement after his arrest, after insisting that he wanted to do so in the presence of his counsel.
He said when Tagor’s counsel was contacted on telephone, he stated that he was outside Accra and would like to be present before his client’s statement was taken. But that did not materialise.
Abass, he noted, gave his statement in the presence of an independent witness.
The witness said his investigations revealed that ACP Boakye invited the accused persons and others to his house to find out from them who was peddling rumours that he (ACP Boakye) had gone to steal 77 parcels of cocaine from the MV Benjamin at the Tema Port.
He said the fishing vessel used by the fugitive drug baron, Sheriff Asem Dakeh, berthed at the breakwaters of the Tema Port with the substance on April 25, 2006 but before the security agencies could get on board, 76 of the said parcels had been taken away.
Detective Inspector Adaba said his investigations further revealed that the 76 parcels were stolen by a group of cocaine dealers who turned out to be the accused persons.
He said it was based on that fact that ACP Boakye invited the accused persons and the others to his house to question them about the whereabouts of the missing cocaine, since his name was being peddled in town that he had gone for the cocaine.
According to the witness, the accused persons, during their meeting with ACP Boakye, openly confessed to their past dealings in cocaine but denied having spread rumours that ACP Boakye had stolen the 76 parcels of cocaine.
“In the end, all of them conspired to look for the people who went to steal the 76 parcels of cocaine, since the quantity was such that one person could not have gone to steal it,” Detective Inspector Adaba said, and added that after finding the culprits, the suspects hoped to get their share.
In a brief cross-examination by Mr Owusu-Fordjour, the witness said he took a statement from Chris Kumi Asher whose name came up in the conversation recorded in ACP Boakye’s house, after interrogating him, but said he did not remember saying under oath that Asher had said that Tagor’s driver had bought a house from him.
JUDGE CAUTIONS MEDIA
A Court of Appeal judge with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, Mr Justice Jones Dotse, has cautioned media practitioners and social commentators not to pass judgement on persons being tried for narcotic-related offences until otherwise proven by the courts.
He said since the media had a tremendous influence in shaping public opinion, it was necessary that care was taken in order not to whip up unnecessary sentiments.
Mr Justice Dotse said so far, he was pleased with media reportage on proceedings in the cocaine case involving Kwabena Amaning, alias Tagor, and Alhaji Issa Abass, except that those who sat on radio passed judgement as if they were judges.
Tagor is facing four counts of conspiracy, engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs, buying of narcotic drugs and supplying narcotic drugs, while Alhaji Abbas faces two counts of conspiracy and supply of narcotic drugs.
They have pleaded not guilty to all the counts and have been refused bail.
Mr Justice Dotse cited the Daily Graphic, the Ghanaian Times, The Daily Guide, The Chronicle, among other publications, as those whose reportage had been consistent with proceedings in the court but added that the action of some practitioners, particularly those who appeared on Joy FM’s discussion programmes, left much to be desired.
The judge said their action amounted to contempt and if care was not taken he would let some of them appear in court to explain their actions.
He expressed those concerns last Thursday at the Fast Track High Court when the police investigator of the case, Detective Inspector Charles Adaba, testified under cross-examination by Mr Ellis Owusu-Fordjour, counsel for Tagor.
The police investigator denied that in his evidence-in-chief he had stated that Chris Kumi Asher, who was mentioned in the conversation which took place in ACP Kofi Boakye’s house, had told him that Tagor’s driver had bought a house from him (Asher).
According to him, Asher said that he sold a house to Nana Kofi, whom his investigations revealed was Tagor’s driver.
When counsel asked whether the purchase was covered by a written document, the witness replied that Asher promised to give him the documents but he had since failed to do so.
Inspector Adaba disagreed with counsel that the purchaser of the house was not Tagor’s driver and added that the police were still searching for him because he abandoned the house, which was located at East Legon in Accra.
The witness said he did not know the person who recorded the conversation which took place in ACP Boakye’s house on May 15, 2006 and that he received a copy from the Attorney-General’s Department.
He said he did not play the recorded conversation to offer Tagor the opportunity to either accept or deny that his voice was on the tape.
He also agreed with counsel that portions of the tape containing the recorded conversation were inaudible, while the secret voice recording of Tagor contained about four different voices.
Inspector Adaba disagreed with counsel that the secret voice recording of Tagor amounted to deceit and interrogation when the accused had said he would not give any statement in the absence of his counsel.
“I only prompted him to talk but I did not interrogate him,” the witness said, and added that at the time of the recording, the case was pending in court.
The witness further agreed with counsel that prior to the secret meeting in ACP Boakye’s house in 2006, the police officer, who was then the Director-General of Operations of the Ghana Police Service, had invited Tagor to his house, while the famous meeting in his house was to clear his name that he (ACP Boakye) did not go and steal the missing cocaine from the MV Benjamin.
Inspector Adaba disagreed with counsel that Mama Tess, the name which came up during the conversation in ACP Boakye’s house, was an acronym, since so many people had that name.
He described as false the notion that nothing pointed to a particular Mama Tess who was identified, while the said Mama Tess was in the country and had not travelled abroad.
He said since the media had a tremendous influence in shaping public opinion, it was necessary that care was taken in order not to whip up unnecessary sentiments.
Mr Justice Dotse said so far, he was pleased with media reportage on proceedings in the cocaine case involving Kwabena Amaning, alias Tagor, and Alhaji Issa Abass, except that those who sat on radio passed judgement as if they were judges.
Tagor is facing four counts of conspiracy, engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs, buying of narcotic drugs and supplying narcotic drugs, while Alhaji Abbas faces two counts of conspiracy and supply of narcotic drugs.
They have pleaded not guilty to all the counts and have been refused bail.
Mr Justice Dotse cited the Daily Graphic, the Ghanaian Times, The Daily Guide, The Chronicle, among other publications, as those whose reportage had been consistent with proceedings in the court but added that the action of some practitioners, particularly those who appeared on Joy FM’s discussion programmes, left much to be desired.
The judge said their action amounted to contempt and if care was not taken he would let some of them appear in court to explain their actions.
He expressed those concerns last Thursday at the Fast Track High Court when the police investigator of the case, Detective Inspector Charles Adaba, testified under cross-examination by Mr Ellis Owusu-Fordjour, counsel for Tagor.
The police investigator denied that in his evidence-in-chief he had stated that Chris Kumi Asher, who was mentioned in the conversation which took place in ACP Kofi Boakye’s house, had told him that Tagor’s driver had bought a house from him (Asher).
According to him, Asher said that he sold a house to Nana Kofi, whom his investigations revealed was Tagor’s driver.
When counsel asked whether the purchase was covered by a written document, the witness replied that Asher promised to give him the documents but he had since failed to do so.
Inspector Adaba disagreed with counsel that the purchaser of the house was not Tagor’s driver and added that the police were still searching for him because he abandoned the house, which was located at East Legon in Accra.
The witness said he did not know the person who recorded the conversation which took place in ACP Boakye’s house on May 15, 2006 and that he received a copy from the Attorney-General’s Department.
He said he did not play the recorded conversation to offer Tagor the opportunity to either accept or deny that his voice was on the tape.
He also agreed with counsel that portions of the tape containing the recorded conversation were inaudible, while the secret voice recording of Tagor contained about four different voices.
Inspector Adaba disagreed with counsel that the secret voice recording of Tagor amounted to deceit and interrogation when the accused had said he would not give any statement in the absence of his counsel.
“I only prompted him to talk but I did not interrogate him,” the witness said, and added that at the time of the recording, the case was pending in court.
The witness further agreed with counsel that prior to the secret meeting in ACP Boakye’s house in 2006, the police officer, who was then the Director-General of Operations of the Ghana Police Service, had invited Tagor to his house, while the famous meeting in his house was to clear his name that he (ACP Boakye) did not go and steal the missing cocaine from the MV Benjamin.
Inspector Adaba disagreed with counsel that Mama Tess, the name which came up during the conversation in ACP Boakye’s house, was an acronym, since so many people had that name.
He described as false the notion that nothing pointed to a particular Mama Tess who was identified, while the said Mama Tess was in the country and had not travelled abroad.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
JAILED MP's BAIL RULING ON APRIL 19
THE Accra Fast Track High Court has fixed April 19, 2007 to rule on the bail application, pending appeal, filed by Dan Kwasi Abodakpi against his 10-year sentence for causing financial loss to the state.
That was after the prosecution had opposed the application, describing it as a waste of resources if the trial court granted bail to the applicant, while there was also no exceptional circumstance to warrant the grant of bail.
According to the prosecution, the proper place to ventilate the issue was the Court of Appeal, since the application was not one in which the discretion of the trial court should be exercised in the granting of bail, since Abodakpi was in proper custody.
Ms Aikins said in an effort to shred the case of the prosecution, the defence perjured when it said that a defence witness, Mrs Agnes Batsa, was a prosecution witness.
Mr Charles Hayibor, counsel for the applicant, in response, conceded that there was no way the defence could have perjured because it called Mrs Batsa as a witness and so what happened was by mistake.
“I am fallible, I make mistakes and I concede that that was a mistake. Mrs Batsa gave evidence as defence witness (DW 2),” counsel stated, and denied ever saying that because Abodakpi was a sitting Member of Parliament (MP), his case was exceptional.
Counsel for Abodakpi, earlier on March 15, this year, urged the court to grant him bail, pending his appeal which had a greater chance of success.
The former Trade and Industry Minister, who is the sitting MP for Keta, was on February 5, 2007 sentenced to a 10-year jail term with hard labour by the court after being convicted on all seven counts of conspiracy, defrauding by false pretences and wilfully causing financial loss of $400,000 to the state.
Abodakpi was said to have, between May and December 2000, acted, together with the late Victor Selormey, who was a former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Frederick Boadu, a consultant, and other persons with a common purpose, to wilfully cause financial loss of $400,000 to the state through the Trade and Investment Programme (TIP).
The amount was in respect of a feasibility study for the establishment of a Science and Technology Community Park/Valley Project which was meant to enhance the export of non-traditional products.
They were charged with causing the transfer of the cedi equivalent of $400,000 during their tenure of office in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration when they co-chaired the TIP.
The former ministers were accused of causing the transfer from the TIP interest account lodged with ECOBANK Ghana Limited into the personal account of the project consultant, Dr Boadu.
They were arraigned on October 14, 2002 on three counts of conspiracy, two counts of defrauding and two counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state but both of them pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted self-recognisance bail.
Selormey, however, died in the course of the trial.
In her response to the bail application, the acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Ms Gertrude Aikins, said the fact that Abodakpi was a sitting MP did not make his case exceptional, especially when nobody was above the law.
“Being an MP does not mean that he cannot serve the sentence imposed on him by a court of competent jurisdiction,” she stated, and added that the plea that the court did not listen to the case of the defence was untenable because the court was entitled to accept the case of either the prosecution or the defence and that was what it did.
According to Ms Aikins, the court took into consideration the case of the defence, saying that “the court gave a sentence which was legal and within its jurisdiction”.
She said there was no provision which made it mandatory for Abodakpi to make a plea for mitigation and at the end of the trial there was no circumstances tending him to make that plea. Moreover, when the court decided to impose a deterrent sentence, the good case of the defence became irrelevant.
“The sentence cannot be faulted, since it was completely within the law. The court did not find any material conflict in the case of the prosecution,” Ms Aikins stated.
Regarding the contract fee for offshore consultants, she said that had been decided by the Court of Appeal when it was told that they ought to be paid $150,000.
That was after the prosecution had opposed the application, describing it as a waste of resources if the trial court granted bail to the applicant, while there was also no exceptional circumstance to warrant the grant of bail.
According to the prosecution, the proper place to ventilate the issue was the Court of Appeal, since the application was not one in which the discretion of the trial court should be exercised in the granting of bail, since Abodakpi was in proper custody.
Ms Aikins said in an effort to shred the case of the prosecution, the defence perjured when it said that a defence witness, Mrs Agnes Batsa, was a prosecution witness.
Mr Charles Hayibor, counsel for the applicant, in response, conceded that there was no way the defence could have perjured because it called Mrs Batsa as a witness and so what happened was by mistake.
“I am fallible, I make mistakes and I concede that that was a mistake. Mrs Batsa gave evidence as defence witness (DW 2),” counsel stated, and denied ever saying that because Abodakpi was a sitting Member of Parliament (MP), his case was exceptional.
Counsel for Abodakpi, earlier on March 15, this year, urged the court to grant him bail, pending his appeal which had a greater chance of success.
The former Trade and Industry Minister, who is the sitting MP for Keta, was on February 5, 2007 sentenced to a 10-year jail term with hard labour by the court after being convicted on all seven counts of conspiracy, defrauding by false pretences and wilfully causing financial loss of $400,000 to the state.
Abodakpi was said to have, between May and December 2000, acted, together with the late Victor Selormey, who was a former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Frederick Boadu, a consultant, and other persons with a common purpose, to wilfully cause financial loss of $400,000 to the state through the Trade and Investment Programme (TIP).
The amount was in respect of a feasibility study for the establishment of a Science and Technology Community Park/Valley Project which was meant to enhance the export of non-traditional products.
They were charged with causing the transfer of the cedi equivalent of $400,000 during their tenure of office in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration when they co-chaired the TIP.
The former ministers were accused of causing the transfer from the TIP interest account lodged with ECOBANK Ghana Limited into the personal account of the project consultant, Dr Boadu.
They were arraigned on October 14, 2002 on three counts of conspiracy, two counts of defrauding and two counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state but both of them pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted self-recognisance bail.
Selormey, however, died in the course of the trial.
In her response to the bail application, the acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Ms Gertrude Aikins, said the fact that Abodakpi was a sitting MP did not make his case exceptional, especially when nobody was above the law.
“Being an MP does not mean that he cannot serve the sentence imposed on him by a court of competent jurisdiction,” she stated, and added that the plea that the court did not listen to the case of the defence was untenable because the court was entitled to accept the case of either the prosecution or the defence and that was what it did.
According to Ms Aikins, the court took into consideration the case of the defence, saying that “the court gave a sentence which was legal and within its jurisdiction”.
She said there was no provision which made it mandatory for Abodakpi to make a plea for mitigation and at the end of the trial there was no circumstances tending him to make that plea. Moreover, when the court decided to impose a deterrent sentence, the good case of the defence became irrelevant.
“The sentence cannot be faulted, since it was completely within the law. The court did not find any material conflict in the case of the prosecution,” Ms Aikins stated.
Regarding the contract fee for offshore consultants, she said that had been decided by the Court of Appeal when it was told that they ought to be paid $150,000.
EX-GPHA WORKERS JUDGEMENT POSTPONED
THE judgement in the appeal filed by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) against the payment of billions of cedis in compensation for the wrongful dismissal of 4,194 casual workers, for the second time, could not be delivered by the Court of Appeal.
Journalists were informed that the adjournment was to enable the lawyers to furnish the judges with some authorities they cited to enable them to deliver the judgement.
As usual the more than 300 of the dismissed casual workers of GPHA who besieged the Supreme Court premises, eager to hear the judgement, were disappointed.
Their leaders advised them to exercise restraint for the law to take its course.
At the last sitting on March 23, 2007, the judgement was scheduled for yesterday but it was again postponed to April 20, 2007, after lawyers in the case had met the judges in chambers.
On March, 23, 2007, the lawyers met the judges in chambers and it was agreed that the judges, who had just received a response by the authority, needed to study it in order to factor it into their judgement.
A Tema High Court on January 18, 2006 entered judgement in favour of the dismissed workers, some of whom worked for periods ranging from one year to 10 years, and ordered the payment of billions of cedis in damages for breach of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), compensation, severance award and costs.
The court ordered that ¢5 million should be paid to each of the ex-workers as damages for breach of the CBA, ¢10 million to each of them for each year of service after the expiration of 154 days of continuous work in the authority as compensation for illegal conduct in keeping them as casual workers, violation of their economic rights and discrimination against them contrary to the 1992 Constitution.
Furthermore, severance award comprising three months salary for each year of service, ¢3 million in lieu of rent, ¢2 million for medicals, two bags of rice, two gallons of oil, 2001 bonus for those who qualified and ¢1.5 million as conveyance fees should be given.
