Story: Kofi Yeboah
A POLICEMAN in uniform and wielding an AK47 rifle was caught in the web of ‘sakawa’ last Wednesday when he and two civilians were arrested for allegedly defrauding a Namibian of $7,900.
The policeman and his civilian accomplices were in the process of collecting another $29,000 from the victim to be used to pay taxes on a so-called $30-million facility which they claimed he could access after the payment of the “taxes” when the police arrested them.
The three suspects managed to lure their victim to Ghana with the intention of defrauding him in a ‘sakawa’ scam that has become notorious in the country recently.
The victim possessed documents, including letterheads bearing the Ghana Coat of Arms, indicating correspondence between him and the suspects through the Internet.
After the victim had arrived in the country, the suspects collected the his passport from him but he declined a hotel accommodation offered by his hosts and arranged for an alternative accommodation.
Later at a meeting with the Namibian, the suspects succeeded in collecting $7,900 from him as part of the tax obligation needed to redeem the $30-million facility.
Subsequently, they attempted to relocate the victim to another hotel, while trying to collect another $29,000 from him, but he became worried when they refused to give his passport back to him.
The Namibian then discussed the issue with the hotel manager who, smelling something fraudulent, asked the victim to feign interest, while they contacted the police.
Following the discussion with the hotel manager, the Namibian informed his hosts that he would need his passport to enable him to check out of the hotel.
So on Wednesday, while the suspects had gone to the hotel to evacuate their guest, police officers in plain clothes swooped on them to effect their arrest.
At the time of their arrest, the policeman involved was waiting in a vehicle they had brought to convey the victim and, according to sources, there was a struggle between the plain cloth policemen and the police suspect as he attempted to resist arrest.
Sources at the CID Headquarters in Accra confirmed the arrest of the three suspects but would not give further details, particularly their identity.
Friday, May 29, 2009
GHANA A SUSPICIOUS CYBER ZONE (Back page) 29-05-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
GHANA has been tagged a suspicious cyber zone in international business transactions as a result of the negative impact of cyber fraud in the country.
As a result, international business transactions involving Ghana are attracting close scrutiny because of the increasing incidents of cyber fraud, popularly called ‘sakawa’.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Felix Mawusi of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service made this known in Accra yesterday at a news conference organised by the Ghana Internet Service Providers Association (GISPA) to address some concerns in the industry.
Statistics indicate that cyber fraud in Ghana is becoming alarming, with the rate increasing from 1.2 per cent in 2005 to 2.4 per cent in 2008, compared to Nigeria, a country that gained notoriety with the phenomenon, where the rate of the crime has decreased from about eight per cent to about five per cent within the period.
DSP Mawusi, who is the second in command at the Commercial Crime Unit of the CID, said cyber crime was a challenge to the nation’s future in view of the involvement of the youth, who are the future leaders.
He said cyber criminals were now moving their operations away from Internet cafes to their personal Internet connectivity, thereby reducing the risk of arrest.
He said the police were trying to device new strategies to deal with the new modus operandi of cyber criminals.
While admitting that the police had a lot of challenges with respect to logistics in dealing with the menace, he said they were doing their best to combat the crime.
The President of GISPA, Mr Richard Hlomadhor, said the association had put in place a 90-day intervention plan to clean up the system of cyber crime.
He said it involved collaboration with the police to track people who used the Internet to engage in criminal activities by monitoring the transactions of suspects.
In line with the anti-cyber crime initiative, the GISPA intended to launch a special programme that would enable Internet cafe attendants to regulate the sites that Internet users could visit, he said.
A former President of GISPA, Mr Ato Sarpong, said the increasing rate of cyber crime posed a major threat to national security and the e-governance initiatives of the government.
He said if the situation was not addressed, the nation would gradually be witnessing what he described as cyber terrorism and a very corrupt society.
He called on the government, Internet service providers, the media and all individuals to wage a united crusade against the phenomenon.
He said the Ministry of Communications, Internet service providers and the police were preparing for a major stakeholders’ forum to address the issue but stressed the need for a proper legal framework to fight the crime.
Mr Sarpong said Internet service providers made a huge contribution to the nation’s economy in respect of the payment of income tax, corporate tax and customs duties, as well as job creation.
GHANA has been tagged a suspicious cyber zone in international business transactions as a result of the negative impact of cyber fraud in the country.
As a result, international business transactions involving Ghana are attracting close scrutiny because of the increasing incidents of cyber fraud, popularly called ‘sakawa’.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Felix Mawusi of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service made this known in Accra yesterday at a news conference organised by the Ghana Internet Service Providers Association (GISPA) to address some concerns in the industry.
Statistics indicate that cyber fraud in Ghana is becoming alarming, with the rate increasing from 1.2 per cent in 2005 to 2.4 per cent in 2008, compared to Nigeria, a country that gained notoriety with the phenomenon, where the rate of the crime has decreased from about eight per cent to about five per cent within the period.
DSP Mawusi, who is the second in command at the Commercial Crime Unit of the CID, said cyber crime was a challenge to the nation’s future in view of the involvement of the youth, who are the future leaders.
He said cyber criminals were now moving their operations away from Internet cafes to their personal Internet connectivity, thereby reducing the risk of arrest.
He said the police were trying to device new strategies to deal with the new modus operandi of cyber criminals.
While admitting that the police had a lot of challenges with respect to logistics in dealing with the menace, he said they were doing their best to combat the crime.
The President of GISPA, Mr Richard Hlomadhor, said the association had put in place a 90-day intervention plan to clean up the system of cyber crime.
He said it involved collaboration with the police to track people who used the Internet to engage in criminal activities by monitoring the transactions of suspects.
In line with the anti-cyber crime initiative, the GISPA intended to launch a special programme that would enable Internet cafe attendants to regulate the sites that Internet users could visit, he said.
A former President of GISPA, Mr Ato Sarpong, said the increasing rate of cyber crime posed a major threat to national security and the e-governance initiatives of the government.
He said if the situation was not addressed, the nation would gradually be witnessing what he described as cyber terrorism and a very corrupt society.
He called on the government, Internet service providers, the media and all individuals to wage a united crusade against the phenomenon.
He said the Ministry of Communications, Internet service providers and the police were preparing for a major stakeholders’ forum to address the issue but stressed the need for a proper legal framework to fight the crime.
Mr Sarpong said Internet service providers made a huge contribution to the nation’s economy in respect of the payment of income tax, corporate tax and customs duties, as well as job creation.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
EX-SPEAKER'S ORDEAL - BIG LESSON FOR ALL (Front page) 28-05-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah & Caroline Boateng
LEADING members of the clergy and anti-corruption campaigners in the country have called on Parliament to learn from the experience of the former Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi Hughes, and have a policy on the entitlements of leaders of the House crafted.
They said this would help avoid the recurrence of such an incident.
They said the saga had brought the high office of Speaker of Parliament into disrepute and there was the need to redeem the image of the office, which is the third highest of the land after the President and the Vice President.
Those who shared their views with the Daily Graphic in separate interviews were the Catholic Bishop of Cape Coast, Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson, the acting Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ms Anna Bossman, the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev Dr Fred Deegbe, the Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Mr Vitus Azeem, and a lecturer at the Department of Sociology of the University of Cape Coast, Mr Joseph Kingsley Adjei.
The Parliamentary Service Board (PSB) last Tuesday gave a week’s ultimatum to Mr Hughes to return all items he took away from his official residence upon leaving office.
The directive followed a meeting convened by the leadership of Parliament to consider his response to an earlier report by an ad hoc committee of Parliament that asked him to explain his action.
In his response, Mr Hughes asked the Board to go and retrieve the items from his private residence.
In a letter issued by his solicitors, Zoe, Akyea & Co, and addressed to the Secretary of the Board, he said he was “no longer interested in the items he took away from the Speaker’s official residence, bona fide”.
Cardinal Turkson said he was not happy about what was happening because they tended to distract the work of Parliament and the government.
He, therefore, stressed the need for laid-down rules and procedures in dealing with the entitlements of former Members of Parliament (MPs) and Ministers of State.
Cardinal Turkson said perhaps, there was the need to take a look at the Transitional Bill prepared by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and see how best it could help address some of the problems because without such a policy framework, everything appeared to be vendetta.
