Bright Simons
@BBSimons
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Streams---of---Consciousness | Provocateur
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This short essay summarises my new policy paper for Paris-based FDL about shocking discrepancies between the World Bank's reporting about its ~$4bn portfolio & the reality on the ground. It calls for greater CSO involvement.
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Africa has 2 female $ billionaires.
1 made her money when she got an oil block from the Govt, and the other when she got the national oil company to run from her father.
China has 64 female billionaires.
They made their money building companies in tech, retail and real estate
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Kwahu dude said to his Boss: "I need a pay raise, 3 companies are after me." After much haggling they agreed on 30% rise. On his way out his boss asked him which 3 companies are trying to poach him. "Poach? Nah. ECG has cut my light. MTN want their qwikloan & I owe fees at IPMC."
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35-year-old Ghanaian art phenomenon, Ibrahim Mahama, is BOLD. Invited to mount an installation at Milan's Porta Venezia, he went over & draped the entire structure in jute sacks. As a gateway of commerce dating to Roman times, Porta Venezia got an African marketplace makeover.
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For all those who complained about the sound quality of my 5th TED/TEDx talk: remastered, redubbed & re-performed. Same key message: it is not the "substance" of crises that must be studied to guard against future ones, but rather "key generic features".
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Interested in the Agyapa Royalties matter, where the Ghana govt is selling forward 49% of the country's entitlement to future gold royalties earnings through an SPV IPO in London? But been too busy to follow the debate? Here's a crash course.
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Every entrepreneur/activist begins with an idea for change, often with the world itself in sight. In time, they come to learn that change is really about power. Only ideas that shift power matter in the end. Worldchanging = Powershifting. Here's my theory:
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Ghana's former National Security Advisor says he has counted more Toyota landcruisers in Accra than in Tokyo. He would therefore like to ask if this is a sign of craziness or normality. 🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤔
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How many are even aware that until recently the Ghana Card brand design itself was not even owned by Ghana? That it was owned by a French company & the country had to pay to get it? When Civil Society scrutinises your govt, be grateful. There's a war for the soul of your country.
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Fascinating argument:
If you pay e-levy of $1.15 billion in 2022, you can demand more accountability from govt.
Question:
Ghanaians paid $9.5 billion in taxes in 2021. How much accountability did that buy them? Or this is a new bargain?
😊
Gotta love politicians.
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The city government of Accra says they were caught completely off guard by this 15-storey tower in the plush airport district of the city. They have informed the developers to remove it quickly because according to their cadastral records, it isn't supposed to be there.
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The Ghana Airforce still uses the Fokker-27 400 from the 1960s. The Dutch stopped making it in 1987. It is still defending the "territorial integrity" of Ghana bcos the country has a limited budget. Yet 1000s of 2016 laptops refreshed in 2017 can't be used in the 2020 elections.
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Since the Ghanaian Electoral Commission refuses to show professionalism & institutional maturity, sections of the country's Civil Society Movement will independently start tabulating & auditing the disputed Techiman South polls (pink sheets). TRUST CSOs to do a MORE thorough job.
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So, this is the classy philanthropist who, without any noisy fanfare, has been paying for the dialysis costs of needy kidney patients in Ghana's Premier hospital. A short holdup in their contributions caused the recent panic. Philanthropy in Ghana is a quiet but powerful force.
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The new President of Senegal publicises his asset declaration form in a show of transparency as he doubles down on his anti-corruption campaign platform days after his election victory.
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Ghana's last State-owned carrier:
Ghana International Airlines
Number of planes at time of collapse: 1
Annual CEO Pay at time of collapse: $220,000
Ethiopian state-owned carrier: Ethiopian Airlines
Number of planes in 2022: 133
Avg CEO annual pay: ~$27,000
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Dr. Sengeh, Sierra Leone's Education Minister, visits Accra. I'm guessing a quick stopover in Achimota College would be a bit awkward, hey?
😊🤦🏽♂️🤦🏽♂️🤦🏽♂️😉
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There are ~120000 homeless people in Accra alone. And an estimated 5.4 million slum dwellers in Ghana. Most of these people have "no fixed address". How do you then tie a national ID system to an untested "digital address"? Do these decision makers understand their own country?
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Aerial view of Ghana's National Cathedral. Please, where in the world, much less in the developing world, can a supervising architect take $6 million for a project that is at this stage of construction? A project beset with project management challenges?
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Global food & beverage giant, Nestle, distributes $575 in local currency to all local employees in Ghana as a one-off economic hardship cushion in October 2022.
