Peace, democratic governance and chequebook journalism

The National Peace Council is exploring avenues to partner Ghanaian media houses to roll out programmes to enhance professional reporting in conflict sensitivities.
 

As the media provide and facilitate the flow of information, the Council acknowledges that they constitute an important component of the political process in democracies.

Chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante, however says the media must be encouraged to discourage political insults, lies and invectives and facilitate debates on issues bothering on national interest.

“Reporting on conflicts and elections in a way that promotes peace in the country is critical to Ghana’s democratic governance,” he said.

The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have initiated a consultative platform to promote dialogue and build consensus on national policy response to systematic governance issues.

The “Multi-stakeholder Consultative Platform for Peace and Democratic Governance” seeks to build consensus towards developing pragmatic and workable interventions to deal with critical issues of peace and governance in Ghana.

One of the outcomes to be achieved on this platform is to conduct advocacy campaigns to empower citizens with information and knowledge to promote peaceful coexistence and social cohesion.

Among activities is engagement with media editors and reporters to negotiate their partnership for supporting the peace campaign using their various media channels. They will also be educated on conflict sensitive reporting and peacebuilding,

UNDP’s Peace and Governance Analyst, Melody Azinim, says the UNDP will continue to support the different peace actors to ensure that Ghana continues to advance its enviable record as an oasis of peace in Africa.

Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante said “the media’s positive contribution should not blind us to the dangers inherent in mass communication, especially where effective control may be in the hands of a very few, usually powerful individuals who are motivated by pecuniary and political interests”.

He observed media personnel may face moral problems over conflict of interest that might affect their objectivity, neutrality and ability to report accurately and justly.

“Chequebook journalism and gutter press and media can visit chaos upon our democratic good,” he said. “For the sake of national cohesion, we must encourage the media to be fair, responsible and objective in their coverage and reportage of issues”.

‘Chequebook’ journalism is the practice where the journalist buys stories and is in danger of creating much ado about nothing, while pandering to the greed, vulnerability and undiscerning gullibility of people.

These acts undermine the sanctity of the media, said the Chairman of the National Peace Council.

The urgency of tackling climate-related security risk in Africa

The African Union Peace and Security Council has been commended for dedicating its 828^th session to climate change.

During an open session on the theme: “Climate Change Funding in line with the Africa Adaptation Initiative (AAI) to Contribute towards Peace and Security”, the Council noted the inextricable linkages between climate change and peace and security, and emphasized the need for collective and holistic approaches towards building resilience and mitigating the adverse effects of climate.

Council underscored the importance of supporting access to cleaner and more efficient, as well as more sustainable sources of energy, sustainable land use practices and other activities that contribute towards building community resilience and thus mitigating competition for access to scarce resources.

The Council also underscored the importance of comprehensive, climate related security risk information, including credible data and analyses with a view to enabling Member States to predict with more precision the frequency of climate change related risks, including natural disasters, and to enhance the resilience of the communities.

African civil society has acknowledged “climate-induced human insecurity is increasing in Africa”.

The move by the Council is therefore welcoming to take the issue to another level.

“As a continent severely impacted by climate change, African should not wait until the 
narrative on climate change, peace and conflict and displacement is defined from elsewhere. This is the move on the right direction,” said Mithika Mwenda, Executive Director of the PanAfrican Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).

The 24^th UN climate change talks (COP24), held at Katowice, Poland, made further progress on the rulebook to operationalize the Paris Agreement.

To examine how the Katowice Climate Package could respond to climate-induced human insecurity, PACJA, together with the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Oxfam convened a meeting on the margins of the 32^nd Summit of the African Union.  

Participants in the two-day consultations made recommendations that sought to advance the discourse on climate change and migration:

“Taking note of the sparse efforts in addressing the discourse on climate change and migration, African leaders should establish an African discourse on the climate security issue;

There is need for enhanced understanding of the link between climate change, natural disasters, conflicts, displacements, migration, peace and security through strengthening existing institutions, allocation of resources and expanding their mandate;

There is need to strengthen the coherence between climate change, disaster risk reduction and development actions at all levels for durable solutions to forced displacements”.

Researchers at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) have also released a new essay that gives impetus for the African Union (AU) to refocus on climate-related security risks and build a broad support to appoint a dedicated AU Special Envoy for Climate Change and Security.