“Politics and governance are not about vengeance. We should move away from that. We should not toy with any conflict situation. It’s like opening a Pandora box; if you open it, you cannot close it,” he advised.
Ms Bossman, speaking on phone from Takoradi, where she is attending the annual conference of the Institute of Chattered Accountants, said former speaker’s issue was one which bothered on integrity, accountability, conflict of interest and the abuse of power.
She described these as ethical dilemas that affected the integrity of public servants in the course of duty.
The fact that the former speaker sat on a committee that superintended over the diposal of state assets to him at a negligible cost raised questions of conflict of interest.
Ms Bossman also pointed out that such state assets were acquired from tax payers, who had to have a say in their disposal.
She expressed disquiet over the fact that the issue portrayed how Ghanaians in general had no regard for state assets and allowed their dissipation without a care.
On suggestions to address such ethical dilemas, Ms Bossman suggested commitment to doing right by all Ghanaians, as well as the adherence to values cherished by society, such as, integrity or accountability.
She said ethics was all about doing things right, but reminded politicians and public servants that sometimes, what they thought was legal was not necesarily right.
For instance, she wondered how one could take away expensive state assets when the majority of the people were poor.
Ms Bossman said CHRAJ with other stakeholders were embarking on various initiatives, including advocacy, sensitisation of the public the elaboration of constitutional provisions on codes of conduct of public servants to prevent a recurrence such issues.
Sharing his thoughts from Lagos, Nigeria, via telephone, Rev Dr Deegbe said the saga should serve as a good lesson to the nation to make amends in the future because “to be forewarned is to be forearmed”.
He said the former Speaker’s experience should inform the building of institutions and practices to prevent the recurrence of such problems in the future, adding that the adoption of clear-cut guidelines would enable everyone to know the rules without subjecting them to anyone’s interpretation.
Rev Dr Deegbe, who is also the Deputy Chairman of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Campaign Coalition, said provisions of the Transitional Bill prepared by the IEA sought to address some of the challenges that Parliament had been bogged down with recently.
For his part, Mr Adjei said the controversy had pierced the aura surrounding the high office of the Speaker of Parliament, adding that it sent a negative signal to the international community that political leaders in Ghana were only interested in owning state property rather than improving the welfare of the people.
He said the decision of the former Speaker to return the items after four months was quite belated because “one would have thought that after the hullabaloo had been raised about him having taken the items, he would have returned them earlier”.
Mr Adjei said the issue bordered largely on morality and suggested that the return of the items should not preclude further investigation into the matter for its comprehensive resolution.
Mr Adjei said instead of giving money to Members of Parliament and Parliamentary Service workers to rent their own accommodation, it was better, as a long-term solution, to construct a Parliamentary village where all MPs and Parliamentary Service workers would be accommodated, and be required to vacate their apartments after leaving office.
Mr Azeem, for his part, proposed an independent body with representation from Parliament, the Judiciary and the Executive to further probe the matter and to send a signal to appease Ghanaians by showing that Parliament itself was endeavouring to keep its hands clean in the matter.
He was of the view that because the former Speaker was no longer in the employment of Parliament, the PSB had no business investigating the matter.
The proposed independent body could also propose policies for future adoption to prevent the repetition of the matter, Mr Azeem added.
LEADING members of the clergy and anti-corruption campaigners in the country have called on Parliament to learn from the experience of the former Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi Hughes, and have a policy on the entitlements of leaders of the House crafted.
They said this would help avoid the recurrence of such an incident.
They said the saga had brought the high office of Speaker of Parliament into disrepute and there was the need to redeem the image of the office, which is the third highest of the land after the President and the Vice President.
Those who shared their views with the Daily Graphic in separate interviews were the Catholic Bishop of Cape Coast, Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson, the acting Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ms Anna Bossman, the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev Dr Fred Deegbe, the Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Mr Vitus Azeem, and a lecturer at the Department of Sociology of the University of Cape Coast, Mr Joseph Kingsley Adjei.
The Parliamentary Service Board (PSB) last Tuesday gave a week’s ultimatum to Mr Hughes to return all items he took away from his official residence upon leaving office.
The directive followed a meeting convened by the leadership of Parliament to consider his response to an earlier report by an ad hoc committee of Parliament that asked him to explain his action.
In his response, Mr Hughes asked the Board to go and retrieve the items from his private residence.
In a letter issued by his solicitors, Zoe, Akyea & Co, and addressed to the Secretary of the Board, he said he was “no longer interested in the items he took away from the Speaker’s official residence, bona fide”.
Cardinal Turkson said he was not happy about what was happening because they tended to distract the work of Parliament and the government.
He, therefore, stressed the need for laid-down rules and procedures in dealing with the entitlements of former Members of Parliament (MPs) and Ministers of State.
Cardinal Turkson said perhaps, there was the need to take a look at the Transitional Bill prepared by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and see how best it could help address some of the problems because without such a policy framework, everything appeared to be vendetta.
“Politics and governance are not about vengeance. We should move away from that. We should not toy with any conflict situation. It’s like opening a Pandora box; if you open it, you cannot close it,” he advised.
Ms Bossman, speaking on phone from Takoradi, where she is attending the annual conference of the Institute of Chattered Accountants, said former speaker’s issue was one which bothered on integrity, accountability, conflict of interest and the abuse of power.
She described these as ethical dilemas that affected the integrity of public servants in the course of duty.
The fact that the former speaker sat on a committee that superintended over the diposal of state assets to him at a negligible cost raised questions of conflict of interest.
Ms Bossman also pointed out that such state assets were acquired from tax payers, who had to have a say in their disposal.
She expressed disquiet over the fact that the issue portrayed how Ghanaians in general had no regard for state assets and allowed their dissipation without a care.
On suggestions to address such ethical dilemas, Ms Bossman suggested commitment to doing right by all Ghanaians, as well as the adherence to values cherished by society, such as, integrity or accountability.
She said ethics was all about doing things right, but reminded politicians and public servants that sometimes, what they thought was legal was not necesarily right.
For instance, she wondered how one could take away expensive state assets when the majority of the people were poor.
Ms Bossman said CHRAJ with other stakeholders were embarking on various initiatives, including advocacy, sensitisation of the public the elaboration of constitutional provisions on codes of conduct of public servants to prevent a recurrence such issues.
Sharing his thoughts from Lagos, Nigeria, via telephone, Rev Dr Deegbe said the saga should serve as a good lesson to the nation to make amends in the future because “to be forewarned is to be forearmed”.
He said the former Speaker’s experience should inform the building of institutions and practices to prevent the recurrence of such problems in the future, adding that the adoption of clear-cut guidelines would enable everyone to know the rules without subjecting them to anyone’s interpretation.
Rev Dr Deegbe, who is also the Deputy Chairman of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Campaign Coalition, said provisions of the Transitional Bill prepared by the IEA sought to address some of the challenges that Parliament had been bogged down with recently.
For his part, Mr Adjei said the controversy had pierced the aura surrounding the high office of the Speaker of Parliament, adding that it sent a negative signal to the international community that political leaders in Ghana were only interested in owning state property rather than improving the welfare of the people.
He said the decision of the former Speaker to return the items after four months was quite belated because “one would have thought that after the hullabaloo had been raised about him having taken the items, he would have returned them earlier”.
Mr Adjei said the issue bordered largely on morality and suggested that the return of the items should not preclude further investigation into the matter for its comprehensive resolution.
Mr Adjei said instead of giving money to Members of Parliament and Parliamentary Service workers to rent their own accommodation, it was better, as a long-term solution, to construct a Parliamentary village where all MPs and Parliamentary Service workers would be accommodated, and be required to vacate their apartments after leaving office.
Mr Azeem, for his part, proposed an independent body with representation from Parliament, the Judiciary and the Executive to further probe the matter and to send a signal to appease Ghanaians by showing that Parliament itself was endeavouring to keep its hands clean in the matter.
He was of the view that because the former Speaker was no longer in the employment of Parliament, the PSB had no business investigating the matter.
The proposed independent body could also propose policies for future adoption to prevent the repetition of the matter, Mr Azeem added.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
POLITICIANS TO BLAME... FOR GROWING SCOURGE OF SAKAWA (Pg 16) 26-05-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
AN initiative by some ministers of state to help curb cyber crime among the youth has aroused a thrilling backlash from a section of the society which believes that politicians are to blame.