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AfCON & World Cup Qualifiers
1. Budget
Ghana - $25m (2019: $6.3m)
Malawi - $1.22m
Kenya - $2.8m
Nigeria - $26m request by NFF pending (2019 approved: $2.8m)
2. Round 1 Winning Bonus per Player
Ghana - $30k
Malawi - $1.22k
Kenya - $2.5k
Nigeria - $5k
AfCON 2022 Prize: $4.5m
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Ghana has 40 traditional cathedrals. 24 owned by the Catholics. 11 by Anglicans. And the rest by Methodists. It also has at least 124 cathedral-scale christian worship centers. However, for some strange reason, none of them are attracting enough tourists, so a new one is coming.
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Civil Society Leaders in Ghana descends on the Country's Auditor General to force a stop to the unconstitutional refusal to penalise officials who waste or misappropriate public funds. Veteran activist & personal lawyer to Ghana's President joins the protestors.
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I am wowed by the daring of Accra's real estate entrepreneurs. Sharp Hostel at Osu offers a nice dormitory with red-and-white floral themes. Cute bunker beds. Shared bathrooms. Plastic bins. Ceiling fan. And tidy pricing of just ~$50 per bed per night. 👏🏽
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As the Mbappe wave sweeps across Africa, jubilant supporters should do well to remember that he could have been playing for Cameroon. Twice he tried & twice he was rebuffed. And for what? 😏
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Kenya is paying $3 per dose for its vaccines (with an additional $0.07 planned for logistics). South Africa paid $5.25. Most EU countries are paying around $2.16 (but becos of volume & bargaining power issues there, let's discount). Why is Ghana budgeting $10 per dose?
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Most Ghanaians think that Ghana Card is the greatest thing since sliced bread. They don't know that they are being ripped off. The lack of awareness is a product of "State Enchantment". This essay is the first attempt to de-hypnotise the masses.
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Since it is Twitter (X) that landed me in the lawsuit, it is only fair to inform the Twitter crowd that the issues are now fully joined with Fidelity Bank. Public accountability work is a marathon not a sprint. So, let's take it slowly. 🙏🏽
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Since the Fidelity Bank lawsuit in the wake of our attempts to hold ECG to account, many people have reached out offering donations for my legal costs. How generous! But
@benboakye
& others have an even more powerful idea: a Public Interest Litigation Fund!
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Dark rumours circulating in Accra of a politically exposed Ghanaian bigshot knocking heads with British airport customs about millions of sterling being moved through the UK without the necessary paperwork. Frantic digging for trusted sources all over.
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Despite the serious work IMANI did to show that the attempt to hand over Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to Torrentco was dangerous, they rebranded Torentco to TEPL & by executive fiat handed over the national asset anyway! Forcing Ghana's Special Prosecutor to step in. Aaba! 🤦🏽♂️
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By the way, the software glitches at ECG is a reminder to Ghanaian leaders to THINK CRITICALLY as they continue to push this flawed idea of centralising all civic services in one Ghana Card database. Should a zero day or ransomware exploit occur, the country will shut down!
Queues are building up across Accra as electricity consumers try to load up prepaid credits at the few vendors that appear unaffected by software glitches. Prepaid was brought in to prevent commercial losses due to customer arrears but no safeguards were put in for downtime.
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In 1930, the colonial govt of Gold Coast (now Ghana) bought about 5 sq km of land in Achimota, marginally increasing its meagre land holdings, to set up a Forest Reserve. In 2013, the govt transformed the reserve into an Eco-park. This month, the Prez ended the reserve status.
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In 2021 Kenya will spend ~15% of govt income servicing debt. Ghana will spend ~45%. Kenya went for an IMF loan of $2.4bn to be disbursed over 3 yrs at a ~2% interest rate. Ghana just borrowed $3bn at an avg rate of 8%+. 200,000 Kenyans are protesting. Ghana is celebrating. 🤷🏽♂️
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Ghana's incoming Agric Minister was once enlisted in the US Airforce. During his vetting by Parliament, the Opposition Minority Leader asked him what his last rank before leaving the military was. The Deputy Speaker whispered that it is "classified". By whom? US or Ghana govt? 🤔
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Attempts by the Ghanaian government to force through an unpopular tax on electronic financial payments & mobile money are being resisted by Ghana's resurgent political opposition to the point of fisticuffs in the chamber of Parliament.
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Ghana's EC is simply incorrigible. Which law in Ghana says that if two persons attest that a person is a Ghanaian then they automatically become a Ghanaian? Yet, they will accept a "guarantee form" & reject identity cards issued by recognised state bodies for identification.
