Three (3) Ghanaian citizens have petitioned the United Nation’s Secretary General Mr. António Guterres for the removal of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo from the Eminent Group of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advocates as a Co-Chair.
The petition contain accounts of events that exposes the President as being complicit in the fight against illegal mining known popularly as Galamsey which has proven inimical to our water bodies and the climate.
The United Nations, under Goal 6 of the SDGs has set out to provide a world in which there is safe access to water at the most affordable cost to every citizen across the globe. Under its Goal 13, the UN commits also to a safer climate.
The petitioners Elikem Kotoko, Stephen Kwabena Attu and Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese, have noted that the actions of officials, have resulted in polluting water bodies in some parts of the country. Reports have indicated how a section of the Ghanaian population risk not having access to safe water in a few years to come if the activities of illegal miners are not checked.
In recent times, there were revelations to the effect that party officials, members, and government officials, are deeply involved in Galamsey activities that have proven dangerous to the future of the people of Ghana.
We recall how the President, somewhere in 2017, committed to the fight against illegal small scale mining and had placed his presidency on the line to fight it.
Following the revelations of involvement by his party officials and appointees in the entire galamsey set up, the President has not taken any action to reprimand any of his appointees.
Indeed, following the exposé by Tiger Eye of Mr. Charles Bissue where he was captured on video taking bribe to compromise the fight against Galamsey, the President would have been expected to crack the whip and to set example to others. Unfortunately, Mr. Bissue has been cleared of any wrongdoing and brought back to his position at the seat of government.
The petitioners are of the firm view that the president has shown lack of will to fight Galamsey and fight all its related corrupt practices which has proven potent to erode the Goals 6, 13, 14 and 15 of the UN SDG Goals.
As a Co-Chair of the Eminent Group of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advocates, the petitioners believe President Nana Addo was supposed to be a living example to other of his compatriots and counterparts. According to them, the president has proven unfit for reference by his counterparts across other parts of the world as committed to the realization of the SDG goals.
The petitioners believe that his removal from the position as a Co-Chair, would send strong signals that the United Nations is highly committed to the defined goals, and is unwilling to entertain individuals members whose actions or inactions are defeating the purposes they have set out to achieve under the SDGs or will compromise the goals in any way.
Read the full petition:
António Guterres
Secretary-General, United Nations
Geneva
25/02/2020
Dear Sir,
PETITION FOR THE REMOVAL OF GHANA’S PRESIDENT, H.E. NANA ADDO DANQUAH AKUFO-ADDO AS CO-CHAIR OF THE SDG’S ADVOCATES
We the undersigned, who are citizens of the Republic of Ghana, write to petition your high office to remove the President of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, from his position as Co-Chair of the Eminent Group of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advocates.
We are convinced, beyond doubt that the President of Ghana, has lost his credence and relevance on that platform and must be removed from same to salvage the sanctity of the Chair and seriousness expected to be attached to the United Nations (UN) SDGs. We take note of your objective as advocates to ensure the safety of the world. Indeed, under Goals 6 and 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals, your office has committed to clean water and sanitation, and Climate Action. As your objective, under Goal 6, you stated “Everyone on earth should have access to safe and affordable drinking water”. It is on this basis that we lay our petition before you to justify the removal of Ghana’s president as Co-Chair of Advocates of SGDs in the supreme interest of all, especially Ghanaians, to help achieve your stated goals
In 2017, after assuming office as president, there were massive media campaigns [championed by one radio morning show host, Bernard Avle of Citi 97.3mhz situated in the capital, Accra] on the need to stop the pollution of water bodies in Ghana due to the activities of illegal miners known mainly as ‘Galamsey’ in the Ghanaian parlance. On April 4th, 2017, the Media Coalition Against Galamsey was launched, headed, and run by men in the media ostensibly to advocate and to mount pressure on government to ensure an end to the mining activities of illegal miners which were affecting the realization of SDG Goal 6, (http://citifmonline.com/2017/04/media-coalition-against-galamsey-launched/).
At about 1st August, 2017, government launched what it called Operation Vanguard made up of officers from the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service to clamp down on the activities of illegal miners in what can be regarded as a response to the campaign for an end to the activities of ‘galamsey’ operators, (https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/operation-vanguard-launched-to-wipe-out-galamsey.html).
Consequently, the government commissioned an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining which was/is chaired by the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation, Professor Frimpong Boateng, to oversee the efforts of government to end illegal mining activities and to restore the polluted water bodies back to life, and that is to ensure the continuous sustainability of SDGs Goal 6. From the Finance Ministry of Ghana, there was a quarterly commitment of Ghc33 million to this fight. If this commitment is anything to go by, the government would have spent a whooping Ghc300 million on the operations to stop illegal mining.
Prior to that, in January, 2017, the government of Ghana, headed by President Akufo-Addo placed a ban on all small scale mining activities, including those properly and legally licensed to operate on small scale to enable government streamline activities and to ensure the putting in place of measures to curb the rising phenomenon of illegal mining across the mining areas in the country.
Sir, in December of 2018, the government, led by its minister in charge of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Frimpong Boateng, lifted the ban on small scale mining following an announcement of a development of a framework to regularize small scale mining across the country (https://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2018/December-14th/ban-on-small-scale-mining-lifted.php). We wish to emphasize that during the period of the ban imposed by the government, the media in Ghana, had reported of restored water bodies to their original state and mention was made specifically of River Ankobra in the Western region of Ghana where mining activities were on the rise.
In what appeared to be the boldest commitment towards the fight against illegal mining, the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, in July 2017, following the rigorous media call for a stop in illegal mining, stated “I put my presidency on the line for galamsey fight”, (http://presidency.gov.gh/index.php/briefing-room/news-style-2/309-4847).
In 2017, following from government’s operation to clamp down heavily on illegal mining activities on their debilitating effects on our environment and water bodies, a Chinese national, AISHA HUANG, believed to be heavily involved in illegal mining in Ghana, was arrested by the Ghanaian authorities. She was processed for court to the delight of many Ghanaians only to be short-lived. To the surprise of many, she was later deported to China with her court case discontinued with no convincing reason. It was later explained by the Senior Minister of government Mr. Yaw Osafo Marfo that Aisha Huang’s deportation was to enable the Ghanaian government secure a loan facility from Sinohydro, a Chinese company; in a nutshell, her deportation was a Diplomatic decision in exchange for a loan.
In February 2019, an award winning investigative journalist of international repute, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, aired a documentary which exposed officials of government openly taking bribes to aid the circumvention of the laws banning these illegal mining activities and to facilitate the operations further, (https://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2019/February-27th/government-officials-fingered-in-anas-latest-galamsey-expos.php). One key person caught on tape, was Mr. Charles Bissue, an appointee of President Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo and Secretary to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), who was seen collecting bribe from officials of the investigative team (Tiger Eye PI). Mr. Bissue subsequently stepped aside as the Secretary to the IMCIM and a Presidential Staffer to allow investigations into the matter. He was later reinstated as a Presidential Staffer citing a report from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, (https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/charles-bissue-exonerated-in-anas-s-galamsey-expose.html) which report is yet to be released into the public domain. This was at a time Ghana’s Special Prosecutor was in the middle of investigations as he was petitioned by the Tiger Eye PI team to investigate the matter. So in effect, his investigations was countered and abruptly truncated by the CID upon the request of the government.
Soon after the lifting of the ban placed on illegal and small scale mining, there have been rising reports of water bodies getting polluted in a manner that raised concerns. There were images from water bodies serving as the only sources of water to communities along their banks being heavily polluted. Rivers such as River Ankobra in the Western Region, River Pra, River Birim, River Akreso, in the Eastern Region, River Offin, Odaso River in the Ashanti Region, River Tano and several other water bodies, are being polluted, rendering human lives at risk thereby affecting the realization of SDGs Goal 6. Aquatic life was not only at risk but dwindling rapidly.
The Ghana Water Company Limited, the operating water company processing water and distributing to Ghanaians, has had to shut down some of their treatment plants in some parts of the country over the activities of illegal miners which according to them, were affecting their machines and their ability to treat water for household use because of high turbidity. We present the links below to provide you some insight in the magnitude of issues affecting our people:
- https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Galamsey-forcing-GWCL-to-consider-shutting-down-Daboase-plant-846223
- https://starrfm.com.gh/2018/09/galamsey-gwcl-shuts-down-bunso-water-treatment-plant/
- https://citinewsroom.com/2020/02/gwcl-to-shut-down-water-plant-at-odaso-over-galamsey-polluted-river/
While we commend President Akufo-Addo over the stated effort to deal with a phenomenon that preceded his becoming president (and evidence abound in this regard), we are convinced that he has failed to live up to his word and has become complicit in the fight against illegal mining. We make this statement based on the following observations:
We have cited the case of Presidential Staffer, Mr. Charles Bissue whose actions were detrimental to the environment but who was reinstated without any form of hesitation by the President following the open display of disregard to his commitment to fight illegal mining. Not to talk about the clear show of alleged corruption by same Presidential Staffer in the said video tape.
Flowing from the imposition of the ban on illegal mining, government reports of monitoring and tracking some 900 excavators and other mining related equipment used in these illegal activities. Indeed, in the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government of Ghana presented by the Finance Minister to the Parliament of Ghana on the 12th of November, 2019 in paragraph 801, it states these facts (https://www.mofep.gov.gh/sites/default/files/budget-statements/2020-Budget-Statement-and-Economic-Policy.pdf).
In a new twist, in January this year, five hundred (500) of the seized excavators were reportedly missing by the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation, Professor Frimpong Boateng who doubles as chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee Against Illegal Mining, (https://www.theghanareport.com/several-seized-galamsey-excavators-missing-minister-reveals/). Soon after, an arrest was made of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the ruling party’s Vice Chairman Horace Ekow Ewusi as being behind the missing excavators.
Consequently, there was a video recording which contained Mr. Horace Ekow Ewusi in a conversation with the Honourable Minister for Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation, Professor Frimpong Boateng in which the minister was heard allegedly, retorting these words “we all know the party needs money”, in the Akan language. In that video, the individuals involved were heard discussion how the illegal mining sites were to be appropriated among party members to mine for the purposes of funding the political activities of the ruling NPP of which His Excellency President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo is an ultimate beneficiary.
Since these revelations came to light, the President, who serves as a Co-Chair of the SDGs Advocates, has refused to act. The minister whose voice was allegedly captured on the video recording which undermines Goal 6 of the SDGs on Clean Water and Sanitation, remains at post.
The devastating effects of illegal miners since the lifting of the ban on illegal and small scale mining, is felt in many communities along the river bodies mentioned and many others. Citizens in these communities, who have been interviewed severally by the media in Ghana, have bemoaned the devastation on their lives and the harm these activities are causing their sources of water. On Monday 17th of February 2020, Citi FM, a local Radio Station located in Accra, deployed their reporters to various spots who filed reports on the polluted water and their effects on indigenes in the Akyim Herman, Manso Watreso and Atwima Mponoa areas. This link provides you a short video of the state of some water bodies posted on Monday 17th February, 2020 by Citi TV on their YouTube page (https://youtu.be/5CfoUEIUuNU). The continuous operation of illegal miners in and around our water bodies, in the next few years, would cut off a large section of the Ghanaian public from access to “safe and affordable drinking water” as spelt out in Goal 6 of your Sustainable Development Goals.
We have concluded that President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo has failed in his fight in Ghana against illegal mining which effectively, is a failure to protect the water bodies affected by the activities of illegal miners as stated under Goal 6 of the SDGs.
From accounts elaborated above, it is clear that the continuous stay on the Advocates platform as a Co-Chair by Ghana’s President His Excellency Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, undermines the impact and message the United Nations (UN) put across to the world. His continuous stay does not serve as a good example for the agenda the Advocates anticipate to achieve.
To maintain the integrity of the SDGs Advocates, we petition your high office to remove the President of Ghana as a Co-Chair in order to send the strongest signal that the UN wishes to provide the strongest message as well as the strongest signal towards the realization of its SDGs.
Kidly find listed below, very relevant links and pictures attached to buttress our position and the dire situation Ghana finds itself with reference to the failed fight against Galamsey:
- https://youtu.be/5CfoUEIUuNU(Citi FM/Citi TV Report)
- https://youtu.be/Zkd-ZocgWVI (Video of Mr. Horace Ekow
Awusi in the office Minister for Environment, Science,
Technology & Innovation, Professor Frimpong Boateng)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oezT57dySGM (Video of Presidential Staffer, Charles Bissue then Secretary to the Inter-Ministerial Committee Against Illegal Mining taking bribe to thwart the efforts of the Committee)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k70KeE8X3Tc (JoyNews editorial on Illegal Mining and missing Excavators)
- http://www.theghanareport.com/figures-reveal-how-ghana-may-run-out-of-potable-water-soon-due-to-galamsey/
We respectfully submit.
SIGNED:
Elikem Kotoko, Accra, Ghana
Stephen Kwabena Attuh, Accra, Ghana
Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese, Damongo, Ghana