Responding to the issue during interviews with the Daily Graphic, they were unanimous on the view that the lifestyle of politicians who rose to sudden wealth and opulence upon acquisition of power is the cause of the upsurge in the “get rich quick” mentality among the youth in the country.
As the country looks for the way out of the “Sakawa” scourge, some young ministers in President Mills’s government assembled in Accra recently to extol the virtues of diligence and hardwork that had enabled them to rise to leadership positions, as examples for the youth to emulate.
But some contributors to the topic stretched it further to indicate that the success of the message would depend on how the youth view the lifestyles of politicians in general.
In general, they claimed, politicians’ attitude to wealth had been a bad influence on the youth in respect of their instant and wanton acquisition of riches which gave the impression that material acquisition was the only way to earn respect and honour in society.
They, therefore, stressed the need for politicians in particular and leaders in general to set good examples for the youth to emulate.
"People enter politics for four years and build mansions and buy expensive cars. Just look at what we are experiencing today; five months after handing over, we have been occupied with issues about cars and houses. What do we expect from the youth?’, a lecturer at the Department of Sociology of the University of Cape Coast, Mr Joseph Kingsley Adjei, asked.
In the opinion of the Foreign Mission Director of the Assemblies of God Church, Rev Alex Nkrumah, pastors could not escape blame for what is happening now because of the adulteration of the gospel, and the fact that "some of us do not match our words with our works".
The backlash of politicians being the prime suspects for the upsurge of cyber crime or what is popularly called ‘sakawa’ among the youth appears to be in direct conflict with the initiative by the young Ministers of State who assembled in Accra.
Mr Adjei said the upsurge in cyber crime was also a function of a growing cultural orientation in which people looked at the substance instead of the source of wealth.
"Now success is measured not by honesty, but by how many cars, mansions and property one has. We have thrown away honesty; we have thrown away hardwork; we have thrown away diligence", he remarked.
Mr Adjei said since many of the youth could not go through the traits of success, such as hardwork, diligence and honesty, they had resorted to short-cuts like ‘sakawa’ and armed robbery.
He also traced the problem to the total breakdown in time-tested social values which taught children about virtues in life, adding that economic pressure had compelled families to abandon their children, thus exposing them to various social vices.
Rev Nkrumah said the ‘sakawa’ phenomenon should not take any student of the Bible by surprise because the Bible had predicted that to happen in the last days, "men will be lovers of gods and lovers of money".
He blamed leaders for failing the youth because they had not lived examplary lives for the youth to emulate.
"The best way to teach a child to do the right thing is to let your works match your works", he said, adding that spiritual leaders should endeavour to preach the undiluted message of the gospel and let "God’s word be God’s word".
Ever since the phenomenon of ‘sakawa’ among the youth was splashed on the front page of the Tuesday, May 12, 2009 issue of the Daily Graphic, there has been a loud public outcry against the cyber fraud.
Interestingly, the deep concerns being expressed by the public come at a time Ghana has joined the international community to celebrate this year’s World Telecommunication Day on the theme "Protecting children in cyberspace".
The phenomenon of ‘sakawa’ appears to be a major challenge to the government’s plans to expand ICT infrastructure and services to enhance governance, commerce, education, health and overall national development.
The President is said to be deeply alarmed at the manner cyber crime is taking roots in the country, especially among the youth, and the government’s response has been very swift.
A Cyber Security Bill is to be introduced to Parliament to help combat the menace of cyber crime. Also, there are plans to deal with the issue in a multi-sectoral approach with the establishment of a Cyber Emergency Response Team, comprising the Ministry of Communications, the National Communications Authority (NCA), the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service and other agencies.
"This is the time to galvanise our actions in concert to protect the youth of this country from the harmful influence of the Internet and the exploitation of children. The use of ICT for fraud is unacceptable", the Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrissu, said at the celebration of World Telecommunications Day in Accra.
AN initiative by some ministers of state to help curb cyber crime among the youth has aroused a thrilling backlash from a section of the society which believes that politicians are to blame.
Responding to the issue during interviews with the Daily Graphic, they were unanimous on the view that the lifestyle of politicians who rose to sudden wealth and opulence upon acquisition of power is the cause of the upsurge in the “get rich quick” mentality among the youth in the country.
As the country looks for the way out of the “Sakawa” scourge, some young ministers in President Mills’s government assembled in Accra recently to extol the virtues of diligence and hardwork that had enabled them to rise to leadership positions, as examples for the youth to emulate.
But some contributors to the topic stretched it further to indicate that the success of the message would depend on how the youth view the lifestyles of politicians in general.
In general, they claimed, politicians’ attitude to wealth had been a bad influence on the youth in respect of their instant and wanton acquisition of riches which gave the impression that material acquisition was the only way to earn respect and honour in society.
They, therefore, stressed the need for politicians in particular and leaders in general to set good examples for the youth to emulate.
"People enter politics for four years and build mansions and buy expensive cars. Just look at what we are experiencing today; five months after handing over, we have been occupied with issues about cars and houses. What do we expect from the youth?’, a lecturer at the Department of Sociology of the University of Cape Coast, Mr Joseph Kingsley Adjei, asked.
In the opinion of the Foreign Mission Director of the Assemblies of God Church, Rev Alex Nkrumah, pastors could not escape blame for what is happening now because of the adulteration of the gospel, and the fact that "some of us do not match our words with our works".
The backlash of politicians being the prime suspects for the upsurge of cyber crime or what is popularly called ‘sakawa’ among the youth appears to be in direct conflict with the initiative by the young Ministers of State who assembled in Accra.
Mr Adjei said the upsurge in cyber crime was also a function of a growing cultural orientation in which people looked at the substance instead of the source of wealth.
"Now success is measured not by honesty, but by how many cars, mansions and property one has. We have thrown away honesty; we have thrown away hardwork; we have thrown away diligence", he remarked.
Mr Adjei said since many of the youth could not go through the traits of success, such as hardwork, diligence and honesty, they had resorted to short-cuts like ‘sakawa’ and armed robbery.
He also traced the problem to the total breakdown in time-tested social values which taught children about virtues in life, adding that economic pressure had compelled families to abandon their children, thus exposing them to various social vices.
Rev Nkrumah said the ‘sakawa’ phenomenon should not take any student of the Bible by surprise because the Bible had predicted that to happen in the last days, "men will be lovers of gods and lovers of money".
He blamed leaders for failing the youth because they had not lived examplary lives for the youth to emulate.
"The best way to teach a child to do the right thing is to let your works match your works", he said, adding that spiritual leaders should endeavour to preach the undiluted message of the gospel and let "God’s word be God’s word".
Ever since the phenomenon of ‘sakawa’ among the youth was splashed on the front page of the Tuesday, May 12, 2009 issue of the Daily Graphic, there has been a loud public outcry against the cyber fraud.
Interestingly, the deep concerns being expressed by the public come at a time Ghana has joined the international community to celebrate this year’s World Telecommunication Day on the theme "Protecting children in cyberspace".
The phenomenon of ‘sakawa’ appears to be a major challenge to the government’s plans to expand ICT infrastructure and services to enhance governance, commerce, education, health and overall national development.
The President is said to be deeply alarmed at the manner cyber crime is taking roots in the country, especially among the youth, and the government’s response has been very swift.
A Cyber Security Bill is to be introduced to Parliament to help combat the menace of cyber crime. Also, there are plans to deal with the issue in a multi-sectoral approach with the establishment of a Cyber Emergency Response Team, comprising the Ministry of Communications, the National Communications Authority (NCA), the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service and other agencies.
"This is the time to galvanise our actions in concert to protect the youth of this country from the harmful influence of the Internet and the exploitation of children. The use of ICT for fraud is unacceptable", the Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrissu, said at the celebration of World Telecommunications Day in Accra.
Monday, May 18, 2009
MINING HAS BEEN A BLESSING (Pg 28) 18-05-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ms Joyce Aryee, has described mining in the country as a blessing rather than a curse to the nation.
She said in most places, like Ghana, mining had been the fulcrum of development: "Life without mining is impossible because everything of life is made of minerals. Life depends on minerals and metals and so mining is very important to life sustenance".
From vehicles, medical equipment, computers, printing machines and tiles, to streets, electricity, terrazzo, tiles and farming implements, Ms Aryee gave an endless list of the benefits of mining to buttress her contention that life could not be possible without mining.
Her comments, made in an interview with the Daily Graphic on Tuesday, are a sharp rebuttal of criticisms by a section of the public, particularly environmental activists, that mining has been more of a curse than a blessing to the nation.
The age-old debate on the cost-benefit of mining in Ghana was re-ignited this week in the Daily Graphic with calls for a national forum to discuss the future of the industry.
Welcoming that call, Ms Aryee said the relevance of mining to national development was unquestionable, but the important issue Ghanaians ought to consider now was how best to derive optimum benefit from mining, instead of denigrating the industry.
She said if mining was bad, as some people wanted to suggest, past and present governments would not have deliberately promoted the industry.
"As for mining, it will not stop because human beings depend on metals. How do you stop making cement, terrazzo, iron rods and tiles? You can’t", she maintained.
Ms Aryee said the issue was not about whether mining was worthwhile or not but how mining companies could be regulated to ensure that their operations had minimal impact on the environment.
She said every human activity, such as building and road construction, impacted negatively on the environment but it was important to minimise the impact, adding, "We too are using best practices to minimise the inevitable impact of this economic activity".
"If you ask whether we are fulfilling our environmental obligations, I’ll say yes, but if you ask whether we have reached perfection, I’ll say no; but we are regulated by the EPA", Ms Aryee remarked.
She said the chamber subscribed to international standards such as the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the International Council of Minerals and Metals Standards.
Ms Aryee said social, regulatory and legal issues pertaining to mining were determined by the state, pointing out that mining companies only operated within the established laws.
She said currently, the law in Ghana indicated that minerals belonged to the state and were held in trust by the President, but the challenge lay in how best to ensure that those who ceded their land "are handled in a way that does not create destitution".
Ms Aryee catalogued the benefits of mining to the nation as including the development of human resource through educational infrastructure built by mining companies, with the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, being the most prominent.
She said the sector had also been a major source of revenue generation for the government, contributing a great deal to the gross foreign exchange earnings since the advent of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1983.
The industry’s contribution to the macro economy in 2008 includes; 43.7 per cent of gross foreign exchange earnings; 14.72 per cent of IRS collections (third highest sector); 13.25 per cent of corporate tax (third highest sector); the return of 63 per cent of mineral revenue to the country and the creation of 12,601 jobs.
The sector also made voluntary contributions of more than $12.4 million to support education, healthcare, electricity, sanitation, water and other development projects. Furthermore, it paid about $6.2 million in respect of royalties to district assemblies, stools and traditional authorities, while property rate of more than $901,000 was paid to the assemblies.
Ms Aryee defended her suggestion for the promotion of mining as the growth pole of the economy because the industry served as a catalyst for the growth of other sectors of the economy.
She cited the springing up of banks in Tarkwa, and added that the 11 banks currently operating in the town as a result of the mining activity there could also be a source of financing for small and medium-scale enterprises, whose impact would trickle down to other sectors.
Ms Aryee said there was the need for legislation and policy to mainstream mining into the national economy.
She dismissed as baseless, the comparison often made about the huge development gap between mining towns in Ghana like Tarkwa and Obuasi, and Johannesburg in South Africa.
According to her, the difference between the mining towns in Ghana and Johannesburg was that the former were not well-planned like the latter, and suggested the need to re-plan mining communities in Ghana to facilitate their massive development.
Ms Aryee said contrary to assertions made by some environmental activists, mining companies were not so powerful as to twist the arm of government because they (companies) believed in compliance and standards.
"We cannot rail-roll government to do our bidding. It would not even help us", she emphasised.
THE Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ms Joyce Aryee, has described mining in the country as a blessing rather than a curse to the nation.
She said in most places, like Ghana, mining had been the fulcrum of development: "Life without mining is impossible because everything of life is made of minerals. Life depends on minerals and metals and so mining is very important to life sustenance".
From vehicles, medical equipment, computers, printing machines and tiles, to streets, electricity, terrazzo, tiles and farming implements, Ms Aryee gave an endless list of the benefits of mining to buttress her contention that life could not be possible without mining.
Her comments, made in an interview with the Daily Graphic on Tuesday, are a sharp rebuttal of criticisms by a section of the public, particularly environmental activists, that mining has been more of a curse than a blessing to the nation.
The age-old debate on the cost-benefit of mining in Ghana was re-ignited this week in the Daily Graphic with calls for a national forum to discuss the future of the industry.
Welcoming that call, Ms Aryee said the relevance of mining to national development was unquestionable, but the important issue Ghanaians ought to consider now was how best to derive optimum benefit from mining, instead of denigrating the industry.
She said if mining was bad, as some people wanted to suggest, past and present governments would not have deliberately promoted the industry.
"As for mining, it will not stop because human beings depend on metals. How do you stop making cement, terrazzo, iron rods and tiles? You can’t", she maintained.
Ms Aryee said the issue was not about whether mining was worthwhile or not but how mining companies could be regulated to ensure that their operations had minimal impact on the environment.
She said every human activity, such as building and road construction, impacted negatively on the environment but it was important to minimise the impact, adding, "We too are using best practices to minimise the inevitable impact of this economic activity".
"If you ask whether we are fulfilling our environmental obligations, I’ll say yes, but if you ask whether we have reached perfection, I’ll say no; but we are regulated by the EPA", Ms Aryee remarked.
She said the chamber subscribed to international standards such as the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the International Council of Minerals and Metals Standards.
Ms Aryee said social, regulatory and legal issues pertaining to mining were determined by the state, pointing out that mining companies only operated within the established laws.
She said currently, the law in Ghana indicated that minerals belonged to the state and were held in trust by the President, but the challenge lay in how best to ensure that those who ceded their land "are handled in a way that does not create destitution".
Ms Aryee catalogued the benefits of mining to the nation as including the development of human resource through educational infrastructure built by mining companies, with the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, being the most prominent.
She said the sector had also been a major source of revenue generation for the government, contributing a great deal to the gross foreign exchange earnings since the advent of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1983.
The industry’s contribution to the macro economy in 2008 includes; 43.7 per cent of gross foreign exchange earnings; 14.72 per cent of IRS collections (third highest sector); 13.25 per cent of corporate tax (third highest sector); the return of 63 per cent of mineral revenue to the country and the creation of 12,601 jobs.
The sector also made voluntary contributions of more than $12.4 million to support education, healthcare, electricity, sanitation, water and other development projects. Furthermore, it paid about $6.2 million in respect of royalties to district assemblies, stools and traditional authorities, while property rate of more than $901,000 was paid to the assemblies.
Ms Aryee defended her suggestion for the promotion of mining as the growth pole of the economy because the industry served as a catalyst for the growth of other sectors of the economy.
She cited the springing up of banks in Tarkwa, and added that the 11 banks currently operating in the town as a result of the mining activity there could also be a source of financing for small and medium-scale enterprises, whose impact would trickle down to other sectors.
Ms Aryee said there was the need for legislation and policy to mainstream mining into the national economy.
She dismissed as baseless, the comparison often made about the huge development gap between mining towns in Ghana like Tarkwa and Obuasi, and Johannesburg in South Africa.
According to her, the difference between the mining towns in Ghana and Johannesburg was that the former were not well-planned like the latter, and suggested the need to re-plan mining communities in Ghana to facilitate their massive development.
Ms Aryee said contrary to assertions made by some environmental activists, mining companies were not so powerful as to twist the arm of government because they (companies) believed in compliance and standards.
"We cannot rail-roll government to do our bidding. It would not even help us", she emphasised.
'OBAMA'S VISIT MOST SIGNIFICANT' (Pg 3) 18-05-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
A RETIRED Ghanaian diplomat, Mr K. B. Asante, and a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei, have described the upcoming visit of President Barack Obama of the US to Ghana next July as America’s recognition of Ghana’s leadership role in Africa.
In separate interviews, the two statesmen urged President J. E. A. Mills and the government to take advantage of the visit to present Africa’s case to the US President with regard to fighting the scourge of poverty, hunger, disease and under-development in general.
Whereas Mr Asante called on the government to depart from the beggar mentality to a posture of confidence in dealing with its American guest, Mr Osei-Adjei stressed the need to discuss serious issues, such as how the US could assist Ghana to tackle the drug menace in the country.