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Well, note:
1. Ghana waited too long to go to the IMF.
2. IMF doesn't like basket cases.
3. Ghana stubbornly refused to sign on to the DSSI. IMF will insist.
4. It will take weeks to get an IMF staff agrmt.
5. Then the IMF Board has to agree.
6. So this is NOT a short-term option
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Accra Mall is chasing a swanky Burger Joint for ~$170,000 of unpaid rent & $8k of utility bills. The case has shed so much light in an ongoing study of the Accra real estate market. The burger joint was paying ~$10,500 in rent a month. That's a lot of burgers, chips & soda!
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A Ghanaian court has granted a 10-day "interim order" against a member of Parliament investigating a matter of conflict of interest against a powerful clergy man who served as secretary to the "National Cathedral". Courts should not impede Parliament's public accountability work!
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Small question. No vex. Why do most Ghanaians ignore the management of the country’s football until there is a tournament. Then they grab a seat, open a beer & automatically assume that since they last paid attention, Ghana must have magically become a great football nation? 🏃🏾
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Apparently, the Council of State was inaugurated today. This body costs Ghana ~$1.5m/yr minus ex-gratia for its 31 members every 4 yrs. And, since its law was passed in Oct 2020, is now entitled to a full-time Secretariat. Yet, it has no website & publishes none of its reports.
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Military at collation centers. Military at checkpoints. Military on court grounds. Military to regulate parliamentary procedure in the Chambers of Parliament. Are the civilian political leaders feeling out of their depth in ruling Ghana or what exactly?
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Rumour:
Some bum got thrown out of Balme Library yesterday. He was standing by a shelf laughing hysterically. When the librarian went to check, she found that he had taken out all the copies of the Ghana Constitution and piled them up on a shelf in the FICTION section.
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In 2017, the govt of Ghana released a little over $100,000 to operate mental health facilities across the country. It also spent roughly the same amount on each Toyota Land Cruiser released to senior govt appointees to oversee service delivery, including in the health sector.
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You may be thinking that Agyapa is old news. But you should still join this session if:
1. You are really interested in understanding how govt works in Ghana;
2. You want to refresh your skills in tools like cost-benefit analysis, strategic reasoning, & critical thinking.
See you
The much anticipated X Space is now here. Join us tomorrow as we host
@BBSimons
on our X Space to talk about the Agyapa deal.
Co-hosts are
@obiMpenaAustine
and
@ghanamunsemsem_
.
Don’t Miss out.
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If you are older than 37yrs, you've lived longer than Bob Marley, Marilyn Monroe, Alexander the Great, the Christ, Jim Hendrix, Lumumba, Brittany Murphy, Princess Diana, Tupac, Eva Peron & Bruce Lee. Clearly, you've had more time than you think.
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This talk sums up my frustrations & hopes right now. A. *Solutions* being pushed with little attention to the *ideas* driving them B. Ideas are rarely valueless C. Ideas from places like Africa are marginalised. D. The result: cognitive imperialism!
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Just got briefed: Senior Ghanaian medical consultants are apparently furious with top politicians for "toying" with COVID-19, by promoting mass gatherings etc, and yet constantly calling them even when they miss a bowel movement whimpering about fears of infection.
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We promised to document for posterity why the Bank of Ghana is guilty as charged.
Here you go.
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A politically influential Christian preacher who accused state elements of plotting his abduction/assassination has changed his mind. The about-turn came as the country's Vice President visited his church this Christmas & made a generous donation for charitable activities.
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Someone tell the Mandarins at the Bank of Ghana: remove the politicians from one of the new cedi specimens & replace them with the late Kofi Allotey, the only Ghanaian theoretical physicist of international repute & first full Professor of Math! Politicos have been given enough!
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"Sometimes a constipation of thoughts manifests as a diarrhoea of words."
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British Airways has removed the first class cabin from its flights to Ghana. A group of highly politically connected Ghanaians frequenting the London route is outraged. They have threatened to make a diplomatic incident out of the whole affair if BA persists down this path.
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When u hear of apocalyptic price increases in places like UK it's like:
- Cheap bread selling for 39p instead of 36p (~6.13 to 6.64 GHS)
-Fresh milk selling at £1.30 from £1.25
- Weekly shopping from £10.88 to £11.12
Comparing this kind of inflation to Ghana/Zimbabwe is misguided
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Ghana Police did not cover itself and the Rulers of the Republic with glory yesterday. And the world took note. 🤦🏽♂️
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The posture of the civil society groups that opposed Agyapa remains unchanged: the deal represents taking the little Ghana earns from gold, privatising it in London cheaply so that well-connected people can buy low & sell high. It is a national betrayal.