The rest were five months salary as handshake, long service award, interest on all sums due each of the ex-workers at current commercial bank rate from October 1, 2002 to date of judgement and ¢10 million as costs.
The suit was filed by five of the dismissed workers on behalf of the rest.
But the authority appealed against the decision, describing the awards as meaningless, perverse and baseless in law and prayed for it to be set aside.
According to the facts of the case, the respondents were employed by the authority as casual or non-permanent employees until September 2002 when the re-organisation led to their being laid off without receiving any payment in lieu of notice apart from “some meagre amounts described by the authority as golden handshake”.
However, they said, detailed severance packages were paid to each of the authority’s permanent employees.
They stated that by the provisions of the various CBAs negotiated on their behalf at various times during their employment with the authority, they ought to have been made permanent employees after working continuously for 154 days in a calendar year.
In its statement of appeal the authority stated that the trial judge erred in giving judgement for all the ex-workers as if they were parties in the action although the record of proceedings and the relevant rules of the court clearly indicated that they were not.
According to the authority, it was during the trial that the ex-workers filed a document entitled “List of Plaintiffs” to which was annexed the list of 3,839 others and a subsequent motion to add 356 more people as plaintiffs.
It said the judge’s finding that the authority acted illegally and unlawfully in treating the ex-workers as non-permanent employees “for all the periods of the plaintiff’s employment with the defendant”, was erroneous, there being no evidence on record of the period of employment of each of the ex-workers.
Journalists were informed that the adjournment was to enable the lawyers to furnish the judges with some authorities they cited to enable them to deliver the judgement.
As usual the more than 300 of the dismissed casual workers of GPHA who besieged the Supreme Court premises, eager to hear the judgement, were disappointed.
Their leaders advised them to exercise restraint for the law to take its course.
At the last sitting on March 23, 2007, the judgement was scheduled for yesterday but it was again postponed to April 20, 2007, after lawyers in the case had met the judges in chambers.
On March, 23, 2007, the lawyers met the judges in chambers and it was agreed that the judges, who had just received a response by the authority, needed to study it in order to factor it into their judgement.
A Tema High Court on January 18, 2006 entered judgement in favour of the dismissed workers, some of whom worked for periods ranging from one year to 10 years, and ordered the payment of billions of cedis in damages for breach of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), compensation, severance award and costs.
The court ordered that ¢5 million should be paid to each of the ex-workers as damages for breach of the CBA, ¢10 million to each of them for each year of service after the expiration of 154 days of continuous work in the authority as compensation for illegal conduct in keeping them as casual workers, violation of their economic rights and discrimination against them contrary to the 1992 Constitution.
Furthermore, severance award comprising three months salary for each year of service, ¢3 million in lieu of rent, ¢2 million for medicals, two bags of rice, two gallons of oil, 2001 bonus for those who qualified and ¢1.5 million as conveyance fees should be given.
The rest were five months salary as handshake, long service award, interest on all sums due each of the ex-workers at current commercial bank rate from October 1, 2002 to date of judgement and ¢10 million as costs.
The suit was filed by five of the dismissed workers on behalf of the rest.
But the authority appealed against the decision, describing the awards as meaningless, perverse and baseless in law and prayed for it to be set aside.
According to the facts of the case, the respondents were employed by the authority as casual or non-permanent employees until September 2002 when the re-organisation led to their being laid off without receiving any payment in lieu of notice apart from “some meagre amounts described by the authority as golden handshake”.
However, they said, detailed severance packages were paid to each of the authority’s permanent employees.
They stated that by the provisions of the various CBAs negotiated on their behalf at various times during their employment with the authority, they ought to have been made permanent employees after working continuously for 154 days in a calendar year.
In its statement of appeal the authority stated that the trial judge erred in giving judgement for all the ex-workers as if they were parties in the action although the record of proceedings and the relevant rules of the court clearly indicated that they were not.
According to the authority, it was during the trial that the ex-workers filed a document entitled “List of Plaintiffs” to which was annexed the list of 3,839 others and a subsequent motion to add 356 more people as plaintiffs.
It said the judge’s finding that the authority acted illegally and unlawfully in treating the ex-workers as non-permanent employees “for all the periods of the plaintiff’s employment with the defendant”, was erroneous, there being no evidence on record of the period of employment of each of the ex-workers.
FOOD AND DRUGS BOARD STAFF TESTIFIES IN COKE TRIAL
THE Ghana Standards Board (GSB) is the only establishment given permit by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) to import cocaine for scientific and medical purposes.
A prosecution witness, Mrs Afua Owusua Amartey, the Head of the Tobacco and Substances Abuse Unit of the FDB, has told the Accra Fast Track High Court hearing the case involving three policemen who allegedly aided a suspect to abscond with 2,280 kilogrammes of cocaine into the country.
However, she said the board allowed some pharmaceutical companies to also import narcotic and psychotropic substances.
She said the national quota of cocaine allocation to Ghana was 10 grammes, out of which the GSB was allocated 0.430 grammes for 2005 and 0.920 grammes for 2006.
Mrs Amartey was testifying in the case in which General Lance Corporal Dwamena Yabson, General Sergeant Daniel Nyarko, General Lance Corporal Peter Bondori and Detective Sergeant Amoah, who is on the run, are accused of collecting money from the owner of the cocaine, Sheriff Asem Dakeh, and allowing him (Dakeh) to abscond with the narcotic drug.
The three have been charged with two counts of engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs and corruption by a public officer.
They have pleaded not guilty to both counts.
Mrs Amartey said before anyone or an organisation would be allowed to import narcotic and psychotropic substances, it had to apply to the FDB and if approved, it would be given an allocation within the national quota.
She said two weeks after the substances had arrived in the country, the importer was mandated to submit an advice form to indicate that the substances had arrived to enable the FDB to write back to the exporting agency.
She stated that she did not know the accused persons, neither did they apply to the FDB for a permit to import narcotic substances.
Hearing was adjourned to April 17, 2007.
A prosecution witness, Mrs Afua Owusua Amartey, the Head of the Tobacco and Substances Abuse Unit of the FDB, has told the Accra Fast Track High Court hearing the case involving three policemen who allegedly aided a suspect to abscond with 2,280 kilogrammes of cocaine into the country.
However, she said the board allowed some pharmaceutical companies to also import narcotic and psychotropic substances.
She said the national quota of cocaine allocation to Ghana was 10 grammes, out of which the GSB was allocated 0.430 grammes for 2005 and 0.920 grammes for 2006.
Mrs Amartey was testifying in the case in which General Lance Corporal Dwamena Yabson, General Sergeant Daniel Nyarko, General Lance Corporal Peter Bondori and Detective Sergeant Amoah, who is on the run, are accused of collecting money from the owner of the cocaine, Sheriff Asem Dakeh, and allowing him (Dakeh) to abscond with the narcotic drug.
The three have been charged with two counts of engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs and corruption by a public officer.
They have pleaded not guilty to both counts.
Mrs Amartey said before anyone or an organisation would be allowed to import narcotic and psychotropic substances, it had to apply to the FDB and if approved, it would be given an allocation within the national quota.
She said two weeks after the substances had arrived in the country, the importer was mandated to submit an advice form to indicate that the substances had arrived to enable the FDB to write back to the exporting agency.
She stated that she did not know the accused persons, neither did they apply to the FDB for a permit to import narcotic substances.
Hearing was adjourned to April 17, 2007.
COURT GRANTS BAIL TO FRAUDSTER
AN Accra circuit court has granted bail in the sum of ¢300 million with three sureties to a Nigerian student for allegedly forging documents purported to have come from the Office of the President, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Standard Chartered Bank to defraud an Austrian businessman of $9 million.
Two of the sureties should be either public or civil servants.
The accused person, Michael Clinton Okeleke, 22, was alleged to have conspired with another Nigerian, Okey Oguchuku, now at large, to lure their victim by using the fake documents.
Okeleke pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy and forgery of official document and he will re-appear on May 7, 2007 for hearing.
Narrating the facts of the case to the court, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) George Abavelim said the accused persons were Nigerians resident in Ghana, while the complainant was based in Vienna, Austria.
He said in December last year, the Nigerians came into contact with the complainant through the Internet and hatched a plan to defraud him.
ASP Abavelim said they subsequently sent an e-mail purported to have come from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NEPAD informing the complainant that he was a beneficiary of $9 million, along with seven other people, from the Nigerian government.
He said the accused persons stated that the Nigerian government had taken notice of the ‘419’ scam in that country and had decided to pay him through a reserve account in Ghana and that all beneficiaries were to be paid before the upcoming general election in that country.
The prosecutor said the accused persons, on January 4, 2007, forged some documents purported to have come from Mr Charles Bintim, a Minister of State at the Presidency, confirming the payments.
They also forged a first quarter payment schedule (C) allegedly signed by Kwasi Mensah, a Director of the Foreign Payments Unit, and further e-mailed their victim a letter purported to have been signed by Mr Ebenezer Essoka, the Chief Executive of the Standard Chartered Bank, Ghana, confirming that the money had been lodged at the bank in his name.
According to the prosecutor, the accused persons then asked the complainant to furnish the bank with his bank account to facilitate the transfer of the money to him and that he was to contact the chief executive on a telephone number which was found to belong to Okeleke, described as a British lawyer based in Ghana.
Okeleke was tracked and arrested with a Nigerian passport bearing his name and he admitted the offence and stated that he was introduced into the business by Oguchuku, who had since eluded the police.
Two of the sureties should be either public or civil servants.
The accused person, Michael Clinton Okeleke, 22, was alleged to have conspired with another Nigerian, Okey Oguchuku, now at large, to lure their victim by using the fake documents.
Okeleke pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy and forgery of official document and he will re-appear on May 7, 2007 for hearing.
Narrating the facts of the case to the court, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) George Abavelim said the accused persons were Nigerians resident in Ghana, while the complainant was based in Vienna, Austria.
He said in December last year, the Nigerians came into contact with the complainant through the Internet and hatched a plan to defraud him.
ASP Abavelim said they subsequently sent an e-mail purported to have come from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NEPAD informing the complainant that he was a beneficiary of $9 million, along with seven other people, from the Nigerian government.
He said the accused persons stated that the Nigerian government had taken notice of the ‘419’ scam in that country and had decided to pay him through a reserve account in Ghana and that all beneficiaries were to be paid before the upcoming general election in that country.
The prosecutor said the accused persons, on January 4, 2007, forged some documents purported to have come from Mr Charles Bintim, a Minister of State at the Presidency, confirming the payments.
They also forged a first quarter payment schedule (C) allegedly signed by Kwasi Mensah, a Director of the Foreign Payments Unit, and further e-mailed their victim a letter purported to have been signed by Mr Ebenezer Essoka, the Chief Executive of the Standard Chartered Bank, Ghana, confirming that the money had been lodged at the bank in his name.
According to the prosecutor, the accused persons then asked the complainant to furnish the bank with his bank account to facilitate the transfer of the money to him and that he was to contact the chief executive on a telephone number which was found to belong to Okeleke, described as a British lawyer based in Ghana.
Okeleke was tracked and arrested with a Nigerian passport bearing his name and he admitted the offence and stated that he was introduced into the business by Oguchuku, who had since eluded the police.
MY CAMBRIDGE PAPER ON CORRUPTION
THE ROLE OF THE PRESS TOWARDS THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IN GHANA’S 4TH REPUBLIC
A PAPER PRESENTED TO THE WOLFSON COLLEGE PRESS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, JANUARY – MARCH 2006
BY STEPHEN SAH, DAILY GRAPHIC, ACCRA, GHANA
Pages
CONTENTS 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3
LIST OF ACRONYMS 4
CHAPTER ONE
1. Introduction 5
2. Objectives of study and methodology 5
3. Working Definitions 6
4. Conceptual/theoretical framework 7
CHAPTER TWO
5. Evolution of the media in Ghana 10
6. A diagnostic and historical account of corruption in Ghana 13
CHAPTER THREE
7. Presentation of data 16
8. Analysis of data 19
CHAPTER FOUR
9. The role of the media in combating corruption 25
10. Conclusion 27
11. References 29
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work has been the result of my 10-week press fellowship programme at the Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. It gives an insight into how corruption issues are given media coverage, especially in Ghana’s Fourth Republic. It also gives hints as to how the media can effectively combat corruption.
The text is based on analysis of newspaper contents and the review of some theoretical underpinnings of corruption. I must indicate that this work would not have been possible without the support of the Wolfson Press Fellowship Programme and in fact my sponsors, the Anglo American Plc. The contents are entirely my own views and do not expressly reflect the views of either the programme or my sponsors. Therefore, I am solely responsible for any shortcomings contained herein.
I acknowledge my enormous gratitude to Mrs Hillary Pennington, the Administrator of the programme for her indefatigable support and also making sure that my welfare became her concern.
To Prof John Naughton and Bill Kirkman, what else can I say but to thank you for the wonderful manner you treated the press fellows.
Last but not in the least, I am greatly indebted to my supervisor, Professor Christopher Clapham of the African Studies Centre, University of Cambridge for painstakingly supervising my project. To him I say that I have learnt a great deal.
I also appreciate the immense support and co-operation from my colleague press fellows namely Mr Michael Peel and Ms Lara Pawson, both from the UK and Mr Aziz Jan from Pakistan and also the house mates of Norton House, without whom life would have been boring.
LIST OF ACRONYMS
ADB Agricultural Development Bank
AFRC Armed Forces Revolutionary Council
CAGD Controller and Accountant General Department
CDRs Committee for the Defence of the Revolution
CEPS Customs Excise and Preventive Service
CHRAJ Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice
CIB Castle Information Bureau
CPI Corruption Perception Index
CPP Convention Peoples Party
FBI Federal Bureau of Investigations
GBC Ghana Broadcasting Corporation
GCB Ghana Commercial Bank
GES Ghana Education Service
GII Ghana Integrity Initiative
GJA Ghana Journalists Association
GNPC Ghana National Petroleum Corporation
HIPC Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
ID Identity Card
IFC International Financial Corporation
KMA Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly
MDAs Ministries Departments and Agencies
MDC Movement for Democratic Change
NDC National Democratic Congress
NLC National Liberation Council
NMC National Media Commission
NRC National Redemption Council
PDCs Peoples Defence Committees
PNDC Provisional National Defence Council
PNP Peoples National Party
NPP New Patriotic Party
SFO Serious Fraud Office
SMC Supreme Military Council
TI Transparency International
WDCs Workers Defence Committees
CHAPTER ONE
1. Introduction
This essay focuses on the Ghanaian press’ critical role of promoting good governance and controlling corruption to sustain Ghana’s fledging democracy. The responsibilities of the press include raising public awareness about corruption, its causes, consequences and possible remedies. It is importantly to point that the press does this by investigating and reporting incidences of corruption.
Backed with examples, this paper examines whether the media has successfully exposed corruption, prompted investigations by official bodies, and reinforced the work and legitimacy of both parliament or government and anti-corruption agencies. It will also give due consideration to how the media can be strengthened to fight the canker.
An examination of the problem of corruption, according to David Burnham (1977), shows that major sustained efforts to control it have almost always required an outside stimulus which is provided by the media. It is for this reason that this study is considered relevant in a country like Ghana.
This is more so because the press as a tool for development is advancing in its traditional role of entertaining, educating and informing the people on current topical issues to help them to make informed choices.
Corruption has accounted for the collapse of many democracies in the third world, particularly Africa with Ghana being no exception. In fact, the link between Third World underdevelopment and poverty on the one hand and corruption on the other has been widely acknowledged by development experts or theorists.
2. Objectives of study and methodology
The objective of this methodology is to produce a study of corruption in the Ghanaian media with a focus not only on the prevalence of corruption, but some of the legal and institutional structures and policies to combat it, if any, that have come from government after such reports. Specifically, this study sets out to find:
Whether there have been sufficient media exposures of corruption published in the past three months, the nature of these exposures and those involved?
Whether these exposures were serious attempts to root out corruption or not?
Whether there is any relationship between ownership of newspaper and the nature of stories carried,
What was the effect of these exposures with regard to public attitude, legislative reform, and/or judicial administrative action? and
5 How the press can effectively combat corruption in Ghana.
Basically, the research design draws upon a content analysis of five different newspaper sources, namely The Ghanaian Chronicle, Daily Graphic, Ghana Palaver, Daily Guide and Statesman over a three-month period from September to November 2005.
This was to provide a broad spectrum about the issue under study and also to avoid any biases. This is essential because the newspapers are perceived to be State-owned (Daily Graphic), pro-government (Statesman), and (Daily Guide), anti-government (Palaver), and neutral (Chronicle).
The selection of the newspapers was also done against the background that at the time of the study they were the highly patronized in terms of readership and circulation. In the case of the Graphic, for instance, it is also reputed to be very credible among the lot and the widely circulated.
3. Working definitions
Press refers to the conventional print medium of news presentation (newspapers) but throughout this paper the terms print media, papers, media and press will be used interchangeably to convey the same meaning.
Corruption is difficult to define and according to the collated works of the 7th International Anti-Corruption Confab (1996), whole papers have been devoted to this subject alone (Peters and Welch, 1978; Johnson, 1968; Gibbons, 1990; Heidenheimer, Johnson and Le Vive, 1990 and Gardiner, 1993). However writers analyzing the different definitions of corruption, for example (Scott, 1972; Peters and Welch, 1978; Malec and Gardiner, 1987; Dolan, McKeon and Carlson, 1988) have categorized definitions into three types: These are (1) Legal corruption and this is where one’s behaviour violates set down rules and political system; (2) Public interest corruption is the situation whereby corruption exists if public trust or good is betrayed and (3) Public opinion corruption is the situation whereby corruption is socially defined. Although some writers believe that these types do overlap rather than mutually exclusive this study will work within the framework of definitions provided by:
Transparency International – The abuse of power… behaviour on the part of officials in the public sector, whether politicians or civil servants, in which they improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves, or those close to them, by the misuse of the public power entrusted to them. This includes embezzlement of funds, theft of corporate or public property, bribery, extortion or influence peddling.
The Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime , Article 8 – The promise, offering or giving to a public official directly or indirectly of an undue advantage for the official himself or herself or another person or entity, in order that the official acts or refrains from acting in the exercise of their official duties.
4. Conceptual or theoretical framework
Concepts or theories are foundations for any human action and according to Ocquaye (2004), both in the physical and social sciences, cause and effect of human behaviour should have conceptual underpinnings. For this reason, various concepts that explain corruption would be examined.
In an introduction to ‘Corruption and Development in Africa’ that they edited, Hope, Sr, and Chikulo (2000) observed that although the incidence of corruption varies among African countries, ranging from rare (Bostwana) to widespread (Ghana) to systemic (Nigeria), the majority of the countries are in the range of widespread to systemic.
According to them, where it is rare, it is relatively easy to detect and control but at the other extreme the likelihood of detection and control is somewhat minimal as an incentive and further practices are put in place to perpetuate the system.
Available literatures on corruption have assigned various factors as being responsible for its pervasiveness whether in America, Asia or Africa. Fijnaut and Hubert (2002), Alatas (1990) and Hope, Sr, (2000), have cited socio-cultural and economic and political factors; Syed (1990), cited colonial rule, expansion in state activity managed by a rapidly increasing bureaucracy, the gift and kinship solidarity while Nkembe (2003), also cited poor remuneration to workers, rigid bureaucratic procedures and existing social networks as causes of corruption.
Syed (1968) further identifies poverty, absence of severe punitive measures, absence of environment conducive to anti-corrupt behaviour and the structure of government as the other underlying factors.
He argues that three phenomena namely bribery, extortion and nepotism and a common thread running through corruption is the subordination of public interest to private aims involving a violation of norms of duty and welfare accompanied by secrecy, betrayal, deception and a callous disregard for any consequence suffered by the public.
It must be stated that there is always more than one person involved in corruption which is carried out in secrecy except in situations where it is rampant. Syed further states that there is an element of mutual obligation and mutual benefit associated with corruption while those involved usually camouflage their activities by resorting to some form of justifications and avoid open clash with the law.
The Warioba Commission appointed by President Nkapa to investigate the ‘State of corruption’ in Tanzania also identified in the case of petty corruption that those who receive bribes do so as result of their meagre incomes and low standard of living - and what they receive only helps make ends meet.
In contrast, the report said the second type of corruption involve(s) high level leaders and public servants whose involvement is as a result of excessive greed for wealth accumulation and money.
According to Syed, colonial rule in India provided the vistas for corruption in the sense that the indigenous people popularly regarded cheating on the British government as patriotic and this had a carry-over effect after independence.
Probably this explanation relates to the nationalist activities in Ghana which precipitated the 1948 riots by the retired war veterans and even presently beliefs held by people that anything which belonged to the government literally has no owner and anybody can dip their hands into them.
Wraith and Simpkins were quoted by Shaidi (1975) to criticize the fact that colonialism could not be a factor for corruption since the colonial administration never won the affection of the people. To them, if that is the case then the people are supposed to be related to indigenous governments and not turn their backs to them.
Syed further states that the expansion of the state activity managed by a rapidly increasing bureaucracy in Asia did not make them distinguish between private and public duties and often between private and public resources. Because of this failure, he asserts that corruption developed.
Related to the above could be the fact that in developing countries, there is rapid increase in the number of civil servants because government has been the largest employer. By virtue of this, there is chronic low pay and this makes people to think that a second source of income is necessary.
This argument has been criticized and Shaidi (1975) states that low wages is out of the issue because presidents, managers and the like who rule their countries and enterprises would not have resorted to corruption while developed countries would not have experienced it because their citizens are relatively paid well.
Many people in Ghana, for instance, hold the view that corruption is rooted in culture in the form of gift-giving. Consider this scenario provided by Adomako Appiah Kusi, in an article to the Ghanaian Chronicle (2005-12-31) relating to gift and corruption “…For instance, a business person giving an excessive amount of money as a wedding gift to the son of one of the most influential government officials. His money was literally a wedding gift. However, shortly after the wedding, the business person informs this government dignitary indirectly that he needs a permit to expand his business. Gift or bribe? Formally, the money was a wedding gift, but, informally, it may be interpreted as a bribe for his business”.
He continues “Take also a tribunal chairman or judge transferred to a new duty station. He gets there on Friday afternoon and the next day, someone comes to his house and presents a fattened cow or sheep to him as a welcome gift. The first day he commences duty at the bench, there is a boy charged of stealing. Later in the course of the trial the judge realizes the boy is the son of the man who bestowed him his gift. Can the trial be fair? In an era where right and wrong appear to be relative it important that we know what is gift and bribery”.
Syed (1990) lends credence to this and said the gift and kinship solidarity in Asia was related to corruption. However, Maus (1967), who investigated the issue of gift-giving in various societies, said gift-giving had several aims – excluding the acquisition of wealth in the modern sense.
According to Maus, gift-giving was to establish good relations, to show one’s prestige, to meet religious requirements and to express various means of symbolic behaviour.
Gift is different from bribe but there is no doubt that there is the element of obligation involved and the meaning one could deduce from Maus’ is that gift wounds the receiver.
Hope, Sr, points out that socio-cultural norm may be difficult to grasp in African context since such norms remain very influential forces in day-to-day African life. He said they often determine, for example, who is appointed to jobs, who is promoted, who wins government contracts and so on.
In other words, he asserts that they have a great deal to do with the organization of life, in general, and they are a major source of nepotism and corruption in public life.
He quoted (Schleifer and Vishny, 1993; Mauro, 1995) to demonstrate that there is no
stigma attached to corruption and that an index of ethno linguistic fractionalization (social divisions along ethnic and linguistic lines) is correlated with corruption.
Alatas (1990) also argues that the influence of the extended family, and tribal or family loyalties and commitments, often lead to corruption. He posits that in African countries, there is the notion that people’s identification and relationship with the state and its institutions are much weaker than identification and relationship with the family.
To Alatas, nepotism may derive from age-old customs leading to the development of relationships based on ‘connections’, custom and power and may explain the aetiological connection between gift and bribe.
The next chapter gives a historical background of evolution of the media in Ghana and a diagnostic account of corruption since independence.
CHAPTER TWO
EVOLUTION OF THE MEDIA, A DIAGNOSITC AND HISTORICAL
ACCOUNT OF CORRUPTION IN GHANA.
This chapter attempts a historical background of the evolution of the press in Ghana vis-à-vis a diagnostic and a historical account of the nature and scale of corruption since Ghana’s independence in 1957 and the methods and remedies for combating corruption. The role of the press in fighting the canker in those periods is also essential for an understanding of the nature of the issue.
5. HOW THE MEDIA EVOLVED IN GHANA
This section is looking at the history of the press from the 19th Century to date. The evolution of the media in Ghana is as chequered as its political history because by the end of the 19th Century, according to Austin (1970), some 19 papers limited in circulation to a few hundred but of high standard of journalistic writing had existed at one time or another.
What accounted for this was that these papers were perceived to be radical against the colonial administrators or post colonial governments which saw the attacks on them as petrifying.
To muzzle the press, the colonial government had to pass the Book and Newspapers Registration Ordinance in 1889 to prevent newspapers from criticizing skewed and unpopular colonial policies. The ordinance sought to ensure the compulsory registration of all books and newspapers published or in publication at the time in the country.
Ghana’s first newspaper in the 19th Century was the Royal Gold Coast Gazette and Commercial Intelligence which appeared in hand written in 1822. It was, in fact, the official colonial paper set up by the first Governor to the Gold Coast, Charles McCarthy to serve as the mouthpiece of the then colonial authority.
However the first regular and African-owned newspaper which was wholly produced in the country was James Hutton Brew’s The Gold Coast Times (1874) and later his Western Echo (1885-1887) after which several other papers such as the Accra Herald (later West Africa Herald) (1857), Gold Coast Times (1884), and Gold Coast Methodist (1885) which also later became Gold Coast Methodist Times. Other papers at the time included Christian Messenger and Examiner and Christian Reporter. There was a paper in vernacular (Ga), Sika Nsona Sanegbalo meaning Gold Coast Storyteller or Gold Coast narrator of matters, Gold Coast Chronicle (1890), Gold Coast People (1891), Gold Coast Independent (1895) and a host of others.
According to Quartey-Jones (1974), conditions during this period were a mixture of successes and failures, with long lives and short ones among the newspapers. “One or two of these…lived for only one issue and then gave up the ghost after that mighty effort”, (Ibid, page 15).
The paper which blazed the trail during the early 20th Century was the Gold Cost Leader (1902) which lasted through the first three and significant decades of this century, each of which saw far-reaching changes in the political, social, economic and educational fortunes of the Gold Coast (Ibid, II, page 2).
Quartey-Jones further asserts that the period 1890 to 1930 could be called “a golden age in Gold Coast political leadership and journalism and the short span of 1930 and 1937 being the most turbulent and most exciting in the history of the Gold Coast press up to then”. There was also the Gold Coast Guardian, the Times (1931), Gold Coast Observer (1932), Ashanti Pioneer (1939), Ashanti Times (1947), Accra Evening News (1948), Daily Graphic (1950), and Daily Mail (1955).
The 1888 Newspaper Ordinance was modified later in 1950, 1952 and 1954 but virtually remained the same since journalists such as Namdzi Azikwe and Wallace Johnson were prosecuted under the amended Seditious Ordinance Law in 1936-1937.
It is important to note that the press’ contribution to the fight for independence was enormous because it propagated the people’s sentiments and that of politicians like Dr J.B. Danquah and others who used the press to push for self rule.
Realising the enormous power of the press, especially towards the independence struggle it was not for any reason that Dr Nkrumah, for instance, set up the Evening News to achieve or enhance his political ambitions.
Although there was no explicit legislation that guaranteed press freedom in Ghana after independence, the 1960 Republican Constitution under Article 13 (1) made a provision which related generally to freedom of religion or speech and to assembly. The 1969 constitution, however, introduced explicit provisions for press freedom under Article 22.
The 1979 constitution explicitly prohibited the enactment of any laws requiring licensing for publishing newspapers and introduced the Press Commission which was empowered to take measures to preserve press freedom, and protect journalists (particularly state-owned press) from external interference, among others.
In fact this was intended to or expected to bring to an end many years of governmental control of the state-owned media and remove restrictions over the independent press but this again whittled out after the overthrow of the democratically-elected People’s National Party (PNP) government under Dr Hilla Liman by Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings in December 1981.
After Rawlings’ December 1981 coup, the third republican constitution was suspended and the media suffered terrifyingly because of arrests and threats on journalists under the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regime. For instance, the Free Press, a newspaper which was critical of the flagrant human rights abuses by the government was closed down in 1983.
The operation of the press under the PNDC government according to Karikari (in Ninsin) was conditioned by the authoritarian political environment, the wide discretionary or interventionist powers of the office of the Secretary (Minister) for Information and the Newspaper Licensing Law (PNDCL 211) which gave legal backing to and systemized the arbitrariness inherent in the regime. A Castle Information Bureau (CIB) was also set up to combine oversight and elements of censorship and policing of the press (Ibid, 193).
Some journalists suffered at the hands of the PNDC government, notably Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Kweku Baako and others who were imprisoned at various times. There were also times that some newspapers had their offices vandalised and sprayed with human excreta because of their criticism of the regime.
Even under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, which is an offshoot of the PNDC, the media suffered considerably and that seriously impinged on its electoral defeat during the 2000 general elections. Journalists could be picked up from studios of television stations and locked up for just criticizing the government.
The NDC had an unterrupted two term in office as a government from 1992-2000 and during this period the media exposed most corrupt practices by officials in government leading to investigations and the subsequent issue of a government white paper, the recommendations of which were not heard of again.
Therefore, when the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which came to power on the back of the media took over the reins of government in 2000, it fulfilled its election promise and expunged from the statutes books the criminal libel law which tended to discourage press freedom and investigative journalism.
The 1992 constitution made provisions for press freedom and paved way for the creation of institutions such as the National Media Commission (NMC), which is tasked with improving upon performance of the media.
Karikari explains that the effect of the movement for political liberalisation on the position of the press was considerable and opened up the political space well enough for the press to function and although there was no comprehensive and reliable record on the number of newspapers and magazines licensed during 1990-93, about 34 of such existed between 1991 and 1993.
He said altogether about 40 such papers were published between 1991 and the November-December general elections of 1992. A further 15-20 newspaers, he said, were started from mid 1991 but later ceased operation.
It must be put on record that although the press enjoyed much freedom under the NPP government victims of press attacks regularly resorted to the courts to seek redress.This resulted in numerous libel suits against newspapers some of which suffered huge financial damages. Some of these, it was believed, were intended to collapse the papers involved because they could not pay the huge fines.
Maybe, this goes to reinforce the point by Ninsin that there is no government, if it gets the chance, would not control the mass media, and that it is up to the judiciary to be courageous and protect the public interest.
6. HISTORICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC ACCOUNT OF CORRUPTION IN GHANA
Corruption has repeatedly been cited by the country’s military as reason for seizing political power. Corruption has become an endemic problem in Ghana and has played a debilitating role in not denting the legitimacy of government but also retarding development, Asibuo (1991).
Indeed, all the military take-overs in Ghana had cited corruption in the form of nepotism, bribery, embezzlement and the abuse of office in both the public and private sectors of the economy as their main reasons for overthrowing democratically elected governments.
Ever since Ghana gained her independence there has been lots of talk and complaints about the problem of political and administrative corruption but press or media coverrage of it has been far from an easy task.
Le Vine (1975) said it remained undiminished six years after the collapse of the Nkrumah regime that the country’s leading newspapers and journals were still filled with reports of corruption and discussions of causes, effects, and cures; and the Busia government, which succeeded the National Liberation Council (NLC), appointed its own special commission to look into the problem in its broad aspects; and no week pased in which the Ghanaian officials at all levels of government, religious leaders and heads of other organisations, and various publicist… failed to discuss the matter of corruption andcaution or preach againsy it.
Succesive governments, whether military juntas or democratically elected, produced several allegations of grand corruption, theft of public property, cronyism and other illicit acts of governance against their predecessors. For instance, the NLC, after overthrowing the Nkrumah government in 1966, suspended developemnt projects, released political detainees and investigated acts of corruption in Nkrumah’s government.
The military’s image as a champion of public morality, according to Le Vine, however suffered one rather sharp setback after the coup when in April 1969 it was revealed that no less a person than the Chairman of the NLC, Gen Joseph Ankrah, had wittingly sanctioned a covert collection of moneys on his behalf for his own candidacy as president. An embarrassed NLC forced Gen Ankrah to resign and he was replaced by Brig. Gen. A . A . Afrifa.
The level of corruption in the state reached such alarming levels that the new NLC after several agitations had to be placed through national elections in 1969 which brought the Progress Party to power under the leadership of Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia. Busia’s government also suffered from the same accusations of corruption and was subsequently overthrown in another military coup in 1972 led by Colonel I.K.Acheampong as head of state.
Colonel Acheampong’s National Redemption Council (NRC) incurred the displeasure of Ghanaians prompting people including students to go on strikes and demonstrations. Facing imminent danger, Acheampong reacted by dissolving the NRC and replacing it with the Supreme Military Council (SMC). But that did not solve the problem and some of its members embarked upon a palace coup to throw out Colonel Acheampong’s SMC replacing it with SMC II..
In June 1979 Flt Lt J.J.Rawlings entered the political scene through yet another military junta to form the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Rawlings’ AFRC thought that corruption and graft were the major causes of Ghana’s economic and political crises and therefore provided the catalyst for the army mutiny of June 4,1979. Although the AFRC did not complete its ‘house cleaning’ mission it handed over power to a democratically elected government of Dr Hilla Liman’s PNP after elections held on June 18 that year.
Not satisfied with the turn of events in the country after handing over to Dr Liman, Rawlings accused the government of gross corruption and economic stagnation after overthrowing it on December 1981. That Ayee (1994) said was after corruption had got to a head with the national chairman of the PNP, Okutwer Bekoe, being implicated in a bribery scandal involving the receipt of moneys from South African sources.
This time Rawlings’ government, the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) when it took over, tasked itself to impose a new system of justice by establishing the People’s Defence Committees (PDCs) and Workers Defence Committees (WDCs) to check corruption. These instutitions were later renamed Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDRs) in order to bring them under some degree of control since they were getting out of control.
The PNDC, which metamorphosed into the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party and won the 1992 general elections constituted the Consultative Assembly to draw up the 1992 Constitution. The Constitution included a Code of Conduct for public officers to check widespread belief in corruption and official wrongdoing. Captured under chapter 24, the code covers conflict of interest, declaration of assets and liabilities, and an institution to handle complaints about contravention but there has been a problem with enforcement and implementation of the code up to date.
With the return to democratic rule in 1992, the NDC government repealed the Newspaper Licensing Law to pave way for the establishment of independednt media, most of who embarked on a campaign to eradicate corruption .
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO) were established in line with the 1992 Constitution to respectively handle issues relating to maladministration and malfeasance and the promotion of human rights and investigation of cases of financial loss to the state or any state organization and any organization in which the state has interest.
The NPP government, like all its predecessors also embarked upon a massive investigation of the NDC government some of whose functionaries were tried by the Fast Track Courts ( their establishment generated lots of opposition and litigation in the court) and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. A few others including Tsatsu Tsikata, former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), are still standing trial for allegedly causing financial loss to the state.
President Kufuor in July 2003 fulfilled his election promise of zero tolerance for corruption by setting up the Office of Accountability in the Presidency. The office was mandated to ensure accountable stewardship, honest and transparent service delivery and avoidance of any practices that could be perceived as corrupt.
However, the public and various anti-corruption agencies have accused the government of corruption and not making any serious attempts to address the problem. This, maybe, reached its apogee, especially when allegations and media reports became rife that President Kufuor had been engaged in a hotel purchase.
The Ghanaian media broke the strory in mid 2005 that President Kufuor was involved in that hotel deal. What generated the alleged scandal was that the hotel in question was situated or shared a boundary with the President’s private residence. Months later after the exposure, the Chief of Staff and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Kwadwo Mpiani denied in a statement to the media that the President had not sought to buy any hotel. Earlier, however, the Press Secretary to the President, Kwabena Agyepong had indicated that the acquisition of the hotel which was near the President’s private residence was intended for a hotel by Chief Kufuor, son of the President, as purely a private transaction.
The next chapter presents the data and their analysis.
CHAPTER THREE
This chapter is devoted to presentation of data. It is necessary to point out that the study focused on how corruption issues are reported by the Ghanaian media with a focus on selected newspapers namely Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Chronicle, Daily Guide, Palaver and Statesman for a three-month period from September to November 2005.
Basically there were no special criteria for selecting stories and therefore all stories relating to corruption were covered. Distinction was not made between general corruption cases such as comments on the issue by people, corruption reports from foreign countries and feature articles and specific corruption reports. These stories were mostly intended as commentaries and a comparison of the Ghanaian situation.
Other stories were used to make analysis of election results, especially bye-elections in which the ruling party lost.
There are also specific reports on alleged cases of individual corruption either by politicians or public office holders such as civil/public servants. Such reports are very likely to be most effective in controlling corruption because of their impact on the general reputation of those involved and their relations with political parties or their office. The implications of these shall be dealt with in my analysis.
The presentation is done according to the number of stories published with dates, the category within which the stories fall and nature, which I grouped as political, public/civil service, private sector and others.
7. PRESENTATION OF DATA
THE DAILY GRAPHIC
The Daily Graphic is published by Graphic Communications Group Ltd. which also publishes the Mirror, Graphic Sports, Graphic Showbiz and Junior Graphic. Graphic Communications Group Ltd. is Ghana's leading Newspaper Publisher. Although state-owned, the organization can be said to be independent of any governmental control and is not under government subvention. It has as a policy to propagate the views of the state and its development.
Graphic Communications Group Ltd. does not only publish Ghana's leading newspapers, it also publishes books, makes exercise books and labels for Ghanaian and foreign products.
Corruption stories published by Graphic according to dates:
September: 2, 5, 12, 17, 19, 27, 29, 30 = 8
October: 1, 11, 18, 19, 19, 20 = 6
November: 1, 1, 8, 14, 16 = 5
Total stories for period = 19
Category and nature of report:
Political: President Obasanjo submits to bribery probe; Auditor-General clears Addo-Kufuor, MP and Minister of Defence; President Mbeki on African Peer Review and corruption, CHRAJ says Report on President Kufuor’s alleged involvement in hotel purchase is ready; Ghanaian Speaker of Parliament urges African governments to deal with corruption.
Public/Civil service: 200 million cedis fraud exposed - GES official on the run; Parliament to summon MDAs before its Public Accounts Committee over the loss of 243.44 billion cedis; Five Forestry Commission officials fired for fraudulent deals; Three held over fraud at Controller and Accountant General Dept (CAGD); Return of 757 million cedis stolen from CAGD by an official; Another fraudulent deal of 702 million cedis exposed at CAGD; another 2.2 billion cedis scandal rocks CAGD ; more revelations at CAGD.
Private sector: Bank fraud of 130 million cedis involving a staff of the ADB; GCB staff in court for stealing money belonging to customers.
Others: A feature article on corruption and African development, story on worst corruption offenders in the world; panelists call for a ruthless approach to fighting corruption in Africa.
GHANAIAN CHRONICLE
The Ghanaian Chronicle is an independent newspaper set up by Nana Kofi Coomson, a renowned Ghanaian journalist. Published by Chronicle Media Limited this paper which comes out three times a week was set up to fight the wrongs in the society during the military regimes especially the PNDC and has greatly contributed immensely to the development of the Ghanaian economy. It has not diverted or changed its policy of fighting societal ills and is seen by many people as remaining neutral to its policy of non alignment.
Number of stories in September according to dates: 6, 7, 8, 14, 21 = 5
October: 7, 12, 19 = 3
November: 3, 8 = 2
Total: 10
Category and nature of report:
Political: Minister of Roads and Transport cited in loot at KMA; Minority Leader slams government on corruption; Minister of Defence cited in KMA loot; Western Regional Minister in 100 million cedis bribery scandal; Presidential aspirant says he would be brutal on corruption.
Public/Civil Service: Law School director probe told that 3.8 billion cedis HPIC cash paid for books not supplied; Illegal withdrawal of cheques at GBC;
Others: Transparency International report says corruption worsens in Ghana than Nigeria; Financial Times of London’s November report on corruption.
GHANA PALAVER
The Ghana Palaver is a bi-weekly newspaper published by Revalap Publishers and Suppliers Ltd. It used to be a pro-government newspaper during the NDC regime propagating the government’s policies. Currently it has shifted it paradigm to anti-government because the mantle of leadership has changed and its managers are out of power. It has been waging a crusade against the government in terms of its stories published.
Number of stories in September according to dates: 6-8, 9-12, 13-15 = 3
October: 7-10 = 1
November: nil
Total: 4
Category and nature of report:
Political: Sefwi Wiawso under - siege queen turns down 100 million cedis government bribe of; a front page commentary comparing Presidents Kufuor and Obasanjo on corruption; son of President Kufuor cited in another deal involving $38 million for a national ID project, and a bye election analysis linked to hardships and lies of ruling government.
DAILY GUIDE
The Daily Guide is an independent newspaper published by Western Publications Ltd and is related to a leading politician in the minority opposition CPP. However the paper has recently been seen as belonging to the right and devoting itself to promoting the policies of the ruling government. This can be explained by the fact that the politician even though belongs to the minority political parties has aligned himself with the ruling government. The paper seems to be breaking the front of the opposition especially the largest opposition NDC party.
Number of stories in September according to dates: 2, 28 = 2
October: 19, 28 = 2
November: Nil
Total: 4
Category and nature of report:
Political: Vice President not in deal; more Abacha loot found; Ghana stands still in corruption index; Kufuor cleared of dollar gift.
STATESMAN
The Statesman is an independent rightist newspaper published by Statesman Communication Company Ltd. When the current government assumed the reins of power it turned out to be a pro-government paper propagating its policies. It was owned by a prominent politician in the ruling government but it seems to be under a new management which holds the same policy as its predecessor. It is a bi-weekly newspaper.
Number of stories in September according to date: 1 = 1
October: 30 = 1
November: nil
Total: 2
Category and nature of report:
Political: $25 million internet fraud story involving Vice Presidents of Ghana and Nigeria and a US congressman; corruption is systemic but NPP is better- according to two reports.
8. ANALYSIS OF DATA
This section is devoted to the analysis of issues raised and which is common to either all of the newspapers or any of them. This will be done against the backdrop of the following objectives:
(1) Whether there have been sufficient media exposures of corruption
published in the past three months and what was the nature of these exposures and those involved?
(2) Were the stories serious attempts to root out corruption or not?
(3) What was the effect of these exposures with regard to public
attitude, legislative reform, and/or judicial administrative action?
Whether there is any relationship between ownership of newspaper
and the nature of stories carried.
The issue of whether there have been sufficient media exposure and the nature of the stories had been addressed already in the preceding chapter, therefore, what will be done in this section is to analyse the relationship between media ownership and the nature of stories carried. This is, of course, with recourse to issues which are either common to all the papers or some of them.
Furthermore, consideration will be given to whether the stories were serious attempts to root out corruption and the effect of the exposures with regard to public attitude, legislative reform, and or judicial administrative action.
The Chronicle and Palaver both reported on a similar story bordering on a chieftaincy issue in the Western Region of the Country. The Chronicle’s story (September 21, 2005) bore the headline “Minister in 100 million cedis bribery scandal - Western Regional Minister Joseph Boahene Aiddo accused. The paper reported that the queen of the Sefwi Wiawso Traditional Area was paid that bribe by the minister in order for her to rescind her decision to destool the paramount chief.
The Palaver also carried the same story ( September 9 – 12, 2005) under the headline “Sefwi Wiawso under siege- Queen turns down 100 million cedis government bribe and according to the story the Ashanti Regional Minister Mr S.K Boafo attempted to bribe the queen and the rest of the story did not have any bearing on the headline. The various papers sort of slanted their stories basically to link the chieftaincy issue to politics. This goes to explain how far politics has gone, especially when the area is considered to be an NDC stronghold.
Press reportage on the Transparency International Corruption Index was also reported by almost all the papers under study. The Chronicle report of October 9, 2005 was under the heading “Corruption, Ghana worsens and Nigeria improves” while the Daily Guide reported on the same day under the heading “Ghana stands still on corruption index”.
The Statesman carried the story in its issue of October 28-30, 2005 under the heading “Corruption is systemic but NPP is better – Two surveys show”.
The contents of all the stories were, in fact, the same except that the papers embellished them depending on their policy or allegiance to the government by using certain words and adjectives in contrast of the NDC government. This is where, maybe, the issue of ownership comes to play.
It was obvious that stories carried by the Chronicle, for instance, were basically political stories which were either against government officials or political figures in the opposition except two stories on the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) impasse of stolen money and the Committee of Enquiry into affairs of the former director of the Ghana School of Law.
In the case of the Palaver which is perceived to be the mouthpiece of the opposition NDC, the stories were very critical and hard hitting on the government and at times the contents of the stories had no bearings to the headlines.
It is indicative to know that the Daily Guide, perceived to be a pro-government paper did not report on any meaningful specific corruption stories and the few which were reported were actually limited to what I will term as ‘damage repair stories’ to debunk what had been written by the other papers. Typical examples go like“Veep not in $25 million deal” and “Kufuor cleared of $250,000 gift”.
These were stories linking the Vice President of Ghana; Alhaji Aliu Mahama to a business deal of $25 million with US Congressman William Jefferson and Nigerian Vice President Alhaji Abubarkar Atiku.
The Congressman led a delegation to Ghana in July 2005 with the promise to invest the money to establish a project to provide a super highway Internet services. The deal was reportedly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). The story was actually played down.
In the report on President Kufuor, he was alleged to have given a bribe of $25,000 to the Zimbabwean opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) when its leader Morgan Tsvangirai visited Ghana.
Daily Guide reported that the President had been cleared of the allegation just because the Minister of Information, Dan Botwe had taken exception to what it described as the reckless breach of professional ethics by media organizations which picked stories from the Internet.
The Statesman, also perceived to be the mouthpiece of the ruling government also did not engage in many corruption stories and its style was like the Daily Guide.
The state-owned Daily Graphic, however seemed to have engaged in more corruption exposures as it reported the highest number of specific cases during the period under study. In fact the majority of its stories related to corruption in the public/civil service with a few political corruption stories which were not specific exposures.
The rest of the stories related to the private sector as well as other general corruption stories or feature articles of corruption on Africa.
When the issue about the President’s acquisition of the hotel came up, for instance, the Graphic played it ‘diplomatic’ by not wading into the storm until later when there was the need to embarked on some ‘damage repair’ activities by giving prominent attention to some stories.
* Were the stories serious attempts to root out corruption or not?
*What was the effect of these exposures with regard to public attitude, legislative reform, and/or judicial administrative action?
Although corruption stories carried by the papers over the period fell under general and specific cases the specific cases constituted just a tip of the iceberg. But they created the awareness and heightened public sensitivity that corruption is rife in Ghana. They also sent the signal that something should be done about the canker and that is where the general stories came to play. The stories were recipe for early morning radio discussions across the country during which listeners contributed to phone-in programmes.
Ghana, according to Transparency International (TI), was ranked 65 amongst 159 voluntary countries which were included in its 2005 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) with a score of 3.5 out of 10, although a drop from the 2004 figure of 3.6.
According to the TI findings, the Ghanaian police and Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) were more corrupt than political parties and that the 10 most corrupt sectors with scores of five being exceedingly corrupt were police (4.7), CEPS (4.2), political parties (4.1), legal system/judiciary (3.8), utilities (telephone, electricity and water) (3.7), tax revenue agencies (3.7), education system (3.5), business/private sector (3.2), registry and permit service (3.1) and the media (3.1). And it was obvious from the report that corruption affects the political life than the business environment or respondents own life.
However an analysis of the TI corruption index vis-à-vis the media reportage on corruption seems to suggest a different picture because there was no such correlation in the stories published and the report.
What may account for this disparity could be the methodology and respondents used by the TI in its report; mainly the business community and investors who deal and relate directly with these institutions in their everyday activities. This argument is partially shared by Daniel Batidam, Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII); the local chapter of TI when he said the survey reflected the perceptions of business people, academia and risk analysts. The GII engages in advocacy and public awareness/education on anti-corruption and good governance. It also has a mutual relationship with the media.
Furthermore it can be said that the press basically tasked itself with exposing only political corruption to the detriment of petty corruption or corruption within the security services as revealed by the TI report.
This shortfall notwithstanding it can be said that the media stories on public corruption have been very helpful on the incidence of corruption. For instance as has been stated already it engenders public perceptions and actions and creates a forum for public discussions which somehow influences people’s choices in political participation, particularly general elections. Some Members of Parliament were believed to have lost their seats because of media allegations of corruption against them. During the last general elections, for instance, a NPP MP and Minister, Alhaji Moctar Bamba was believed to have lost because of serious media allegations of corruption against him. He was alleged to have engaged in illegal car deals among others. It must be noted that during his vetting by Parliament for ministerial position there were doubts about his academic credentials but he got the nod eventually. And so when the deals were uncovered the media and his political opponents used it to his disadvantage leading to his defeat in the parliamentary elections when he sought for re-election. This could also explain why maybe he was not appointed to any ministerial position the next time.
Because of the media stories on corruption the general perception had been that politicians are corrupt and that everybody enters politics to amass wealth. This has created a bad image for politicians who are perceived as caring only for their stomachs.
Most of the corrupt practices concerning public/civil servants were prosecuted but those which involved government functionaries have always been brushed aside, except political opponents, with the explanation that adequate evidence had not been provided. Former government functionaries were readily investigated and prosecuted for alleged corrupt practices committed while in office. This has been the trend throughout Ghana’s political history since independence. Political opponents have always been perceived as corrupt by their successors.
In most instances governments set up commissions to investigate their officials accused of corruption but nothing came out of that and particularly during the PNDC regime. For this reason many people find the Justice Abada Committee of Enquiry set up by the Attorney General to investigate allegations of wrongdoing on the part of the Director of the Ghana Law School, Mr Kweku Ansah-Asare as a face saving gimmick by the NPP government to find a scapegoat since serious allegations against ministers had been ignored by the President who asks anybody with any such allegations to go to the police to report them.
One then wonders the essence of the Office of Accountability set up by the President in the Presidency.
It is worthy to mention that at the time of writing this paper, the CHRAJ had begun hearing into allegations of corruption leveled against the Minister of Road, Dr Richard Anane when he was the Minister of Health. He is alleged to have caused financial loss to the state through some payments he made to his foreign wife.
President J.A. Kufuor, according to a story by the Daily Graphic had submitted himself to the CHRAJ for investigations into the allegation made against him over the use of state resources for private gain. Maybe this is an attempt by the President to save his name and that of his government in the face of statements attributed to him that his government was not corrupt and that corruption had been a time tested tradition since the time of Adam, the first man created by God. President
Kufuor was reported to have said that his government's policy of zero tolerance for corruption was not mere rhetoric and at the behest of CHRAJ he asked his lawyers to respond to questions raised by the Commission in respect of the allegation. In July 2005, CHRAJ announced it was investigating the matter to find out if undue process had been exerted in the acquisition of a hotel by the President's son, Chief Kufuor (cf Daily Graphic, 30/1.06).
In fact events preceding the national congress of the ruling party, especially revelations by the party Chairman, Harona Eseku, alluding to the taking of kickbacks to projects at the Presidency dealt a serious blow to the President’s slogan of zero tolerance for corruption coupled with the President’s own statement that anybody with information on corruption against his government must come up with the proof or hold their peace.
It is believed that the NPP Chairman who was contesting to retain his position at the recently held party congress would have lost if he had not withdrew from the contest at the last minute because he ‘opened’ his mouth unnecessarily too wide.
Politicians also try to use the media either to serve their people as well as exposing wrongdoing by their opponents or defending themselves with it. Journalists who expose wrongdoings and corruption on the part of some government officials have relied on rival politicians. When the government was about to contract a huge loan from the International Financial Corporation (IFC) the transaction was stopped when the opposition minority fed the media with information that the source was dubious.
It is for the reason that some politicians use the media to defend themselves that some of the stories which had not been used at all are later written to repair the damages caused by the other papers. Of course, some of the politicians also own some of these independent papers. Rumours have circulated in Ghana that there are even some journalists who are on the payroll of certain politicians and such journalists go all out to libel or malign their ‘masters’ opponents.
The media and anti-corruption agencies such as the CHRAJ, SFO and even the police have some kind of a mutual relationship in which the latter relied on the former for information and the former using the latter to send out information they want to get to the public. Maybe it for this reasons also that the media did not consider the police as a target of corruption.
To test the mandate of the SFO over the hotel Kufuor saga, for instance, the Daily Graphic interviewed the Office which stated that it had no mandate over the issue since the transaction was not financial loss to the state. “The mandate of the SFO is to investigate cases of fraud that caused financial loss to the state and agencies such as the police could take it up”, an Assistant Director of Investigations told the Graphic (cf Daily Graphic May 25, 2005 pg 1).
CHAPTER FOUR
9. The media’s role in curbing corruption
This chapter deals with how the media can effectively combat corruption. The media's role in curbing corruption is complex but this is not to say that the task is insurmountable. It is useful to look at many aspects of how the media works, media ownership, the pay of journalists, the newsroom budgets for investigative journalism, and also at bribery within the media.
The success of the media's anti-corruption work also depends largely on non-media developments such as embracing the existence of press freedom laws, fair and strong judges, courageous public prosecutors and the overall development of an environment that permits the media to serve as an effective public watchdog.
In an environment whereby the media is not free from governmental control and censorship it is difficult for media practitioners to do their work. People will fear for their lives in releasing information to journalists who will themselves be afraid to publish because of the repercussions. This aside the media should be relentless in their exposure of corruption because they are the most effective weapon to controlling the canker.
Ayittey (2000) said the media exposure of the problem is the most effective resolutions to fighting corruption in Africa. According to him, this is normally done through the media (newspapers, magazines, radio and TV), public for a (conferences, seminars, workshops and speeches), and by civil society. (That is the business of intellectuals, journalists, editors and writers. Maybe, the argument by Ayittey is given meaning by the Ghanaian proverb which literally translates that ‘if you make public your disease you are likely to find a suitable diagnosis’.
Exposing corruption will be impossible when there is censorship, brutal suppression of dissent, and state ownership or control of the media.
Ayittey, for instance, suggests that to solve the problem of corruption in Africa, the first step is to take the media out of the hands of corrupt and incompetent African governments. This is a far situation in Ghana.
Journalists who expose corrupt practices should not be the target of government officials and politicians. To make their work more fulfilling it should be incumbent on the public authorities to take up the issues raised and act upon them. Those which have ample basis for indictment should be pursued and the courts should also be fair and courageous in handling the cases to serve as deterrence to others.
In addition, it is required that the media is assisted in this task by the whole community since investigative reporting hinges on collaboration and as Terttu Utriainen, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Lapland, Finland says “When the media are working well to prevent corruption, they employ investigative journalism to reveal inequities, and violations and, in an educational sense, reinforce social values that reduce the incidence of corruption in government and business”. He argues that in making their case against corruption and trying to shape public opinion to pressure the government, the press relied on the opinions of community leaders, NGO heads, religious leaders and party officials, among others.
In order to allow for the free release of information and also to prevent speculations and sensationalism there is need for Whistle Blowing and Freedom of Information laws to be passed to check any abuses in the system and also to compel people to give out information. In this way, the interest of whistle blowers will be protected.
Anti-corruption agencies such as the police, SFO, CHRAJ and the judiciary, which assist the media to function effectively, should all be empowered in order for them to embark on their duties since that could not be left on the shoulders of the media alone. It is for this reason that one agrees with Bright Blewu, General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) that the government should expedite action on the passage of the Freedom to Information Act to facilitate public access to information about its activities.
Charity, it is argued, begins from home and for this reason media institutions should put their houses in order before tackling the issue of corruption in the society. Adequate budgetary allocations should be made available to journalists to enable them to embark on investigative journalism since it is an arduous task which requires a lot of time and resources for one to move on. It is only when this happens and budgets are made available in the news rooms for this purpose that journalists may resist the temptations of taking inducements or bribes to kill stories. Coupled with this should be a good pay and incentives packages for journalists.
The independent media has a crucial role to play as far as corruption is concerned and it is relevant that the independent media should be fair and not align themselves with any political party or figure. The situation whereby most journalists do not distinguish between politics and journalism and take very entrenched positions with various political parties is dangerous and will not augur well for the fight against corruption.
Amos Safo, Editor of the Public Agenda corroborates the point above when in an article on advocacy journalism he quoted Philip Meyer (2003) that in some countries, journalists have grown so close to their government and corporate sources that their reporting resembles a conversation among powerful insiders more than an effort to watch over government and business on behalf of citizens. According to Safo, Meyer adds that media consumers are often overwhelmed by the amount of information in the mainstream media; information which in many cases simply assault their senses but does little else. “Anyone could simply open the pages of some so-called newspapers such as The Ghanaian Democrat, the National Democrat, The Ghana Palaver, The Lens etc and the wisdom of Meyer’s argument would make sense”, he adds.
10. CONCLUSION
It must be pointed out that what the media publishes is not the truth and might be just a tip of the iceberg; it creates a lot of awareness and put to test the mandate of the various anti-corruption agencies prompting investigations by official agencies. This view is corroborated by Rick Stapenhurst that even if it usually does not result in the ouster of a public official or bureaucrat, hard-hitting reporting sometimes provides the initial seed that prompts official bodies to launch formal investigations of their own (World Bank Institute)
Sometimes too, he said, journalists stories can play critical role in reinforcing the effectiveness of the public anti-corruption bodies- even when the stories in question are not, strictly speaking, investigative reports that reveal wrongdoing of some kind.
In the case of Ghana, for instance, when the ‘hotel Kufuor’ issue came up the SFO stated that it did not have the mandate to investigate the matter. However, the CHRAJ took up the issue and in October the CHRAJ boss Ms Anna Bossman was reported to have told journalists that its initial report on the matter was ready and when finalized it would be made public (cf Daily Graphic October11, 2005).
While admitting that the Ghanaian media had done appreciably well by ensuring accountability some of the issues raised could be exaggerated and as the Ghanaian Chronicle, December 1, 2005 reported the General Secretary of the GJA, Bright Blewu, “wholeheartedly admitted that the way corruption issues continue to be splashed about in the media is sometimes agonizing”. According to him, it gave one a false sense of increased corruption in our society, and this might not necessarily be the case.
To him, the increased coverage of corruption may be a result of the freedom of speech and decriminalization of it. This role of the media is in line with not only the constitutional responsibility to hold governments accountable to the people, but also in response to public demand for transparency under the current political dispensation.
While it must be said that the press did appreciably well in their fight against corruption they lack adequate technical capacities. The private press has great prospects but quite a number of its outlets have a very weak production base and are therefore not able to give of their best. They are burdened with high cost of production and inadequate advertising. With the low level of the average Ghanaians purchasing power, publishers are not able to sell as many of their newspapers as they would like to and this has also accounted for why some of the newspapers have intermittent short span on the news shelves. Some also cannot come out regularly due to technical problems.
It was clear that the state-owned Daily Graphic did not carry many reports relating to specific political corruption and where it waded in the mud that was the result of follow-ups to sort of rest the matter. This is not to say that the paper operated under any pressure or influence from the executive. The paper did exceptionally well in exposing corruption in the public/civil service.
Since the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law in Ghana private papers had been courageous enough to expose corruption and because journalists cannot be sent to jail for any lapses, those people who think they had been maligned through libelous stories often resorted to the courts to seek exemplary damages which many of the papers involved found it difficult to pay.
In spite of that journalists should engage in serious advocacy journalism in order to improve the community’s capacity to act on the news. They should not be threatened and since they use a measure of good sense about what they report on their employers and superiors and even the public will support them.
Media institutions should always make financial commitment to enable investigative journalists embark on their work.
It will be important that the anti-corruption agencies and the government also act on corruption stories published by the media. Since corruption scandals frequently involve government procurement of goods and services anti-corruption reforms should not only aim at reducing malfeasance but also improve its efficiency of purchasing decisions. Although the passage of the Public Procurement Act and the Financial Administration Act is in the right direction they will have the needed bite to control corruption in the public sector if the government remained transparent in all official transactions. This will go along way to boost public trust and confidence in the government.
11. References:
Amnesty International (1996): Annual Report.
Asibuo, S.K, (1991): The role of anti-corruption agencies in the fight against corruption –The case of the Serious Fraud Office.
Ayee, J. R. A. (1994): A Decade of Public Accountability under the PNDC Government in Ghana, Research Review 10 (1 and 2).
Ayittey, G. B. N in: Hope, Sr, Kempe Ronald and Chikulo Bornwell. C. eds. (2000): Corruption and Development in Africa, Lessons from country case studies, Antony Rowe Ltd, Wiltshire.
Austin, Dennis (1970): Politics in Ghana 1946-1960, Oxford University Press, London
Burnham, David (1977): The role of the media in controlling corruption, Criminal Justice Centre Monograph # 3.
Cockcroft, Laurence (October 1998): Transparency International working paper, Berlin.
Cyril Fijnaut and Leo Huberts (2002): Corruption, Integrity and Law Enforcement, Kluwer Law International.
Hope, Sr, Kempe Ronald and Chikulo Bornwell C. eds (2000): Corruption and Development in Africa, Antony Rowe Ltd, Wiltshire
Johnston, Michael (2005): Syndromes of corruption: Wealth, power and democracy, Cambridge University Press
Jones-Quartey, K. A. B (1974): A summary history of the Ghana Press (1822-1960), The Ghana Information Services Department.
Karikari, Kwame: in Ninsin, Kwame A ed. (1998): Ghana: Transition to Democracy, CODESRIA Book Series
Le Vine, Victor (1975): Political corruption: The Ghana case, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, California.
Maus, Marcel (1967): The Gift translated by Ian Cunnison, W. W. Norton, NY.
Meyer P. (2003): Public Journalism and the Problem of Objectivity.
http://www.unc.edu/~pmeyer/ire95pj.htm
Ninsin, Kwame A. ed. (1998): Ghana: Transition to Democracy, CODESRIA Book Series
Nkembo, Edward Jorgrucs Kassanga (2003 MA Thesis), Corruption in the Public sector in Tanzania: An assessment of the government efforts against corruption under Nkapa regime
Ocquaye, Mike (2004): Politics in Ghana 1982 – 1992, Tornado publications, Accra.
Rose-Ackerman (1999): Corruption and Government- causes, consequences and reform, Cambridge University Press
Shaidi, Leonard Paul (1975): The problem of corruption in Tanzania, LLM theses to the University of Dar es Salaam.
Stapenhurst, Rick, (Internet material): The role of the media in curbing corruption, World Bank Institute working paper.
Syed Hussein Alatas (1968): The Sociology of corruption, the nature, function, causes and prevention of corruption, Donald Moore Press Ltd, Singapore.
Syed Hussein Alatas (1990): Corruption: Its nature, causes and functions, Gower Publishing Company Ltd, England.
United Nations (1988): International Bill of Human Rights (40th Anniversary Publication), New York
United Nations (1996): International Anti-Corruption Confab, Collected Works, Hong Qi Publishing House.
Warioba Commission (1996): Country Report on the State of Corruption in Tanzania,
Dar es Salaam.
PAGE 28
PAGE 1
A PAPER PRESENTED TO THE WOLFSON COLLEGE PRESS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, JANUARY – MARCH 2006
BY STEPHEN SAH, DAILY GRAPHIC, ACCRA, GHANA
Pages
CONTENTS 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3
LIST OF ACRONYMS 4
CHAPTER ONE
1. Introduction 5
2. Objectives of study and methodology 5
3. Working Definitions 6
4. Conceptual/theoretical framework 7
CHAPTER TWO
5. Evolution of the media in Ghana 10
6. A diagnostic and historical account of corruption in Ghana 13
CHAPTER THREE
7. Presentation of data 16
8. Analysis of data 19
CHAPTER FOUR
9. The role of the media in combating corruption 25
10. Conclusion 27
11. References 29
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work has been the result of my 10-week press fellowship programme at the Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. It gives an insight into how corruption issues are given media coverage, especially in Ghana’s Fourth Republic. It also gives hints as to how the media can effectively combat corruption.
The text is based on analysis of newspaper contents and the review of some theoretical underpinnings of corruption. I must indicate that this work would not have been possible without the support of the Wolfson Press Fellowship Programme and in fact my sponsors, the Anglo American Plc. The contents are entirely my own views and do not expressly reflect the views of either the programme or my sponsors. Therefore, I am solely responsible for any shortcomings contained herein.
I acknowledge my enormous gratitude to Mrs Hillary Pennington, the Administrator of the programme for her indefatigable support and also making sure that my welfare became her concern.
To Prof John Naughton and Bill Kirkman, what else can I say but to thank you for the wonderful manner you treated the press fellows.
Last but not in the least, I am greatly indebted to my supervisor, Professor Christopher Clapham of the African Studies Centre, University of Cambridge for painstakingly supervising my project. To him I say that I have learnt a great deal.
I also appreciate the immense support and co-operation from my colleague press fellows namely Mr Michael Peel and Ms Lara Pawson, both from the UK and Mr Aziz Jan from Pakistan and also the house mates of Norton House, without whom life would have been boring.
LIST OF ACRONYMS
ADB Agricultural Development Bank
AFRC Armed Forces Revolutionary Council
CAGD Controller and Accountant General Department
CDRs Committee for the Defence of the Revolution
CEPS Customs Excise and Preventive Service
CHRAJ Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice
CIB Castle Information Bureau
CPI Corruption Perception Index
CPP Convention Peoples Party
FBI Federal Bureau of Investigations
GBC Ghana Broadcasting Corporation
GCB Ghana Commercial Bank
GES Ghana Education Service
GII Ghana Integrity Initiative
GJA Ghana Journalists Association
GNPC Ghana National Petroleum Corporation
HIPC Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
ID Identity Card
IFC International Financial Corporation
KMA Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly
MDAs Ministries Departments and Agencies
MDC Movement for Democratic Change
NDC National Democratic Congress
NLC National Liberation Council
NMC National Media Commission
NRC National Redemption Council
PDCs Peoples Defence Committees
PNDC Provisional National Defence Council
PNP Peoples National Party
NPP New Patriotic Party
SFO Serious Fraud Office
SMC Supreme Military Council
TI Transparency International
WDCs Workers Defence Committees
CHAPTER ONE
1. Introduction
This essay focuses on the Ghanaian press’ critical role of promoting good governance and controlling corruption to sustain Ghana’s fledging democracy. The responsibilities of the press include raising public awareness about corruption, its causes, consequences and possible remedies. It is importantly to point that the press does this by investigating and reporting incidences of corruption.
Backed with examples, this paper examines whether the media has successfully exposed corruption, prompted investigations by official bodies, and reinforced the work and legitimacy of both parliament or government and anti-corruption agencies. It will also give due consideration to how the media can be strengthened to fight the canker.
An examination of the problem of corruption, according to David Burnham (1977), shows that major sustained efforts to control it have almost always required an outside stimulus which is provided by the media. It is for this reason that this study is considered relevant in a country like Ghana.
This is more so because the press as a tool for development is advancing in its traditional role of entertaining, educating and informing the people on current topical issues to help them to make informed choices.
Corruption has accounted for the collapse of many democracies in the third world, particularly Africa with Ghana being no exception. In fact, the link between Third World underdevelopment and poverty on the one hand and corruption on the other has been widely acknowledged by development experts or theorists.
2. Objectives of study and methodology
The objective of this methodology is to produce a study of corruption in the Ghanaian media with a focus not only on the prevalence of corruption, but some of the legal and institutional structures and policies to combat it, if any, that have come from government after such reports. Specifically, this study sets out to find:
Whether there have been sufficient media exposures of corruption published in the past three months, the nature of these exposures and those involved?
Whether these exposures were serious attempts to root out corruption or not?
Whether there is any relationship between ownership of newspaper and the nature of stories carried,
What was the effect of these exposures with regard to public attitude, legislative reform, and/or judicial administrative action? and
5 How the press can effectively combat corruption in Ghana.
Basically, the research design draws upon a content analysis of five different newspaper sources, namely The Ghanaian Chronicle, Daily Graphic, Ghana Palaver, Daily Guide and Statesman over a three-month period from September to November 2005.
This was to provide a broad spectrum about the issue under study and also to avoid any biases. This is essential because the newspapers are perceived to be State-owned (Daily Graphic), pro-government (Statesman), and (Daily Guide), anti-government (Palaver), and neutral (Chronicle).
The selection of the newspapers was also done against the background that at the time of the study they were the highly patronized in terms of readership and circulation. In the case of the Graphic, for instance, it is also reputed to be very credible among the lot and the widely circulated.
3. Working definitions
Press refers to the conventional print medium of news presentation (newspapers) but throughout this paper the terms print media, papers, media and press will be used interchangeably to convey the same meaning.
Corruption is difficult to define and according to the collated works of the 7th International Anti-Corruption Confab (1996), whole papers have been devoted to this subject alone (Peters and Welch, 1978; Johnson, 1968; Gibbons, 1990; Heidenheimer, Johnson and Le Vive, 1990 and Gardiner, 1993). However writers analyzing the different definitions of corruption, for example (Scott, 1972; Peters and Welch, 1978; Malec and Gardiner, 1987; Dolan, McKeon and Carlson, 1988) have categorized definitions into three types: These are (1) Legal corruption and this is where one’s behaviour violates set down rules and political system; (2) Public interest corruption is the situation whereby corruption exists if public trust or good is betrayed and (3) Public opinion corruption is the situation whereby corruption is socially defined. Although some writers believe that these types do overlap rather than mutually exclusive this study will work within the framework of definitions provided by:
Transparency International – The abuse of power… behaviour on the part of officials in the public sector, whether politicians or civil servants, in which they improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves, or those close to them, by the misuse of the public power entrusted to them. This includes embezzlement of funds, theft of corporate or public property, bribery, extortion or influence peddling.
The Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime , Article 8 – The promise, offering or giving to a public official directly or indirectly of an undue advantage for the official himself or herself or another person or entity, in order that the official acts or refrains from acting in the exercise of their official duties.
4. Conceptual or theoretical framework
Concepts or theories are foundations for any human action and according to Ocquaye (2004), both in the physical and social sciences, cause and effect of human behaviour should have conceptual underpinnings. For this reason, various concepts that explain corruption would be examined.
In an introduction to ‘Corruption and Development in Africa’ that they edited, Hope, Sr, and Chikulo (2000) observed that although the incidence of corruption varies among African countries, ranging from rare (Bostwana) to widespread (Ghana) to systemic (Nigeria), the majority of the countries are in the range of widespread to systemic.
According to them, where it is rare, it is relatively easy to detect and control but at the other extreme the likelihood of detection and control is somewhat minimal as an incentive and further practices are put in place to perpetuate the system.
Available literatures on corruption have assigned various factors as being responsible for its pervasiveness whether in America, Asia or Africa. Fijnaut and Hubert (2002), Alatas (1990) and Hope, Sr, (2000), have cited socio-cultural and economic and political factors; Syed (1990), cited colonial rule, expansion in state activity managed by a rapidly increasing bureaucracy, the gift and kinship solidarity while Nkembe (2003), also cited poor remuneration to workers, rigid bureaucratic procedures and existing social networks as causes of corruption.
Syed (1968) further identifies poverty, absence of severe punitive measures, absence of environment conducive to anti-corrupt behaviour and the structure of government as the other underlying factors.
He argues that three phenomena namely bribery, extortion and nepotism and a common thread running through corruption is the subordination of public interest to private aims involving a violation of norms of duty and welfare accompanied by secrecy, betrayal, deception and a callous disregard for any consequence suffered by the public.
It must be stated that there is always more than one person involved in corruption which is carried out in secrecy except in situations where it is rampant. Syed further states that there is an element of mutual obligation and mutual benefit associated with corruption while those involved usually camouflage their activities by resorting to some form of justifications and avoid open clash with the law.
The Warioba Commission appointed by President Nkapa to investigate the ‘State of corruption’ in Tanzania also identified in the case of petty corruption that those who receive bribes do so as result of their meagre incomes and low standard of living - and what they receive only helps make ends meet.
In contrast, the report said the second type of corruption involve(s) high level leaders and public servants whose involvement is as a result of excessive greed for wealth accumulation and money.
According to Syed, colonial rule in India provided the vistas for corruption in the sense that the indigenous people popularly regarded cheating on the British government as patriotic and this had a carry-over effect after independence.
Probably this explanation relates to the nationalist activities in Ghana which precipitated the 1948 riots by the retired war veterans and even presently beliefs held by people that anything which belonged to the government literally has no owner and anybody can dip their hands into them.
Wraith and Simpkins were quoted by Shaidi (1975) to criticize the fact that colonialism could not be a factor for corruption since the colonial administration never won the affection of the people. To them, if that is the case then the people are supposed to be related to indigenous governments and not turn their backs to them.
Syed further states that the expansion of the state activity managed by a rapidly increasing bureaucracy in Asia did not make them distinguish between private and public duties and often between private and public resources. Because of this failure, he asserts that corruption developed.
Related to the above could be the fact that in developing countries, there is rapid increase in the number of civil servants because government has been the largest employer. By virtue of this, there is chronic low pay and this makes people to think that a second source of income is necessary.
This argument has been criticized and Shaidi (1975) states that low wages is out of the issue because presidents, managers and the like who rule their countries and enterprises would not have resorted to corruption while developed countries would not have experienced it because their citizens are relatively paid well.
Many people in Ghana, for instance, hold the view that corruption is rooted in culture in the form of gift-giving. Consider this scenario provided by Adomako Appiah Kusi, in an article to the Ghanaian Chronicle (2005-12-31) relating to gift and corruption “…For instance, a business person giving an excessive amount of money as a wedding gift to the son of one of the most influential government officials. His money was literally a wedding gift. However, shortly after the wedding, the business person informs this government dignitary indirectly that he needs a permit to expand his business. Gift or bribe? Formally, the money was a wedding gift, but, informally, it may be interpreted as a bribe for his business”.
He continues “Take also a tribunal chairman or judge transferred to a new duty station. He gets there on Friday afternoon and the next day, someone comes to his house and presents a fattened cow or sheep to him as a welcome gift. The first day he commences duty at the bench, there is a boy charged of stealing. Later in the course of the trial the judge realizes the boy is the son of the man who bestowed him his gift. Can the trial be fair? In an era where right and wrong appear to be relative it important that we know what is gift and bribery”.
Syed (1990) lends credence to this and said the gift and kinship solidarity in Asia was related to corruption. However, Maus (1967), who investigated the issue of gift-giving in various societies, said gift-giving had several aims – excluding the acquisition of wealth in the modern sense.
According to Maus, gift-giving was to establish good relations, to show one’s prestige, to meet religious requirements and to express various means of symbolic behaviour.
Gift is different from bribe but there is no doubt that there is the element of obligation involved and the meaning one could deduce from Maus’ is that gift wounds the receiver.
Hope, Sr, points out that socio-cultural norm may be difficult to grasp in African context since such norms remain very influential forces in day-to-day African life. He said they often determine, for example, who is appointed to jobs, who is promoted, who wins government contracts and so on.
In other words, he asserts that they have a great deal to do with the organization of life, in general, and they are a major source of nepotism and corruption in public life.
He quoted (Schleifer and Vishny, 1993; Mauro, 1995) to demonstrate that there is no
stigma attached to corruption and that an index of ethno linguistic fractionalization (social divisions along ethnic and linguistic lines) is correlated with corruption.
Alatas (1990) also argues that the influence of the extended family, and tribal or family loyalties and commitments, often lead to corruption. He posits that in African countries, there is the notion that people’s identification and relationship with the state and its institutions are much weaker than identification and relationship with the family.
To Alatas, nepotism may derive from age-old customs leading to the development of relationships based on ‘connections’, custom and power and may explain the aetiological connection between gift and bribe.
The next chapter gives a historical background of evolution of the media in Ghana and a diagnostic account of corruption since independence.
CHAPTER TWO
EVOLUTION OF THE MEDIA, A DIAGNOSITC AND HISTORICAL
ACCOUNT OF CORRUPTION IN GHANA.
This chapter attempts a historical background of the evolution of the press in Ghana vis-à-vis a diagnostic and a historical account of the nature and scale of corruption since Ghana’s independence in 1957 and the methods and remedies for combating corruption. The role of the press in fighting the canker in those periods is also essential for an understanding of the nature of the issue.
5. HOW THE MEDIA EVOLVED IN GHANA
This section is looking at the history of the press from the 19th Century to date. The evolution of the media in Ghana is as chequered as its political history because by the end of the 19th Century, according to Austin (1970), some 19 papers limited in circulation to a few hundred but of high standard of journalistic writing had existed at one time or another.
What accounted for this was that these papers were perceived to be radical against the colonial administrators or post colonial governments which saw the attacks on them as petrifying.
To muzzle the press, the colonial government had to pass the Book and Newspapers Registration Ordinance in 1889 to prevent newspapers from criticizing skewed and unpopular colonial policies. The ordinance sought to ensure the compulsory registration of all books and newspapers published or in publication at the time in the country.
Ghana’s first newspaper in the 19th Century was the Royal Gold Coast Gazette and Commercial Intelligence which appeared in hand written in 1822. It was, in fact, the official colonial paper set up by the first Governor to the Gold Coast, Charles McCarthy to serve as the mouthpiece of the then colonial authority.
However the first regular and African-owned newspaper which was wholly produced in the country was James Hutton Brew’s The Gold Coast Times (1874) and later his Western Echo (1885-1887) after which several other papers such as the Accra Herald (later West Africa Herald) (1857), Gold Coast Times (1884), and Gold Coast Methodist (1885) which also later became Gold Coast Methodist Times. Other papers at the time included Christian Messenger and Examiner and Christian Reporter. There was a paper in vernacular (Ga), Sika Nsona Sanegbalo meaning Gold Coast Storyteller or Gold Coast narrator of matters, Gold Coast Chronicle (1890), Gold Coast People (1891), Gold Coast Independent (1895) and a host of others.
According to Quartey-Jones (1974), conditions during this period were a mixture of successes and failures, with long lives and short ones among the newspapers. “One or two of these…lived for only one issue and then gave up the ghost after that mighty effort”, (Ibid, page 15).
The paper which blazed the trail during the early 20th Century was the Gold Cost Leader (1902) which lasted through the first three and significant decades of this century, each of which saw far-reaching changes in the political, social, economic and educational fortunes of the Gold Coast (Ibid, II, page 2).
Quartey-Jones further asserts that the period 1890 to 1930 could be called “a golden age in Gold Coast political leadership and journalism and the short span of 1930 and 1937 being the most turbulent and most exciting in the history of the Gold Coast press up to then”. There was also the Gold Coast Guardian, the Times (1931), Gold Coast Observer (1932), Ashanti Pioneer (1939), Ashanti Times (1947), Accra Evening News (1948), Daily Graphic (1950), and Daily Mail (1955).
The 1888 Newspaper Ordinance was modified later in 1950, 1952 and 1954 but virtually remained the same since journalists such as Namdzi Azikwe and Wallace Johnson were prosecuted under the amended Seditious Ordinance Law in 1936-1937.
It is important to note that the press’ contribution to the fight for independence was enormous because it propagated the people’s sentiments and that of politicians like Dr J.B. Danquah and others who used the press to push for self rule.
Realising the enormous power of the press, especially towards the independence struggle it was not for any reason that Dr Nkrumah, for instance, set up the Evening News to achieve or enhance his political ambitions.
Although there was no explicit legislation that guaranteed press freedom in Ghana after independence, the 1960 Republican Constitution under Article 13 (1) made a provision which related generally to freedom of religion or speech and to assembly. The 1969 constitution, however, introduced explicit provisions for press freedom under Article 22.
The 1979 constitution explicitly prohibited the enactment of any laws requiring licensing for publishing newspapers and introduced the Press Commission which was empowered to take measures to preserve press freedom, and protect journalists (particularly state-owned press) from external interference, among others.
In fact this was intended to or expected to bring to an end many years of governmental control of the state-owned media and remove restrictions over the independent press but this again whittled out after the overthrow of the democratically-elected People’s National Party (PNP) government under Dr Hilla Liman by Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings in December 1981.