“Although we will roll out the red carpet for him, we should firmly state the problems facing Africa,” Mr Asante told the Daily Graphic, adding that there was the need to even discuss controversial issues, possibly in private.
“It’s not a question of just shaking hands. We must discard the beggar mentality that is normally associated with such visits,” he added.
He said Ghana could raise the issue of the negative impact that rice importation was having on the country’s economy by politely reminding the American President of the measures he had put in place to salvage the banking sector in his country following the effects of the global financial crisis.
He asked the government to start preparing the issues it might want to discuss with the US President during the visit “because we haven’t got much time”.
Mr Asante said it should be possible for President Mills to sign a pact with President Obama to outline the way forward as far as relations between the US and Ghana, on one hand, and the US and Africa, on the other, were concerned.
Touching on the significance of the visit, the retired diplomat said naturally Mr Obama would want to strengthen US-Africa relations but noted that to have made Ghana his first visit to Africa underlined the country’s significance as a major power and influence bloc on the continent.
He said after becoming the first country south of the Sahara to gain independence, Ghana had been at the forefront of African unity “and so for the American President to come to the cradle of Africa unity is very important”.
Mr Asante said Mr Obama would not visit any country for the sake of it, pointing out that his visit to Ghana meant the country had something to contribute to world progress.
Mr Obama’s upcoming visit will be the third time a sitting American President has visited Ghana. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush visited Ghana in March 1998 and February 2008, respectively, in the twilight of the Rawlings and the Kufuor administrations.
President Obama’s visit comes at the dawn of the Mills administration and, according to Mr Asante, it was more significant than the two previous visits by American Presidents, which he described as essentially public relations enterprises.
He said the significance of President Obama’s visit lay in the fact that it was coming at a time of a serious global financial crisis.
For his part, Mr Osei-Adjei described the upcoming visit as good news because it demonstrated the fact that Ghana had come of age in world politics.
“The visit is a recognition of what we have achieved as a nation,” he noted, adding that there was the need to strengthen the gains of democracy, particularly by upholding the tenets of good governance, the rule of law and accountability.
He said he looked forward to seeing the two countries deepen their existing agreements, such as the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) and the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
He said there was the need to ensure that all the promises made under those agreements were fulfilled.
On the drug menace, Mr Osei-Adjei said although Ghana was currently a transit country, there was the possibility of it becoming a consuming country and so there was the need to seek American assistance to address the problem.
He urged the government to adopt a non-partisan approach in the running and execution of the programme for Mr Obama’s visit so that all Ghanaians would benefit from it.
A RETIRED Ghanaian diplomat, Mr K. B. Asante, and a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei, have described the upcoming visit of President Barack Obama of the US to Ghana next July as America’s recognition of Ghana’s leadership role in Africa.
In separate interviews, the two statesmen urged President J. E. A. Mills and the government to take advantage of the visit to present Africa’s case to the US President with regard to fighting the scourge of poverty, hunger, disease and under-development in general.
Whereas Mr Asante called on the government to depart from the beggar mentality to a posture of confidence in dealing with its American guest, Mr Osei-Adjei stressed the need to discuss serious issues, such as how the US could assist Ghana to tackle the drug menace in the country.
“Although we will roll out the red carpet for him, we should firmly state the problems facing Africa,” Mr Asante told the Daily Graphic, adding that there was the need to even discuss controversial issues, possibly in private.
“It’s not a question of just shaking hands. We must discard the beggar mentality that is normally associated with such visits,” he added.
He said Ghana could raise the issue of the negative impact that rice importation was having on the country’s economy by politely reminding the American President of the measures he had put in place to salvage the banking sector in his country following the effects of the global financial crisis.
He asked the government to start preparing the issues it might want to discuss with the US President during the visit “because we haven’t got much time”.
Mr Asante said it should be possible for President Mills to sign a pact with President Obama to outline the way forward as far as relations between the US and Ghana, on one hand, and the US and Africa, on the other, were concerned.
Touching on the significance of the visit, the retired diplomat said naturally Mr Obama would want to strengthen US-Africa relations but noted that to have made Ghana his first visit to Africa underlined the country’s significance as a major power and influence bloc on the continent.
He said after becoming the first country south of the Sahara to gain independence, Ghana had been at the forefront of African unity “and so for the American President to come to the cradle of Africa unity is very important”.
Mr Asante said Mr Obama would not visit any country for the sake of it, pointing out that his visit to Ghana meant the country had something to contribute to world progress.
Mr Obama’s upcoming visit will be the third time a sitting American President has visited Ghana. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush visited Ghana in March 1998 and February 2008, respectively, in the twilight of the Rawlings and the Kufuor administrations.
President Obama’s visit comes at the dawn of the Mills administration and, according to Mr Asante, it was more significant than the two previous visits by American Presidents, which he described as essentially public relations enterprises.
He said the significance of President Obama’s visit lay in the fact that it was coming at a time of a serious global financial crisis.
For his part, Mr Osei-Adjei described the upcoming visit as good news because it demonstrated the fact that Ghana had come of age in world politics.
“The visit is a recognition of what we have achieved as a nation,” he noted, adding that there was the need to strengthen the gains of democracy, particularly by upholding the tenets of good governance, the rule of law and accountability.
He said he looked forward to seeing the two countries deepen their existing agreements, such as the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) and the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
He said there was the need to ensure that all the promises made under those agreements were fulfilled.
On the drug menace, Mr Osei-Adjei said although Ghana was currently a transit country, there was the possibility of it becoming a consuming country and so there was the need to seek American assistance to address the problem.
He urged the government to adopt a non-partisan approach in the running and execution of the programme for Mr Obama’s visit so that all Ghanaians would benefit from it.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
'SAKAWA' SCARE (Front page) 13-05-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
AUTHORITIES of the Ghana Education Service (GES) have called for an emergency national response to salvage the future of hundreds of schoolchildren who are increasingly being lured into the phenomenon of ‘sakawa’, the Internet fraud that has gained notoriety in the country lately.
Among other interventions, the authorities called on metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to enact bye-laws that would bar children of school age from going to Internet cafes to engage in ‘sakawa’.
“‘Sakawa’ is not helping us as a country. It’s a big worry to us. We need the support of religious bodies, schools, the media and everyone to address this problem,” the Director of Basic Education of the GES, Mr Stephen Adu, told the Daily Graphic last Monday.
It is not clear when ‘sakawa’ began in Ghana but the cyber fraud, which is akin to the notorious Nigerian ‘419’ scam, is believed to have taken deep roots in Agona Swedru from where, like an epidemic, it spread to other parts of the country in no time.
Enquiries made indicate that mainly in the ghettos of some of the major towns in the country such as Kumasi, Koforidua, Sunyani and Accra, ‘sakawa’ is becoming a major cause of pupil truancy involving many schoolchildren aged between 12 and 18, as they abandon the classrooms for Internet cafes.
It is a cyber crime linked to occultism and the modus operandi of those who engage in it includes the use of their victims’ credit cards to purchase items including expensive vehicles and household items on the Internet which are subsequently shipped to Ghana.
Sometimes the operators pose as females, manage to secure relationships on the Internet with male foreigners and subsequently discuss the possibility of marriage with them. But after convincing their victims to send them money for visa and other travelling documents to join them abroad, they hit a jackpot and abscond.
In posing as females, the ‘sakawa’ operatives download female images from the Internet and send them to their victims. In other circumstances, they request female Internet café attendants or other girls to engage their victims in telephone conversations.
Interestingly, the ‘sakawa’ business does not come so easy and cheap but with various forms of risk.
After taking delivery of parcels from the post office and courier companies, having succeeded in their deals, some of the ‘sakawa’ boys are confronted by gangs who lurk around the post offices seeking for successful operators to either deprive them of their parcels or share the booty with them.
Apart from that turbulence in the business, ‘sakawa’ is also cloaked in spirituality, as some of the operators allegedly use ‘juju’ to cast spells on their victims for successful deals.
Some of them allegedly sleep in coffins for three days, while others sleep at the cemetery, all in the quest to acquire supernatural powers to under-gird their operations.
In Accra, teachers and school authorities in some of the most affected areas, including Nima, Maamobi and New Town, told the Daily Graphic that the phenomenon was undermining the academic progress of the children.
They spend an average of eight hours at Internet cafés every day, either searching for foreign victims to swindle or browsing for pornographic materials which they download onto their mobile phones.
The heads of Nima One and Nima Two Junior High schools, Mrs Leila Mumuni and Mr Kofi Buabeng-Nkrumah, respectively, confirmed that there was a high rate of absenteeism in their schools.
They also confirmed receiving reports from parents and neighbours about the involvement of the children in the ‘sakawa’ business.
Mr Buabeng-Nkrumah, however, asserted that the absenteeism could also be attributed to other socio-economic factors, including circumstances that compelled the schoolchildren to fend for themselves, not just their involvement in ‘sakawa’.
The two school heads were unanimous that the high rate of absenteeism was affecting the academic performance of students.
Out of the 269 junior high schools (JHS) in the Accra metropolis which took part in the 2007 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), Nima One JHS placed 268th, while Nima Two JHS placed 269th.
The performance of the two schools improved marginally in the 2008 BECE, with Nima One placing 135th, while Nima Two placed 267th.
Some of the schoolchildren, the Daily Graphic gathered, spent whole nights at the Internet cafés browsing to make a ‘catch’ of a victim.
From primary, JHS to senior high school, the schoolchildren either divert their course to school or abandon the classrooms at break periods and in their school uniforms throng the Internet cafés to engage in the ‘sakawa’ business.
“They visit the cafés anytime, but many of them come in their school uniforms around 8 a.m. and leave around 5 p.m. Some of them come around 9 p.m. and leave around 9 a.m. the following day,” an Internet café owner, Mr Abdul Latif Mohammed Iddriss, confirmed.
Information gathered by the Daily Graphic indicates that the ‘sakawa’ business has proved so lucrative to the extent that some of the schoolchildren have bought expensive cars out of their “booty”.
“Schoolchildren between 15 and 18 now own cars. Some of the cars they buy cost between GH¢10,000 and GH¢30,000,” Mr Iddriss said.
According to him, it was very difficult to keep the schoolchildren away from the cafés “because if you sack them others will accept them”.
Mr Adu, who is also the Director of Secondary Education at the GES, said addressing the problem transcended the scope of school authorities alone and called for a national intervention to curb the phenomenon.
He said some of the schools had put in place measures to ensure that students did not engage in ‘sakawa’ but added that it was very difficult to monitor their movement after school.
For his part, the Accra Metro Director of Education, Nii Okaidja Dinsey, described the involvement of students in ‘sakawa’ as morally reprehensible.
While stressing the need to sensitise people to the ‘sakawa’ business and a review of rules and regulations in schools to enhance discipline, he called on district assemblies to enact bye-laws that would check schoolchildren from engaging in the practice.
“They (the ‘sakawa’ operators) give the café attendants and the girls big money when the deal is successful,” Mr Iddriss pointed out.
Many of the youth in Nima, Maamobi and New Town are said to be engaged in the ‘sakawa’ operation.
For 24 hours, Internet cafés in those communities are fully occupied and the owners appear to be enjoying brisk business as a result of the high patronage.
“Business has been very good because the cafés are always filled,” Mr Iddriss, who is also the President of the East Ayawaso Internet Owners Association, admitted.
On Thursday, April 9, 2009, a day before Good Friday, there was drama at the Taifa Community School in Accra as teachers and schoolchildren fled helter-skelter after detecting what was said to be a ‘sakawa’ ritual in one of the classrooms.
A dead lizard tied with red cloth bearing the inscription ‘sakawa’ was left hanging from the ceiling of the classroom, confirming widespread rumour that the ‘sakawa’ operatives were deep into spirituality.
For some of the operators, the price to pay for acquiring such spiritual powers is to have a sore on the body, which may not be visible because of one’s dress.
Some of the suburbs noted for ‘sakawa’ are also noted for producing budding footballers, but sources say if one sees a young person with a bandaged hand or leg in any of those communities, one should not just take that person for a footballer because he may be covering up a ‘sakawa’ sore.
For some adherents, the price to pay for spiritual power is to enter their cars backwards, while others are forbidden from giving monetary gifts directly to beneficiaries. The benefactor has to find a way of dropping the money for the beneficiary to pick.
Alarmed by the situation in their communities, the Nima/Maamobi Neighbourhood Watch Group, in conjunction with the East Ayawaso Internet Owners Association, organised a stakeholders’ meeting at Nima recently to find ways of dealing with the problem.
Addressing the meeting, the Nima Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Angwubutoge Awuni, warned that the police would raid any Internet cafés that allowed children to browse pornographic materials.
He said the Internet was more of a blessing than a curse but that the ‘sakawa’ business was having a negative influence on schoolchildren.
He called for a national crusade against the cyber crime, adding, “We all have a responsibility to take care of our children.”
He said Internet café owners should not be solely concerned about making money, pointing out that they had a responsibility to check schoolchildren from engaging in ‘sakawa’ and browsing pornographic sites.
The Secretary of the Nima/Maamobi Neighbourhood Watch Group, Mr Mohammed Sakibu, said investigations conducted by the group confirmed the involvement of schoolchildren in the cyber fraud.
He underlined the group’s commitment to promote security, education and development in the area, adding that it would help check the increasing spate of cyber fraud among the youth.
A traditional medicine practitioner, Togbui Amuzu, has described the involvement of the youth in the ‘sakawa’ business as an abuse of the opportunities offered by globalisation and information and communications technology (ICT).
Deeply concerned by the phenomenon, he walked to the offices of the Daily Graphic to condemn his fellow traditional medicine practitioners who were in league with the youth in the ‘sakawa’ practice, saying they were equally guilty of greed.
AUTHORITIES of the Ghana Education Service (GES) have called for an emergency national response to salvage the future of hundreds of schoolchildren who are increasingly being lured into the phenomenon of ‘sakawa’, the Internet fraud that has gained notoriety in the country lately.
Among other interventions, the authorities called on metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to enact bye-laws that would bar children of school age from going to Internet cafes to engage in ‘sakawa’.
“‘Sakawa’ is not helping us as a country. It’s a big worry to us. We need the support of religious bodies, schools, the media and everyone to address this problem,” the Director of Basic Education of the GES, Mr Stephen Adu, told the Daily Graphic last Monday.
It is not clear when ‘sakawa’ began in Ghana but the cyber fraud, which is akin to the notorious Nigerian ‘419’ scam, is believed to have taken deep roots in Agona Swedru from where, like an epidemic, it spread to other parts of the country in no time.
Enquiries made indicate that mainly in the ghettos of some of the major towns in the country such as Kumasi, Koforidua, Sunyani and Accra, ‘sakawa’ is becoming a major cause of pupil truancy involving many schoolchildren aged between 12 and 18, as they abandon the classrooms for Internet cafes.
It is a cyber crime linked to occultism and the modus operandi of those who engage in it includes the use of their victims’ credit cards to purchase items including expensive vehicles and household items on the Internet which are subsequently shipped to Ghana.
Sometimes the operators pose as females, manage to secure relationships on the Internet with male foreigners and subsequently discuss the possibility of marriage with them. But after convincing their victims to send them money for visa and other travelling documents to join them abroad, they hit a jackpot and abscond.
In posing as females, the ‘sakawa’ operatives download female images from the Internet and send them to their victims. In other circumstances, they request female Internet café attendants or other girls to engage their victims in telephone conversations.
Interestingly, the ‘sakawa’ business does not come so easy and cheap but with various forms of risk.
After taking delivery of parcels from the post office and courier companies, having succeeded in their deals, some of the ‘sakawa’ boys are confronted by gangs who lurk around the post offices seeking for successful operators to either deprive them of their parcels or share the booty with them.
Apart from that turbulence in the business, ‘sakawa’ is also cloaked in spirituality, as some of the operators allegedly use ‘juju’ to cast spells on their victims for successful deals.
Some of them allegedly sleep in coffins for three days, while others sleep at the cemetery, all in the quest to acquire supernatural powers to under-gird their operations.
In Accra, teachers and school authorities in some of the most affected areas, including Nima, Maamobi and New Town, told the Daily Graphic that the phenomenon was undermining the academic progress of the children.
They spend an average of eight hours at Internet cafés every day, either searching for foreign victims to swindle or browsing for pornographic materials which they download onto their mobile phones.
The heads of Nima One and Nima Two Junior High schools, Mrs Leila Mumuni and Mr Kofi Buabeng-Nkrumah, respectively, confirmed that there was a high rate of absenteeism in their schools.
They also confirmed receiving reports from parents and neighbours about the involvement of the children in the ‘sakawa’ business.
Mr Buabeng-Nkrumah, however, asserted that the absenteeism could also be attributed to other socio-economic factors, including circumstances that compelled the schoolchildren to fend for themselves, not just their involvement in ‘sakawa’.
The two school heads were unanimous that the high rate of absenteeism was affecting the academic performance of students.
Out of the 269 junior high schools (JHS) in the Accra metropolis which took part in the 2007 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), Nima One JHS placed 268th, while Nima Two JHS placed 269th.
The performance of the two schools improved marginally in the 2008 BECE, with Nima One placing 135th, while Nima Two placed 267th.
Some of the schoolchildren, the Daily Graphic gathered, spent whole nights at the Internet cafés browsing to make a ‘catch’ of a victim.
From primary, JHS to senior high school, the schoolchildren either divert their course to school or abandon the classrooms at break periods and in their school uniforms throng the Internet cafés to engage in the ‘sakawa’ business.
“They visit the cafés anytime, but many of them come in their school uniforms around 8 a.m. and leave around 5 p.m. Some of them come around 9 p.m. and leave around 9 a.m. the following day,” an Internet café owner, Mr Abdul Latif Mohammed Iddriss, confirmed.
Information gathered by the Daily Graphic indicates that the ‘sakawa’ business has proved so lucrative to the extent that some of the schoolchildren have bought expensive cars out of their “booty”.
“Schoolchildren between 15 and 18 now own cars. Some of the cars they buy cost between GH¢10,000 and GH¢30,000,” Mr Iddriss said.
According to him, it was very difficult to keep the schoolchildren away from the cafés “because if you sack them others will accept them”.
Mr Adu, who is also the Director of Secondary Education at the GES, said addressing the problem transcended the scope of school authorities alone and called for a national intervention to curb the phenomenon.
He said some of the schools had put in place measures to ensure that students did not engage in ‘sakawa’ but added that it was very difficult to monitor their movement after school.
For his part, the Accra Metro Director of Education, Nii Okaidja Dinsey, described the involvement of students in ‘sakawa’ as morally reprehensible.
While stressing the need to sensitise people to the ‘sakawa’ business and a review of rules and regulations in schools to enhance discipline, he called on district assemblies to enact bye-laws that would check schoolchildren from engaging in the practice.
“They (the ‘sakawa’ operators) give the café attendants and the girls big money when the deal is successful,” Mr Iddriss pointed out.
Many of the youth in Nima, Maamobi and New Town are said to be engaged in the ‘sakawa’ operation.
For 24 hours, Internet cafés in those communities are fully occupied and the owners appear to be enjoying brisk business as a result of the high patronage.
“Business has been very good because the cafés are always filled,” Mr Iddriss, who is also the President of the East Ayawaso Internet Owners Association, admitted.
On Thursday, April 9, 2009, a day before Good Friday, there was drama at the Taifa Community School in Accra as teachers and schoolchildren fled helter-skelter after detecting what was said to be a ‘sakawa’ ritual in one of the classrooms.
A dead lizard tied with red cloth bearing the inscription ‘sakawa’ was left hanging from the ceiling of the classroom, confirming widespread rumour that the ‘sakawa’ operatives were deep into spirituality.
For some of the operators, the price to pay for acquiring such spiritual powers is to have a sore on the body, which may not be visible because of one’s dress.
Some of the suburbs noted for ‘sakawa’ are also noted for producing budding footballers, but sources say if one sees a young person with a bandaged hand or leg in any of those communities, one should not just take that person for a footballer because he may be covering up a ‘sakawa’ sore.
For some adherents, the price to pay for spiritual power is to enter their cars backwards, while others are forbidden from giving monetary gifts directly to beneficiaries. The benefactor has to find a way of dropping the money for the beneficiary to pick.
Alarmed by the situation in their communities, the Nima/Maamobi Neighbourhood Watch Group, in conjunction with the East Ayawaso Internet Owners Association, organised a stakeholders’ meeting at Nima recently to find ways of dealing with the problem.
Addressing the meeting, the Nima Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Angwubutoge Awuni, warned that the police would raid any Internet cafés that allowed children to browse pornographic materials.
He said the Internet was more of a blessing than a curse but that the ‘sakawa’ business was having a negative influence on schoolchildren.
He called for a national crusade against the cyber crime, adding, “We all have a responsibility to take care of our children.”
He said Internet café owners should not be solely concerned about making money, pointing out that they had a responsibility to check schoolchildren from engaging in ‘sakawa’ and browsing pornographic sites.
The Secretary of the Nima/Maamobi Neighbourhood Watch Group, Mr Mohammed Sakibu, said investigations conducted by the group confirmed the involvement of schoolchildren in the cyber fraud.
He underlined the group’s commitment to promote security, education and development in the area, adding that it would help check the increasing spate of cyber fraud among the youth.
A traditional medicine practitioner, Togbui Amuzu, has described the involvement of the youth in the ‘sakawa’ business as an abuse of the opportunities offered by globalisation and information and communications technology (ICT).
Deeply concerned by the phenomenon, he walked to the offices of the Daily Graphic to condemn his fellow traditional medicine practitioners who were in league with the youth in the ‘sakawa’ practice, saying they were equally guilty of greed.
Monday, May 11, 2009
DON'T FROWN ON TEACHING PROFESSION (Pg 11) 11-05-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE Headmistress of the Association International School in Accra, Madam Emelia Amartey-Quarcoo, has advised the youth not to frown on teaching because it is a good, noble and rewarding profession.
She also urged young teachers to be proud of the teaching profession and to offer their best at all times.
Madam Amartey-Quarcoo gave the advice at a get-together in Accra to celebrate 30 years of her teaching career, which has been crowned with many achievements.
In 2000, she was adjudged the National Best Teacher in the Senior High School (SHS) category during the National Best Teacher Awards. She has also represented the YWCA at many international conferences and held various positions in society.
Madam Amartey-Quarcoo expressed gratitude to God for taking her through 30 years of an unblemished career.
“There have been lots of struggles and challenges in the profession but God has taken me through all of them”, she remarked.
Madam Amartey-Quarcoo said teaching gave more satisfaction than money , adding that her interest in the profession was based on her quest to do everything with joy.
One her future aspirations, she said her ambition was to reach the highest level of her teaching career.
Pix: Madam Emelia Amartey-Quarcoo
THE Headmistress of the Association International School in Accra, Madam Emelia Amartey-Quarcoo, has advised the youth not to frown on teaching because it is a good, noble and rewarding profession.
She also urged young teachers to be proud of the teaching profession and to offer their best at all times.
Madam Amartey-Quarcoo gave the advice at a get-together in Accra to celebrate 30 years of her teaching career, which has been crowned with many achievements.
In 2000, she was adjudged the National Best Teacher in the Senior High School (SHS) category during the National Best Teacher Awards. She has also represented the YWCA at many international conferences and held various positions in society.
Madam Amartey-Quarcoo expressed gratitude to God for taking her through 30 years of an unblemished career.
“There have been lots of struggles and challenges in the profession but God has taken me through all of them”, she remarked.
Madam Amartey-Quarcoo said teaching gave more satisfaction than money , adding that her interest in the profession was based on her quest to do everything with joy.
One her future aspirations, she said her ambition was to reach the highest level of her teaching career.
Pix: Madam Emelia Amartey-Quarcoo
ROW OVER MINING (Front page) 11-05-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah, Elmina
CENTURIES after European concessionaires had imported heavy machinery into the country to engage in the gold trade, has mining been a blessing or a curse for Ghana?
This is the debate which some environmentalists and the anti-mining coalition in the country are urging the Ghana Chamber of Mines, which last week called for the promotion of mining as a growth pole for the national economy, to engage in.
Statistics indicate that the contribution of mining to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has only increased from 1.3 per cent in 1991 to about five per cent lately.
Drawing attention to the destructive effects of mining on the environment, the group urged the government to institute a national forum to discuss the future of mining in the country.
Representatives of some mining communities and NGOs in the Central and Western regions made the call at a three-day workshop on, "Strengthening the capacities of communities in conflict management", held at Elmina in the Central Region at the weekend.