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Many analysts have been worried about govt of Ghana running a near-ponzi scheme of constantly increasing borrowing to pay for the escalating costs of growing debt. Turns out it is worse than that. For a while now, the govt has actually been printing money to pay the debt. 🤔
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Insurgent Peter Obi beats Bola Tinubu in the latter's home state of Lagos. But that's not the interesting thing. Turnout was just 19%!
1.35 million out 7 million registered voters showed up. In a state supposedly inhabited by 24 million people.
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Yes, we await service
1. The dumsor that the people experience recurrently stems from financial mismanagement
2. We will probe anything that allows that to happen. Including ECG FX deals
3. The courts support sound public policy & public interest
4. For the people till we die.🙇🏽♂️
I understand that lawyers of my friend,
@bbsimons
, were told today that Fidelity has filed a libel lawsuit over his tweet about ECG buying forex at 13.95. We wait for service.
For those of us fighting to prevent Dumsor caused by financial mismanagement, this opens a new WARFRONT.
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Today, I made a bit more progress in my effort to understand the fascinating surge of the Ghana Cedi against the dollar. I noticed massive buy-sell (bid-offer) spreads of up to 35% in places. This shows that volatility is coupled with low liquidity. Brokers want to buy cheap.
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A Ghanaian state owned company (GACL) enters a revenue sharing deal with another company (Frontiers). GACL is asked how much Frontiers made from the deal. GACL says it doesn't know. So how does GACL know it wasn't cheated of its share? See why Ghana govt has money issues?
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The Govt of Gh is waging a PR campaign to convince a sceptical country about its mobile money & fintech tax (e-levy). All sorts of promises about what the tax will do are being made.
Netizens have started memes to mock this.
Like:
"e-Levy will give bald people free hair."
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Committee Chair: Minister, we are here to investigate the source of your wealth...
Minister: When I was poor, did you investigate the source of my poverty?
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1. Govt must ban import of foreign rice & chicken to protect infant local industries.
2. Govt must ban the telecast & internet transmission of all foreign football games to protect the infant local league.
Many Africans support the 1st & reject the 2nd but the logic is similar.
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Ghana's largest pension fund, the State-owned SSNIT, per its latest published annual report, has issued corporate loans totalling $300m, of which an amazing $254m have so far gone bad. 🤔
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For anything to change, three things must intersect: passion, knowledge and power. The world's problem right now is that, often, those with knowledge have no passion and those with power have no knowledge.
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Accra is on edge after 1 of Ghana's fiercest investigative journalists dropped a trailer of a documentary premiering on Monday about a timber merchant who has won a contract to monitor all mineral & oil production in Ghana & be paid a share of every dollar made in sales.
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"Heroes aren't heroes because they must, but because they choose."
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Just imagine this scenario:
The Deputy Speaker of Ghana's Parliament announces to the House, "all that are in favour, say Aye." Then he also leans back, open his mouth & scream as loud as he can. When he finishes, then he smiles, "the ayes have it, members".
#WeLoveDrama
🤭😉
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There is NOT a single Ghanaian government policy in recent years that when one looks into it carefully, one will not find the long arms of PROCUREMENT. 😒😏😏
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Is this the driest Ghanaian Christmas on record? I'm shocked by the absence of queues in major supermarkets all this week. Or is it that shopping habits have changed? E-commerce? A return to informal markets? 🤔
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Which reminds me:
Sometime in 2006, the animals in the Accra zoo (founded as a private menagerie for Ghana's 1st Prez) were relocated to Kumasi so the Indian govt could build Ghana a prez palace. A new zoo was started in 120 acres of Achimota Forest land. Today, behold its lion.
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Nigeria spends on average ~$900,000 on each of its 105 embassies & missions per year.
South Africa spends ~$1.2 million on each of its 126 embassies & missions abroad per year.
Ghana spends on avg $1.8 million on each of its 60 missions abroad.
#AlmightyGhana
#ExpensiveState
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Ghana people, it doesn't matter how much judicial eminence is used to obscure this simple fact, in Ghana:
A) one can obtain citizenship if either parent is Ghanaian.
B) Birth Certs indicate whether or not either parent is Ghanaian.
C) Ergo, a birth cert is PROOF of citizenship.
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We've been chasing ECG, pursuing CWM matters, fighting over gas value chain issues (a la Genser), probing power tariff proposals, highlighting IPP debt buildup etc etc. I'm afraid I've never seen Ms. Nelson amplify any of that work. Ever. Not even a retweet. Now, why is that? 🤷🏾♂️
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Abusuapanyin Judas: What's that, Santo?
Santo: my car keys.
Judas: but you don't have a car?
Santo: yes. But the keys were cheaper so I bought them first.
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I can't wrap my mind around the whole okada legality debate. You can ride a motorcycle and carry another person on the back legally. But if you charge that person money then it suddenly becomes risky and unsafe and thus illegal? 🤔🤔🤔
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Ghana's EC, the body that runs the country's elections, recently set up a 21-person advisory panel. A full 60% are religious officials. No doubt spiritual leaders are very influential. But 80% of the EC's job is logistics & tech. Not a single panel member has that background.
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Oh okay. At least one major religious leader initially linked to Ghana's "National Cathedral" had the leadership-courage to raise concerns about the frighteningly shocking governance standards on display. And even stepped aside. All hope not lost then. 🤔
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Alistair Mathias' revelations to undercover journalists posing as criminals in search of a money launderer have opened a can of worms in Ghana. Analysts see a web of corruption & intrigue entangling security chiefs, govt ministers & even a Supreme Court Judge.
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The most annoying & most ridiculous excuse for poor quality African politicians is this: "they are a reflection of the society". Hello, if we wanted a "reflection" we would have bought a MIRROR! The whole point of leadership is to CHANGE SOCIETY! Not to come & reflect it!
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Regarding the Supreme Court ruling, it's summed up as follows: if a public agency is given a job to do by law, it can do it ANYHOW it wants so long as they don't break a SPECIFIC law. Even if their way is absurd and wasteful. Obviously, NO governance activist can support this.
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Following the protest by some Ghanaian architects about the hiring of David Adjaye to design 111 clinics for Gh Govt, I took a quick look. The $6 million for the designs came from COVID funds. I also learnt that masks & sanitisers for students 2 stay in sch cost the Govt $100m.
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1/ Why does IMANI always refuse to give EC the benefit of the doubt?
A. Bcos we know them more than you do. We've spent time reading 1000s of pages about their procurement work. You haven't. Trust us, not them. 😊
B. We found them to be lying at every turn. Trust & lies don't mix
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Ghana seems to have exported its State-owned Enterprise gloom. Most folks don't pay attention to Ghana International Bank, a Bank of Ghana subsidiary in London. From profit of ~$17m 6yrs ago to a loss of ~$16.5m today. And, oh, they tripled staff costs during the same period. 🤔
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The cost of dialysis in Accra can exceed 100k GHS a year. Many poor people in Ghana these days need dialysis but can't afford. After much pressure, NHIA has grudgingly released 2M GHS, enough for 10 - 20 folks.
Same NHIA budgeted 400M for Ghana Cards in 2023 & 300M for 2024.
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Ghana is back for intensive care at the IMF bcos it refused to complete the last treatment course started in 2015. In 2019, when it was discharging itself:
A. It asked for waivers on key symptomatic issues.
B. Hadn't met any of the structural targets.
C. Banked hope on delusions.
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Strange country. Ghana govt spent months pushing new tax bills in Parliament. The Opposition resisted passage every inch of the way. The business lobby did NOTHING to team up with the Opposition or to activate Civil Society. Now that the bills are law, they're protesting? 🤦🏽♂️
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Govt of Ghana spokespersons say "half of the world's countries" have gone for an "IMF bailout". This is not true. The IMF has many programs. Those that can be classed as "bailouts" are not the ones like the RFI, RCF & CCRT that many countries, incl Ghana, went for in 2020.
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Dark rumours are afoot that the govt of Ghana plans another attempt to list Agyapa in London without returning to Parliament for the people's representatives to have a say in this widely discredited & unpatriotic move to strip Ghana of its gold assets. 😡
#Darkness
#ChaosAhead
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As the year draws to a close, one of the mysteries that remain unexplained is what Mr. Cary Summers did to earn ~$6 million as a consultant to Ghana's "National Cathedral". Why does Ghana still owe his Nehemiah Group? Maybe without the 80m GHS to share in 2023, answers will come.
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Only in a country where the elites have vacated their gatekeeping role on behalf of citizens can a law saying that you can't import cars or clothing unless a committee appointed by 3 Ministers give you a permit be sent to Parliament in a fast-track form that allows no changes.🤦🏽♂️
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Friends, I am delighted to report to you that we have something of a hung parliament. Next time we have something like an Agyapa, Kelni or EC Thales deal before the legislature, CSOs can count on Parliament having the means to thwart the will of the Executive! Thank you, Ghana!
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