After Rawlings’ December 1981 coup, the third republican constitution was suspended and the media suffered terrifyingly because of arrests and threats on journalists under the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regime. For instance, the Free Press, a newspaper which was critical of the flagrant human rights abuses by the government was closed down in 1983.
The operation of the press under the PNDC government according to Karikari (in Ninsin) was conditioned by the authoritarian political environment, the wide discretionary or interventionist powers of the office of the Secretary (Minister) for Information and the Newspaper Licensing Law (PNDCL 211) which gave legal backing to and systemized the arbitrariness inherent in the regime. A Castle Information Bureau (CIB) was also set up to combine oversight and elements of censorship and policing of the press (Ibid, 193).
Some journalists suffered at the hands of the PNDC government, notably Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Kweku Baako and others who were imprisoned at various times. There were also times that some newspapers had their offices vandalised and sprayed with human excreta because of their criticism of the regime.
Even under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, which is an offshoot of the PNDC, the media suffered considerably and that seriously impinged on its electoral defeat during the 2000 general elections. Journalists could be picked up from studios of television stations and locked up for just criticizing the government.
The NDC had an unterrupted two term in office as a government from 1992-2000 and during this period the media exposed most corrupt practices by officials in government leading to investigations and the subsequent issue of a government white paper, the recommendations of which were not heard of again.
Therefore, when the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which came to power on the back of the media took over the reins of government in 2000, it fulfilled its election promise and expunged from the statutes books the criminal libel law which tended to discourage press freedom and investigative journalism.
The 1992 constitution made provisions for press freedom and paved way for the creation of institutions such as the National Media Commission (NMC), which is tasked with improving upon performance of the media.
Karikari explains that the effect of the movement for political liberalisation on the position of the press was considerable and opened up the political space well enough for the press to function and although there was no comprehensive and reliable record on the number of newspapers and magazines licensed during 1990-93, about 34 of such existed between 1991 and 1993.
He said altogether about 40 such papers were published between 1991 and the November-December general elections of 1992. A further 15-20 newspaers, he said, were started from mid 1991 but later ceased operation.
It must be put on record that although the press enjoyed much freedom under the NPP government victims of press attacks regularly resorted to the courts to seek redress.This resulted in numerous libel suits against newspapers some of which suffered huge financial damages. Some of these, it was believed, were intended to collapse the papers involved because they could not pay the huge fines.
Maybe, this goes to reinforce the point by Ninsin that there is no government, if it gets the chance, would not control the mass media, and that it is up to the judiciary to be courageous and protect the public interest.
6. HISTORICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC ACCOUNT OF CORRUPTION IN GHANA
Corruption has repeatedly been cited by the country’s military as reason for seizing political power. Corruption has become an endemic problem in Ghana and has played a debilitating role in not denting the legitimacy of government but also retarding development, Asibuo (1991).
Indeed, all the military take-overs in Ghana had cited corruption in the form of nepotism, bribery, embezzlement and the abuse of office in both the public and private sectors of the economy as their main reasons for overthrowing democratically elected governments.
Ever since Ghana gained her independence there has been lots of talk and complaints about the problem of political and administrative corruption but press or media coverrage of it has been far from an easy task.
Le Vine (1975) said it remained undiminished six years after the collapse of the Nkrumah regime that the country’s leading newspapers and journals were still filled with reports of corruption and discussions of causes, effects, and cures; and the Busia government, which succeeded the National Liberation Council (NLC), appointed its own special commission to look into the problem in its broad aspects; and no week pased in which the Ghanaian officials at all levels of government, religious leaders and heads of other organisations, and various publicist… failed to discuss the matter of corruption andcaution or preach againsy it.
Succesive governments, whether military juntas or democratically elected, produced several allegations of grand corruption, theft of public property, cronyism and other illicit acts of governance against their predecessors. For instance, the NLC, after overthrowing the Nkrumah government in 1966, suspended developemnt projects, released political detainees and investigated acts of corruption in Nkrumah’s government.
The military’s image as a champion of public morality, according to Le Vine, however suffered one rather sharp setback after the coup when in April 1969 it was revealed that no less a person than the Chairman of the NLC, Gen Joseph Ankrah, had wittingly sanctioned a covert collection of moneys on his behalf for his own candidacy as president. An embarrassed NLC forced Gen Ankrah to resign and he was replaced by Brig. Gen. A . A . Afrifa.
The level of corruption in the state reached such alarming levels that the new NLC after several agitations had to be placed through national elections in 1969 which brought the Progress Party to power under the leadership of Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia. Busia’s government also suffered from the same accusations of corruption and was subsequently overthrown in another military coup in 1972 led by Colonel I.K.Acheampong as head of state.
Colonel Acheampong’s National Redemption Council (NRC) incurred the displeasure of Ghanaians prompting people including students to go on strikes and demonstrations. Facing imminent danger, Acheampong reacted by dissolving the NRC and replacing it with the Supreme Military Council (SMC). But that did not solve the problem and some of its members embarked upon a palace coup to throw out Colonel Acheampong’s SMC replacing it with SMC II..
In June 1979 Flt Lt J.J.Rawlings entered the political scene through yet another military junta to form the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Rawlings’ AFRC thought that corruption and graft were the major causes of Ghana’s economic and political crises and therefore provided the catalyst for the army mutiny of June 4,1979. Although the AFRC did not complete its ‘house cleaning’ mission it handed over power to a democratically elected government of Dr Hilla Liman’s PNP after elections held on June 18 that year.
Not satisfied with the turn of events in the country after handing over to Dr Liman, Rawlings accused the government of gross corruption and economic stagnation after overthrowing it on December 1981. That Ayee (1994) said was after corruption had got to a head with the national chairman of the PNP, Okutwer Bekoe, being implicated in a bribery scandal involving the receipt of moneys from South African sources.
This time Rawlings’ government, the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) when it took over, tasked itself to impose a new system of justice by establishing the People’s Defence Committees (PDCs) and Workers Defence Committees (WDCs) to check corruption. These instutitions were later renamed Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDRs) in order to bring them under some degree of control since they were getting out of control.
The PNDC, which metamorphosed into the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party and won the 1992 general elections constituted the Consultative Assembly to draw up the 1992 Constitution. The Constitution included a Code of Conduct for public officers to check widespread belief in corruption and official wrongdoing. Captured under chapter 24, the code covers conflict of interest, declaration of assets and liabilities, and an institution to handle complaints about contravention but there has been a problem with enforcement and implementation of the code up to date.
With the return to democratic rule in 1992, the NDC government repealed the Newspaper Licensing Law to pave way for the establishment of independednt media, most of who embarked on a campaign to eradicate corruption .
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO) were established in line with the 1992 Constitution to respectively handle issues relating to maladministration and malfeasance and the promotion of human rights and investigation of cases of financial loss to the state or any state organization and any organization in which the state has interest.
The NPP government, like all its predecessors also embarked upon a massive investigation of the NDC government some of whose functionaries were tried by the Fast Track Courts ( their establishment generated lots of opposition and litigation in the court) and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. A few others including Tsatsu Tsikata, former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), are still standing trial for allegedly causing financial loss to the state.
President Kufuor in July 2003 fulfilled his election promise of zero tolerance for corruption by setting up the Office of Accountability in the Presidency. The office was mandated to ensure accountable stewardship, honest and transparent service delivery and avoidance of any practices that could be perceived as corrupt.
However, the public and various anti-corruption agencies have accused the government of corruption and not making any serious attempts to address the problem. This, maybe, reached its apogee, especially when allegations and media reports became rife that President Kufuor had been engaged in a hotel purchase.
The Ghanaian media broke the strory in mid 2005 that President Kufuor was involved in that hotel deal. What generated the alleged scandal was that the hotel in question was situated or shared a boundary with the President’s private residence. Months later after the exposure, the Chief of Staff and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Kwadwo Mpiani denied in a statement to the media that the President had not sought to buy any hotel. Earlier, however, the Press Secretary to the President, Kwabena Agyepong had indicated that the acquisition of the hotel which was near the President’s private residence was intended for a hotel by Chief Kufuor, son of the President, as purely a private transaction.
The next chapter presents the data and their analysis.
CHAPTER THREE
This chapter is devoted to presentation of data. It is necessary to point out that the study focused on how corruption issues are reported by the Ghanaian media with a focus on selected newspapers namely Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Chronicle, Daily Guide, Palaver and Statesman for a three-month period from September to November 2005.
Basically there were no special criteria for selecting stories and therefore all stories relating to corruption were covered. Distinction was not made between general corruption cases such as comments on the issue by people, corruption reports from foreign countries and feature articles and specific corruption reports. These stories were mostly intended as commentaries and a comparison of the Ghanaian situation.
Other stories were used to make analysis of election results, especially bye-elections in which the ruling party lost.
There are also specific reports on alleged cases of individual corruption either by politicians or public office holders such as civil/public servants. Such reports are very likely to be most effective in controlling corruption because of their impact on the general reputation of those involved and their relations with political parties or their office. The implications of these shall be dealt with in my analysis.
The presentation is done according to the number of stories published with dates, the category within which the stories fall and nature, which I grouped as political, public/civil service, private sector and others.
7. PRESENTATION OF DATA
THE DAILY GRAPHIC
The Daily Graphic is published by Graphic Communications Group Ltd. which also publishes the Mirror, Graphic Sports, Graphic Showbiz and Junior Graphic. Graphic Communications Group Ltd. is Ghana's leading Newspaper Publisher. Although state-owned, the organization can be said to be independent of any governmental control and is not under government subvention. It has as a policy to propagate the views of the state and its development.
Graphic Communications Group Ltd. does not only publish Ghana's leading newspapers, it also publishes books, makes exercise books and labels for Ghanaian and foreign products.
Corruption stories published by Graphic according to dates:
September: 2, 5, 12, 17, 19, 27, 29, 30 = 8
October: 1, 11, 18, 19, 19, 20 = 6
November: 1, 1, 8, 14, 16 = 5
Total stories for period = 19
Category and nature of report:
Political: President Obasanjo submits to bribery probe; Auditor-General clears Addo-Kufuor, MP and Minister of Defence; President Mbeki on African Peer Review and corruption, CHRAJ says Report on President Kufuor’s alleged involvement in hotel purchase is ready; Ghanaian Speaker of Parliament urges African governments to deal with corruption.
Public/Civil service: 200 million cedis fraud exposed - GES official on the run; Parliament to summon MDAs before its Public Accounts Committee over the loss of 243.44 billion cedis; Five Forestry Commission officials fired for fraudulent deals; Three held over fraud at Controller and Accountant General Dept (CAGD); Return of 757 million cedis stolen from CAGD by an official; Another fraudulent deal of 702 million cedis exposed at CAGD; another 2.2 billion cedis scandal rocks CAGD ; more revelations at CAGD.
Private sector: Bank fraud of 130 million cedis involving a staff of the ADB; GCB staff in court for stealing money belonging to customers.
Others: A feature article on corruption and African development, story on worst corruption offenders in the world; panelists call for a ruthless approach to fighting corruption in Africa.
GHANAIAN CHRONICLE
The Ghanaian Chronicle is an independent newspaper set up by Nana Kofi Coomson, a renowned Ghanaian journalist. Published by Chronicle Media Limited this paper which comes out three times a week was set up to fight the wrongs in the society during the military regimes especially the PNDC and has greatly contributed immensely to the development of the Ghanaian economy. It has not diverted or changed its policy of fighting societal ills and is seen by many people as remaining neutral to its policy of non alignment.
Number of stories in September according to dates: 6, 7, 8, 14, 21 = 5
October: 7, 12, 19 = 3
November: 3, 8 = 2
Total: 10
Category and nature of report:
Political: Minister of Roads and Transport cited in loot at KMA; Minority Leader slams government on corruption; Minister of Defence cited in KMA loot; Western Regional Minister in 100 million cedis bribery scandal; Presidential aspirant says he would be brutal on corruption.
Public/Civil Service: Law School director probe told that 3.8 billion cedis HPIC cash paid for books not supplied; Illegal withdrawal of cheques at GBC;
Others: Transparency International report says corruption worsens in Ghana than Nigeria; Financial Times of London’s November report on corruption.
GHANA PALAVER
The Ghana Palaver is a bi-weekly newspaper published by Revalap Publishers and Suppliers Ltd. It used to be a pro-government newspaper during the NDC regime propagating the government’s policies. Currently it has shifted it paradigm to anti-government because the mantle of leadership has changed and its managers are out of power. It has been waging a crusade against the government in terms of its stories published.
Number of stories in September according to dates: 6-8, 9-12, 13-15 = 3
October: 7-10 = 1
November: nil
Total: 4
Category and nature of report:
Political: Sefwi Wiawso under - siege queen turns down 100 million cedis government bribe of; a front page commentary comparing Presidents Kufuor and Obasanjo on corruption; son of President Kufuor cited in another deal involving $38 million for a national ID project, and a bye election analysis linked to hardships and lies of ruling government.
DAILY GUIDE
The Daily Guide is an independent newspaper published by Western Publications Ltd and is related to a leading politician in the minority opposition CPP. However the paper has recently been seen as belonging to the right and devoting itself to promoting the policies of the ruling government. This can be explained by the fact that the politician even though belongs to the minority political parties has aligned himself with the ruling government. The paper seems to be breaking the front of the opposition especially the largest opposition NDC party.
Number of stories in September according to dates: 2, 28 = 2
October: 19, 28 = 2
November: Nil
Total: 4
Category and nature of report:
Political: Vice President not in deal; more Abacha loot found; Ghana stands still in corruption index; Kufuor cleared of dollar gift.
STATESMAN
The Statesman is an independent rightist newspaper published by Statesman Communication Company Ltd. When the current government assumed the reins of power it turned out to be a pro-government paper propagating its policies. It was owned by a prominent politician in the ruling government but it seems to be under a new management which holds the same policy as its predecessor. It is a bi-weekly newspaper.
Number of stories in September according to date: 1 = 1
October: 30 = 1
November: nil
Total: 2
Category and nature of report:
Political: $25 million internet fraud story involving Vice Presidents of Ghana and Nigeria and a US congressman; corruption is systemic but NPP is better- according to two reports.
8. ANALYSIS OF DATA
This section is devoted to the analysis of issues raised and which is common to either all of the newspapers or any of them. This will be done against the backdrop of the following objectives:
(1) Whether there have been sufficient media exposures of corruption
published in the past three months and what was the nature of these exposures and those involved?
(2) Were the stories serious attempts to root out corruption or not?
(3) What was the effect of these exposures with regard to public
attitude, legislative reform, and/or judicial administrative action?
Whether there is any relationship between ownership of newspaper
and the nature of stories carried.
The issue of whether there have been sufficient media exposure and the nature of the stories had been addressed already in the preceding chapter, therefore, what will be done in this section is to analyse the relationship between media ownership and the nature of stories carried. This is, of course, with recourse to issues which are either common to all the papers or some of them.
Furthermore, consideration will be given to whether the stories were serious attempts to root out corruption and the effect of the exposures with regard to public attitude, legislative reform, and or judicial administrative action.
The Chronicle and Palaver both reported on a similar story bordering on a chieftaincy issue in the Western Region of the Country. The Chronicle’s story (September 21, 2005) bore the headline “Minister in 100 million cedis bribery scandal - Western Regional Minister Joseph Boahene Aiddo accused. The paper reported that the queen of the Sefwi Wiawso Traditional Area was paid that bribe by the minister in order for her to rescind her decision to destool the paramount chief.
The Palaver also carried the same story ( September 9 – 12, 2005) under the headline “Sefwi Wiawso under siege- Queen turns down 100 million cedis government bribe and according to the story the Ashanti Regional Minister Mr S.K Boafo attempted to bribe the queen and the rest of the story did not have any bearing on the headline. The various papers sort of slanted their stories basically to link the chieftaincy issue to politics. This goes to explain how far politics has gone, especially when the area is considered to be an NDC stronghold.
Press reportage on the Transparency International Corruption Index was also reported by almost all the papers under study. The Chronicle report of October 9, 2005 was under the heading “Corruption, Ghana worsens and Nigeria improves” while the Daily Guide reported on the same day under the heading “Ghana stands still on corruption index”.
The Statesman carried the story in its issue of October 28-30, 2005 under the heading “Corruption is systemic but NPP is better – Two surveys show”.
The contents of all the stories were, in fact, the same except that the papers embellished them depending on their policy or allegiance to the government by using certain words and adjectives in contrast of the NDC government. This is where, maybe, the issue of ownership comes to play.
It was obvious that stories carried by the Chronicle, for instance, were basically political stories which were either against government officials or political figures in the opposition except two stories on the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) impasse of stolen money and the Committee of Enquiry into affairs of the former director of the Ghana School of Law.
In the case of the Palaver which is perceived to be the mouthpiece of the opposition NDC, the stories were very critical and hard hitting on the government and at times the contents of the stories had no bearings to the headlines.
It is indicative to know that the Daily Guide, perceived to be a pro-government paper did not report on any meaningful specific corruption stories and the few which were reported were actually limited to what I will term as ‘damage repair stories’ to debunk what had been written by the other papers. Typical examples go like“Veep not in $25 million deal” and “Kufuor cleared of $250,000 gift”.
These were stories linking the Vice President of Ghana; Alhaji Aliu Mahama to a business deal of $25 million with US Congressman William Jefferson and Nigerian Vice President Alhaji Abubarkar Atiku.
The Congressman led a delegation to Ghana in July 2005 with the promise to invest the money to establish a project to provide a super highway Internet services. The deal was reportedly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). The story was actually played down.
In the report on President Kufuor, he was alleged to have given a bribe of $25,000 to the Zimbabwean opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) when its leader Morgan Tsvangirai visited Ghana.
Daily Guide reported that the President had been cleared of the allegation just because the Minister of Information, Dan Botwe had taken exception to what it described as the reckless breach of professional ethics by media organizations which picked stories from the Internet.
The Statesman, also perceived to be the mouthpiece of the ruling government also did not engage in many corruption stories and its style was like the Daily Guide.
The state-owned Daily Graphic, however seemed to have engaged in more corruption exposures as it reported the highest number of specific cases during the period under study. In fact the majority of its stories related to corruption in the public/civil service with a few political corruption stories which were not specific exposures.
The rest of the stories related to the private sector as well as other general corruption stories or feature articles of corruption on Africa.
When the issue about the President’s acquisition of the hotel came up, for instance, the Graphic played it ‘diplomatic’ by not wading into the storm until later when there was the need to embarked on some ‘damage repair’ activities by giving prominent attention to some stories.
* Were the stories serious attempts to root out corruption or not?
*What was the effect of these exposures with regard to public attitude, legislative reform, and/or judicial administrative action?
Although corruption stories carried by the papers over the period fell under general and specific cases the specific cases constituted just a tip of the iceberg. But they created the awareness and heightened public sensitivity that corruption is rife in Ghana. They also sent the signal that something should be done about the canker and that is where the general stories came to play. The stories were recipe for early morning radio discussions across the country during which listeners contributed to phone-in programmes.
Ghana, according to Transparency International (TI), was ranked 65 amongst 159 voluntary countries which were included in its 2005 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) with a score of 3.5 out of 10, although a drop from the 2004 figure of 3.6.
According to the TI findings, the Ghanaian police and Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) were more corrupt than political parties and that the 10 most corrupt sectors with scores of five being exceedingly corrupt were police (4.7), CEPS (4.2), political parties (4.1), legal system/judiciary (3.8), utilities (telephone, electricity and water) (3.7), tax revenue agencies (3.7), education system (3.5), business/private sector (3.2), registry and permit service (3.1) and the media (3.1). And it was obvious from the report that corruption affects the political life than the business environment or respondents own life.
However an analysis of the TI corruption index vis-à-vis the media reportage on corruption seems to suggest a different picture because there was no such correlation in the stories published and the report.
What may account for this disparity could be the methodology and respondents used by the TI in its report; mainly the business community and investors who deal and relate directly with these institutions in their everyday activities. This argument is partially shared by Daniel Batidam, Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII); the local chapter of TI when he said the survey reflected the perceptions of business people, academia and risk analysts. The GII engages in advocacy and public awareness/education on anti-corruption and good governance. It also has a mutual relationship with the media.
Furthermore it can be said that the press basically tasked itself with exposing only political corruption to the detriment of petty corruption or corruption within the security services as revealed by the TI report.
This shortfall notwithstanding it can be said that the media stories on public corruption have been very helpful on the incidence of corruption. For instance as has been stated already it engenders public perceptions and actions and creates a forum for public discussions which somehow influences people’s choices in political participation, particularly general elections. Some Members of Parliament were believed to have lost their seats because of media allegations of corruption against them. During the last general elections, for instance, a NPP MP and Minister, Alhaji Moctar Bamba was believed to have lost because of serious media allegations of corruption against him. He was alleged to have engaged in illegal car deals among others. It must be noted that during his vetting by Parliament for ministerial position there were doubts about his academic credentials but he got the nod eventually. And so when the deals were uncovered the media and his political opponents used it to his disadvantage leading to his defeat in the parliamentary elections when he sought for re-election. This could also explain why maybe he was not appointed to any ministerial position the next time.
Because of the media stories on corruption the general perception had been that politicians are corrupt and that everybody enters politics to amass wealth. This has created a bad image for politicians who are perceived as caring only for their stomachs.
Most of the corrupt practices concerning public/civil servants were prosecuted but those which involved government functionaries have always been brushed aside, except political opponents, with the explanation that adequate evidence had not been provided. Former government functionaries were readily investigated and prosecuted for alleged corrupt practices committed while in office. This has been the trend throughout Ghana’s political history since independence. Political opponents have always been perceived as corrupt by their successors.
In most instances governments set up commissions to investigate their officials accused of corruption but nothing came out of that and particularly during the PNDC regime. For this reason many people find the Justice Abada Committee of Enquiry set up by the Attorney General to investigate allegations of wrongdoing on the part of the Director of the Ghana Law School, Mr Kweku Ansah-Asare as a face saving gimmick by the NPP government to find a scapegoat since serious allegations against ministers had been ignored by the President who asks anybody with any such allegations to go to the police to report them.
One then wonders the essence of the Office of Accountability set up by the President in the Presidency.
It is worthy to mention that at the time of writing this paper, the CHRAJ had begun hearing into allegations of corruption leveled against the Minister of Road, Dr Richard Anane when he was the Minister of Health. He is alleged to have caused financial loss to the state through some payments he made to his foreign wife.
President J.A. Kufuor, according to a story by the Daily Graphic had submitted himself to the CHRAJ for investigations into the allegation made against him over the use of state resources for private gain. Maybe this is an attempt by the President to save his name and that of his government in the face of statements attributed to him that his government was not corrupt and that corruption had been a time tested tradition since the time of Adam, the first man created by God. President
Kufuor was reported to have said that his government's policy of zero tolerance for corruption was not mere rhetoric and at the behest of CHRAJ he asked his lawyers to respond to questions raised by the Commission in respect of the allegation. In July 2005, CHRAJ announced it was investigating the matter to find out if undue process had been exerted in the acquisition of a hotel by the President's son, Chief Kufuor (cf Daily Graphic, 30/1.06).
In fact events preceding the national congress of the ruling party, especially revelations by the party Chairman, Harona Eseku, alluding to the taking of kickbacks to projects at the Presidency dealt a serious blow to the President’s slogan of zero tolerance for corruption coupled with the President’s own statement that anybody with information on corruption against his government must come up with the proof or hold their peace.
It is believed that the NPP Chairman who was contesting to retain his position at the recently held party congress would have lost if he had not withdrew from the contest at the last minute because he ‘opened’ his mouth unnecessarily too wide.
Politicians also try to use the media either to serve their people as well as exposing wrongdoing by their opponents or defending themselves with it. Journalists who expose wrongdoings and corruption on the part of some government officials have relied on rival politicians. When the government was about to contract a huge loan from the International Financial Corporation (IFC) the transaction was stopped when the opposition minority fed the media with information that the source was dubious.
It is for the reason that some politicians use the media to defend themselves that some of the stories which had not been used at all are later written to repair the damages caused by the other papers. Of course, some of the politicians also own some of these independent papers. Rumours have circulated in Ghana that there are even some journalists who are on the payroll of certain politicians and such journalists go all out to libel or malign their ‘masters’ opponents.
The media and anti-corruption agencies such as the CHRAJ, SFO and even the police have some kind of a mutual relationship in which the latter relied on the former for information and the former using the latter to send out information they want to get to the public. Maybe it for this reasons also that the media did not consider the police as a target of corruption.
To test the mandate of the SFO over the hotel Kufuor saga, for instance, the Daily Graphic interviewed the Office which stated that it had no mandate over the issue since the transaction was not financial loss to the state. “The mandate of the SFO is to investigate cases of fraud that caused financial loss to the state and agencies such as the police could take it up”, an Assistant Director of Investigations told the Graphic (cf Daily Graphic May 25, 2005 pg 1).
CHAPTER FOUR
9. The media’s role in curbing corruption
This chapter deals with how the media can effectively combat corruption. The media's role in curbing corruption is complex but this is not to say that the task is insurmountable. It is useful to look at many aspects of how the media works, media ownership, the pay of journalists, the newsroom budgets for investigative journalism, and also at bribery within the media.
The success of the media's anti-corruption work also depends largely on non-media developments such as embracing the existence of press freedom laws, fair and strong judges, courageous public prosecutors and the overall development of an environment that permits the media to serve as an effective public watchdog.
In an environment whereby the media is not free from governmental control and censorship it is difficult for media practitioners to do their work. People will fear for their lives in releasing information to journalists who will themselves be afraid to publish because of the repercussions. This aside the media should be relentless in their exposure of corruption because they are the most effective weapon to controlling the canker.
Ayittey (2000) said the media exposure of the problem is the most effective resolutions to fighting corruption in Africa. According to him, this is normally done through the media (newspapers, magazines, radio and TV), public for a (conferences, seminars, workshops and speeches), and by civil society. (That is the business of intellectuals, journalists, editors and writers. Maybe, the argument by Ayittey is given meaning by the Ghanaian proverb which literally translates that ‘if you make public your disease you are likely to find a suitable diagnosis’.
Exposing corruption will be impossible when there is censorship, brutal suppression of dissent, and state ownership or control of the media.
Ayittey, for instance, suggests that to solve the problem of corruption in Africa, the first step is to take the media out of the hands of corrupt and incompetent African governments. This is a far situation in Ghana.
Journalists who expose corrupt practices should not be the target of government officials and politicians. To make their work more fulfilling it should be incumbent on the public authorities to take up the issues raised and act upon them. Those which have ample basis for indictment should be pursued and the courts should also be fair and courageous in handling the cases to serve as deterrence to others.
In addition, it is required that the media is assisted in this task by the whole community since investigative reporting hinges on collaboration and as Terttu Utriainen, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Lapland, Finland says “When the media are working well to prevent corruption, they employ investigative journalism to reveal inequities, and violations and, in an educational sense, reinforce social values that reduce the incidence of corruption in government and business”. He argues that in making their case against corruption and trying to shape public opinion to pressure the government, the press relied on the opinions of community leaders, NGO heads, religious leaders and party officials, among others.
In order to allow for the free release of information and also to prevent speculations and sensationalism there is need for Whistle Blowing and Freedom of Information laws to be passed to check any abuses in the system and also to compel people to give out information. In this way, the interest of whistle blowers will be protected.
Anti-corruption agencies such as the police, SFO, CHRAJ and the judiciary, which assist the media to function effectively, should all be empowered in order for them to embark on their duties since that could not be left on the shoulders of the media alone. It is for this reason that one agrees with Bright Blewu, General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) that the government should expedite action on the passage of the Freedom to Information Act to facilitate public access to information about its activities.
Charity, it is argued, begins from home and for this reason media institutions should put their houses in order before tackling the issue of corruption in the society. Adequate budgetary allocations should be made available to journalists to enable them to embark on investigative journalism since it is an arduous task which requires a lot of time and resources for one to move on. It is only when this happens and budgets are made available in the news rooms for this purpose that journalists may resist the temptations of taking inducements or bribes to kill stories. Coupled with this should be a good pay and incentives packages for journalists.
The independent media has a crucial role to play as far as corruption is concerned and it is relevant that the independent media should be fair and not align themselves with any political party or figure. The situation whereby most journalists do not distinguish between politics and journalism and take very entrenched positions with various political parties is dangerous and will not augur well for the fight against corruption.
Amos Safo, Editor of the Public Agenda corroborates the point above when in an article on advocacy journalism he quoted Philip Meyer (2003) that in some countries, journalists have grown so close to their government and corporate sources that their reporting resembles a conversation among powerful insiders more than an effort to watch over government and business on behalf of citizens. According to Safo, Meyer adds that media consumers are often overwhelmed by the amount of information in the mainstream media; information which in many cases simply assault their senses but does little else. “Anyone could simply open the pages of some so-called newspapers such as The Ghanaian Democrat, the National Democrat, The Ghana Palaver, The Lens etc and the wisdom of Meyer’s argument would make sense”, he adds.
10. CONCLUSION
It must be pointed out that what the media publishes is not the truth and might be just a tip of the iceberg; it creates a lot of awareness and put to test the mandate of the various anti-corruption agencies prompting investigations by official agencies. This view is corroborated by Rick Stapenhurst that even if it usually does not result in the ouster of a public official or bureaucrat, hard-hitting reporting sometimes provides the initial seed that prompts official bodies to launch formal investigations of their own (World Bank Institute)
Sometimes too, he said, journalists stories can play critical role in reinforcing the effectiveness of the public anti-corruption bodies- even when the stories in question are not, strictly speaking, investigative reports that reveal wrongdoing of some kind.
In the case of Ghana, for instance, when the ‘hotel Kufuor’ issue came up the SFO stated that it did not have the mandate to investigate the matter. However, the CHRAJ took up the issue and in October the CHRAJ boss Ms Anna Bossman was reported to have told journalists that its initial report on the matter was ready and when finalized it would be made public (cf Daily Graphic October11, 2005).
While admitting that the Ghanaian media had done appreciably well by ensuring accountability some of the issues raised could be exaggerated and as the Ghanaian Chronicle, December 1, 2005 reported the General Secretary of the GJA, Bright Blewu, “wholeheartedly admitted that the way corruption issues continue to be splashed about in the media is sometimes agonizing”. According to him, it gave one a false sense of increased corruption in our society, and this might not necessarily be the case.
To him, the increased coverage of corruption may be a result of the freedom of speech and decriminalization of it. This role of the media is in line with not only the constitutional responsibility to hold governments accountable to the people, but also in response to public demand for transparency under the current political dispensation.
While it must be said that the press did appreciably well in their fight against corruption they lack adequate technical capacities. The private press has great prospects but quite a number of its outlets have a very weak production base and are therefore not able to give of their best. They are burdened with high cost of production and inadequate advertising. With the low level of the average Ghanaians purchasing power, publishers are not able to sell as many of their newspapers as they would like to and this has also accounted for why some of the newspapers have intermittent short span on the news shelves. Some also cannot come out regularly due to technical problems.
It was clear that the state-owned Daily Graphic did not carry many reports relating to specific political corruption and where it waded in the mud that was the result of follow-ups to sort of rest the matter. This is not to say that the paper operated under any pressure or influence from the executive. The paper did exceptionally well in exposing corruption in the public/civil service.
Since the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law in Ghana private papers had been courageous enough to expose corruption and because journalists cannot be sent to jail for any lapses, those people who think they had been maligned through libelous stories often resorted to the courts to seek exemplary damages which many of the papers involved found it difficult to pay.
In spite of that journalists should engage in serious advocacy journalism in order to improve the community’s capacity to act on the news. They should not be threatened and since they use a measure of good sense about what they report on their employers and superiors and even the public will support them.
Media institutions should always make financial commitment to enable investigative journalists embark on their work.
It will be important that the anti-corruption agencies and the government also act on corruption stories published by the media. Since corruption scandals frequently involve government procurement of goods and services anti-corruption reforms should not only aim at reducing malfeasance but also improve its efficiency of purchasing decisions. Although the passage of the Public Procurement Act and the Financial Administration Act is in the right direction they will have the needed bite to control corruption in the public sector if the government remained transparent in all official transactions. This will go along way to boost public trust and confidence in the government.
11. References:
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