It was under the auspices of the National Peace Council (NPC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Present were some members of the NPC, including the Chairman and Catholic Bishop of Cape Coast, Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson; the Vice-Chairman and Ameer and Missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana, Maulvi Wahab Adam; the Catholic Bishop of Ho, the Most Reverend Francis Lodonu; a former General-Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Madam Georgina Baiden, and the President of the Ghana Historical Society, Prof Irene Odotei.
The growth pole theory suggests the promotion of one sector of the economy with the intention of making it a magnetic force from which other sectors of the economy will develop for overall national economic growth.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ms Joyce Aryee, is reported to have suggested the promotion of mining as a growth pole in view of the sector’s positive contribution to the country’s economy.
The mining industry has come under a barrage of criticisms for destroying the environment and the livelihoods of farmers, thereby deepening poverty in mining communities, as well as being a source of conflict in the communities.
Tebrebe and Teleku-Bokasu are two mining communities that have witnessed violent clashes in recent times, leading to the loss of lives and property.
Representatives of mining communities who attended the workshop reiterated their resolve to resist mining operations in their localities because they would deprive the people of their farmlands and livelihoods.
They claimed that efforts to seek redress to their grievances at various quarters had not yielded positive results and expressed their determination to protect their land and livelihoods from mining companies if the government failed to address their concerns.
The Executive Director of the Wassa Communities Against Mining (WACAM), Mr Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, dismissed the idea of making mining the growth pole of the economy on two grounds — that the growth pole theory was archaic and that even if the theory was relevant, mining could not be the ideal sector to promote as a growth pole.
He said mining companies operated with impunity because the law virtually sought to promote their operations.
He said there was no law, for instance, that stopped anybody from mining anywhere and so if a mining company found gold at the Castle in Osu and managed to convince the government about the benefits likely to be derived from the resource, it would bring down the Castle and mine.
Mr Owusu-Koranteng cited an instance in the past when Cabinet gave approval for some mining companies to mine in forest reserves, contrary to the law.
He said mining companies were so powerful and influential that they could always have their way, pointing out, however, that Ghanaians must not allow the companies to destroy the nation.
Bishop Lodonu, for his part, said it was important to address the harm mining activities and the extraction of other natural resources was causing to the environment in the interest of posterity.
"A time will come when we will not have any land to farm. We will dig the gold, dig the oil and die of hunger," he remarked.
Making a presentation on, "Natural resource conflict: An overview of the Ghanaian case", a lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Dr Kumi Ansa-Koi, said Africa was inundated with conflicts emanating from natural resources.
He said the extractive industry had been a major cause of the conflicts which had done more harm than good to the people, with women and children being the worst affected.
Dr Ansa-Koi identified poverty, over-concentration of power, bad governance and greed as some of the causes of natural resource-based conflicts and stressed the need to address them in order not to experience horrible situations, such as those in Nigeria.
Contributing to the topic as a lead discussant, a member of WACAM, Mrs Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, said although Ghana had not experienced natural resource-based conflicts on a large-scale, compared to what pertained in other African countries, signs pointing to that direction were very clear.
She stressed the need for good governance practices to address such conflicts, adding that the quest for foreign investment did not mean "we should disregard the rights of mining communities".
Mrs Owusu-Koranteng said it was wrong for mining companies to renege on the payment of compensation and royalties in lieu of their social corporate responsibility, indicating that the three obligations were separate and distinct.
In another presentation on the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts, a former Chief Director of the Ministry of the Interior, Mr Edwin Barnes, said although conflicts were part of normal daily life, it was important to manage them well.
He said in any conflict situation there was the need for the two parties to co-operate to ensure a win-win situation.
The UN Peace Index ranks Ghana as the foremost peaceful country in Africa and, in the words of Maulvi Wahab Adam, "It’s important for us to maintain the peace in the country."
CENTURIES after European concessionaires had imported heavy machinery into the country to engage in the gold trade, has mining been a blessing or a curse for Ghana?
This is the debate which some environmentalists and the anti-mining coalition in the country are urging the Ghana Chamber of Mines, which last week called for the promotion of mining as a growth pole for the national economy, to engage in.
Statistics indicate that the contribution of mining to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has only increased from 1.3 per cent in 1991 to about five per cent lately.
Drawing attention to the destructive effects of mining on the environment, the group urged the government to institute a national forum to discuss the future of mining in the country.
Representatives of some mining communities and NGOs in the Central and Western regions made the call at a three-day workshop on, "Strengthening the capacities of communities in conflict management", held at Elmina in the Central Region at the weekend.
It was under the auspices of the National Peace Council (NPC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Present were some members of the NPC, including the Chairman and Catholic Bishop of Cape Coast, Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson; the Vice-Chairman and Ameer and Missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana, Maulvi Wahab Adam; the Catholic Bishop of Ho, the Most Reverend Francis Lodonu; a former General-Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Madam Georgina Baiden, and the President of the Ghana Historical Society, Prof Irene Odotei.
The growth pole theory suggests the promotion of one sector of the economy with the intention of making it a magnetic force from which other sectors of the economy will develop for overall national economic growth.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ms Joyce Aryee, is reported to have suggested the promotion of mining as a growth pole in view of the sector’s positive contribution to the country’s economy.
The mining industry has come under a barrage of criticisms for destroying the environment and the livelihoods of farmers, thereby deepening poverty in mining communities, as well as being a source of conflict in the communities.
Tebrebe and Teleku-Bokasu are two mining communities that have witnessed violent clashes in recent times, leading to the loss of lives and property.
Representatives of mining communities who attended the workshop reiterated their resolve to resist mining operations in their localities because they would deprive the people of their farmlands and livelihoods.
They claimed that efforts to seek redress to their grievances at various quarters had not yielded positive results and expressed their determination to protect their land and livelihoods from mining companies if the government failed to address their concerns.
The Executive Director of the Wassa Communities Against Mining (WACAM), Mr Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, dismissed the idea of making mining the growth pole of the economy on two grounds — that the growth pole theory was archaic and that even if the theory was relevant, mining could not be the ideal sector to promote as a growth pole.
He said mining companies operated with impunity because the law virtually sought to promote their operations.
He said there was no law, for instance, that stopped anybody from mining anywhere and so if a mining company found gold at the Castle in Osu and managed to convince the government about the benefits likely to be derived from the resource, it would bring down the Castle and mine.
Mr Owusu-Koranteng cited an instance in the past when Cabinet gave approval for some mining companies to mine in forest reserves, contrary to the law.
He said mining companies were so powerful and influential that they could always have their way, pointing out, however, that Ghanaians must not allow the companies to destroy the nation.
Bishop Lodonu, for his part, said it was important to address the harm mining activities and the extraction of other natural resources was causing to the environment in the interest of posterity.
"A time will come when we will not have any land to farm. We will dig the gold, dig the oil and die of hunger," he remarked.
Making a presentation on, "Natural resource conflict: An overview of the Ghanaian case", a lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Dr Kumi Ansa-Koi, said Africa was inundated with conflicts emanating from natural resources.
He said the extractive industry had been a major cause of the conflicts which had done more harm than good to the people, with women and children being the worst affected.
Dr Ansa-Koi identified poverty, over-concentration of power, bad governance and greed as some of the causes of natural resource-based conflicts and stressed the need to address them in order not to experience horrible situations, such as those in Nigeria.
Contributing to the topic as a lead discussant, a member of WACAM, Mrs Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, said although Ghana had not experienced natural resource-based conflicts on a large-scale, compared to what pertained in other African countries, signs pointing to that direction were very clear.
She stressed the need for good governance practices to address such conflicts, adding that the quest for foreign investment did not mean "we should disregard the rights of mining communities".
Mrs Owusu-Koranteng said it was wrong for mining companies to renege on the payment of compensation and royalties in lieu of their social corporate responsibility, indicating that the three obligations were separate and distinct.
In another presentation on the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts, a former Chief Director of the Ministry of the Interior, Mr Edwin Barnes, said although conflicts were part of normal daily life, it was important to manage them well.
He said in any conflict situation there was the need for the two parties to co-operate to ensure a win-win situation.
The UN Peace Index ranks Ghana as the foremost peaceful country in Africa and, in the words of Maulvi Wahab Adam, "It’s important for us to maintain the peace in the country."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)