“The idea of the Special Envoy is apt and an opportunity to pre-empt migration and forced displacement,” says Dr. Florian Krampe. “Moreover, this will provide an opportunity to ‘climate-proof’ the AU’s peace and security architecture”.

The AU Peace and Security Council has reiterated its request for the AU Commission to expedite the finalization of the outcomes of the study on the nexus between climate change and peace and security in the continent.

Emphasis was made on the need for the AU to continue mobilizing a united African front at the global level to mitigate the effects of climate change at both, regional and continental levels.

The Council also reiterated the importance of Member States, Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution (RECs/RMs) and AU partners to actively pursue integrated approaches to boost climate change resilience and to pay particular attention to prevention and further strengthening the humanitarian-development nexus.

“We will continue to work with AU, ECA and other partners to ensure we provide the necessary support to the Council so as to build evidence on the nexus between climate change, conflict, migration, peace and security. We also urge African countries and RECs, and particularly those experiencing instability, to dig deeper into the root causes of conflict," said Mithika.

A session at the level of Heads of State and Government will be organized which will be solely dedicated to climate change.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Airport Company cautioned against security breaches at entry point

The Ghana Airports Company has been cautioned against compromising the country’s security at the Kotoka International Airport with its ongoing renovation exercise.

Chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Dr. Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, shares an experience of returning from a trip abroad to an airport in darkness.

“When we got into the arrival hall, the whole place was totally dark; immigration officers were using lanterns to process people, and anybody who walks into your country, you cannot take their fingerprints, you cannot take anything and you allow them in,  as far as the security of the country is concerned that is not good,” he observed.

The airport expansion project includes the construction of additional floors and facilities as well as the installation of electrical, mechanical and plumbing works with the goal to ease congestion at the facility.

Rev. Adu-Gyamfi expects the airport company to ensure its standby power generators are running at the point of entry to be able to screen all arrivals in the interest of national security.

He also raised concerns with the long delays in baggage claim on the carousel.

“It takes about an hour and half sometimes waiting for your baggage to arrive; it’s unheard of anywhere,” observed the reverend minister. “Whilst we are expanding the facilities at the arrival hall, we need to look at how do we ensure that the processes of checking through your baggage and bringing them out come as quickly as possible”.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Asantehene to address Chatham House on threats to global peace and security

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, will address a high-level audience at Chatham House in the United Kingdom on the escalating threats to global peace and security on October 30, 2015.

For over 80 years, the Chatham House has provided a unique platform for statesmen and great thinkers across the world to articulate ideas that contribute to peace and the building of a better world.

Among the icons of history who have been heard from Chatham House are Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and the recent Muamar opposition leader, Ansa Suu Kyi.

“The engagement with Otumfuo signifies the recognition of the role he can play as a global peace maker in a troubled world,” said the statement from the Manhyia Palace, signed by Chief of Staff, Kofi Badu.

As guest of the Cambridge University and the Royal Institute of International Relations, the King will also undertake a number of functions in the UK.

The Asantehene will be the Guest of Honour at this year’s Cambridge-Africa Day, which is celebrated at Cambridge University on October 23, 2015.

“At the invitation of Lord Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and now Master of Magdalene, Otumfuo will deliver the keynote address at a function to mark the re-launch of an endowment for a full time Nelson Mandela Professor of African Archaeology at the University on October 24,” said the statement.

KNUST Summer School proffers solutions to develop tertiary education

Ghana’s former Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey, wants public universities empowered to enter into partnerships for commercial activities that generate funding for their operations.

The changing times, he noted, demand that the country’s universities are provided with the right policy framework and assured of the predictability in the use of their resources.

“There is no reason why KNUST cannot partner with some private sector enterprises to develop commercial activities to which they can lend the science and research capabilities and share in the gains and profits that these enterprises make and the right policy environment be assured that they can retain the resources that they make from such investments,” said Prof. Botchwey.

He was speaking at the 5^th Summer School of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), organized by the Quality Assurance and Planning Unit.

The four-day event is on the theme: “Sustainable Development of Tertiary Institutions in Ghana Amidst Economic and Security Challenges”.

Ongoing reforms in the country’s public sector have an impact in the educational sector – including financial constraints, delay in release of subventions, embargo on employment, issues of utilities, lack of research funding, increasing student-to-staff ratio and staff capacity development.

In the midst of the changing environment, Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Prof. William Otoo Ellis, says the new order requires that institutions are developed in tandem with strategic mandate without compromising on quality.

Participants at the Summer School are expected to explore, learn and share good experiences amidst economic and security challenges facing tertiary education.

“Obviously we cannot continue to do things the same way as we use to; as stakeholders we should find ways of turning these constraints or seeming challenges into opportunities,” stated Prof. Ellis.

The event is to equip staff of the university with practical insights to sustainably develop the various institutions.

According to Prof. Kwesi Botchwey, there is a correlation between tertiary education and national development, emphasizing that funding remains the single most critical condition for Ghana to establish a viable and sustainable tertiary educational system that responds to the needs of development.

“If the tertiary education system is to be sustainable, it must be differentiated, it must have high quality,” he noted.

Fundamental principles to achieve this include public funding that facilitates tertiary educational system which promotes the overall national interest whilst the funding approach is aligned to the goals of the tertiary education systems.

Prof. Botchwey believes a policy and incentive framework that is clear, transparent and consistent will enable universities generate funds internally and assured of autonomy in use of the funds.

He says universities should develop new programmes that leverage the particular expertise and area of focus of the university itself.

“The solution to sustainability in the end lies with the innovative and creative ways that the universities themselves can device to raise resources,” he observed.

Petroleum tanker drivers worried at oil siphoning at Kumasi BOST

Petroleum tanker drivers in Kumasi have expressed dismay at the continuous fuel siphoning at the Kumasi depot of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Company.

In October last year, police busted security supervisor with Jidem Security Services, Stephen Nana Nketia and four members of an alleged oil- siphoning gang.

They were arrested during an operation to steal 24 drums of petroleum products at the depot, after switching off the CCTV system to break into a secured valve.

The latest incident occurred Monday dawn when thieves broke into the depot.

The tanker drivers, who lift fuel from the depot, are not enthused at the posture of BOST authorities to tackle the security lapses at the facility.

A leader of the tanker drivers union, Kwabena Ebo, says there have been several discussions with management of the BOST to review its contract with the private security firm.

“We don’t need the Jidem Security again because their continuous engagement will not abate the spate of theft which has been going on for a long time,” he stated.

Luv News sources say depot managers are often blamed for shortages in collation and tallying of sales figures.

According to Ebo, the losses incurred at the depot will not be curtailed with the present security operatives at post.

The BOST facility in Kumasi holds a maximum capacity of 84 million barrels of petrol and diesel to serve the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and parts of the Western Regions.

Depot Manager, Nicholas Yaw Samari, has suggested an oversight support by national security apparatus to augment the operations of private security firm “in order to protect the national asset”.

The management of BOST will not react to the drivers’ calls for a review of its contract with Jidem Security, because of an ongoing court hearing of the theft involving Stephen Nketia.

“We are currently upgrading our systems at the depot to make sure that we withstand or defeat some of these unnecessary going on regarding security,” stated Nat Acheampong, Corporate Communications Manager at BOST.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Ghana Mineworkers’ Union threatens to withdraw members from mines

The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union (GMWU) has threatened to withdraw its members from the mines for fear of attacks and reprisals from illegal miners, following government’s withdrawal of state security personnel.

The Union is unhappy with the government’s unilateral decision to withdraw the military and other state security personnel from the mining concessions of major mining companies.

Government decided to provide security for the industry when it became the target for indiscriminate scramble by illegal miners aided by the Chinese and other Ghanaian collaborators.

“The least that the GMWU expected government to do was not to add to the already burdened industry to aggravate an already turbulent development in the mining sector,” said statement by General Secretary of the Union, Prince William Ankrah.

The mining industry is heavily challenged with the falling prices of gold and other metals on the international market, coupled with other internal hindrances culminating in the threat of over 4,000 mine workers likely to lose their job.

The GMWU believes government’s decision is untimely, unwelcome and would eventually be counter-productive.

 

“The Union, in our humble and considered opinion, would like to, on behalf of the over 20,000 members who are all employees of this subsector urge government to reconsider this policy decision,” the statement read.

The mineworkers are appealing to the government to allow the status-quo remain until such a time that the Chinese and  other foreign-led “galamsey” menace is eliminated or brought under control “because our intelligence indicates that the perpetrators are lurking around to strike again”.

This, the Union believes will safeguard the safety of mineworkers who continue to strive to work diligently to contribute their quota to the nation’s development.

“However, if government sticks to its guns and remains adamant, the Union may withdraw labour for fear of attacks and reprisals from the illegal miners on its cherished members,” the statement noted.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh