Our Ref: OG/2023/027

OCCUPYGHANA PRESS STATEMENT

Accra, 27 October 2023

OCCUPYGHANA DEMANDS CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO AKOSOMBO DAM WATER SPILLAGE AND MATTERS ARISING FROM IT

In these difficult times, OccupyGhana stands in solidarity with the communities affected by the recent Akosombo Dam spillage. We are deeply concerned about the devastating consequences of this disaster and the extensive harm it has caused to our fellow Ghanaians.

As we watch the aftermath unfold, we have followed the official explanations provided for this catastrophe. However, we are far from satisfied. It strains belief that the rapid increase in water volume at the Dam caught us completely off guard, leaving us with no alternative but a massive, destructive spillage. The gravity of this situation cannot be overstated. And it is also alarming to even consider the scale of devastation that could have occurred had the Dam faced complete failure, as tragically witnessed in Derna, Libya, resulting in the reported loss of over 11,000 precious lives.

Our concerns deepen as we contemplate the risk of similar disasters. For example, almost every year, Burkina Faso opens valves of its Bagre Dam to spill excess water. This routinely destroys farmlands, food crops, livestock and houses in portions of northern Ghana. Potable water gets polluted and sometimes, lives are lost. We must also mention the almost-routine Weija Dam spillages and its harmful effects on lives in the area. These raise fundamental questions about our preparedness and response mechanisms. Are we perpetually at risk of such catastrophic events? Concerning the Akosombo Dam, can we be assured that the Volta River Authority possesses both the means and the foresight to predict and pre-empt such disasters?

One critical aspect that demands immediate attention is how we build along waterways and riverbanks in the catchment areas. We must acknowledge that settlements will continue to exist in these areas, and the manner in which they are developed and constructed must change. We must adapt to ensure that these communities are not unduly exposed to the risk of devastating floods.

We are also concerned whether our precious water resources are harnessed wisely, and whether we have structures that ensure the optimum utilisation of the vast amounts of water that leave the Akosombo and Kpong/Akuse Dams. This is especially in terms of whether this precious resource could provide more clean drinking water and also support irrigation, rather than flowing into the sea.

OccupyGhana firmly believes that the totality of these matters rises to meet the constitutional standard of a ‘matter of public interest [and importance]’ that is sufficiently grave to warrant establishing a Commission of Inquiry, as provided for under Chapter 23 of the Constitution. We earnestly urge the President or Parliament (through a resolution), to take immediate steps to form this Commission. Ghanaians have a right to know the precise cause(s) of this catastrophe and whether it was preventable. If it could have been prevented, those responsible should be held accountable, which may include their removal from their positions. If there are indications of criminal acts or negligence, we expect independent police investigations leading to prosecutions. And if it was indeed an unforeseeable event, this experience has made it foreseeable, and we need to know and understand the measures to be put in place to prevent such a disaster in the future.

We stand for transparency, accountability and the well-being of our nation. Our call for an independent Commission of Inquiry is rooted in the conviction that the full truth must be uncovered, lessons must be learned to safeguard our people and our future, and that responsible rural and urban planning and development are crucial to mitigate future risks.

We express our gratitude to all those who have been involved in the mobilisation of emergency relief support for the displaced communities. Your dedication to providing aid in these challenging times is commendable, and we appreciate your unwavering support.

Together, let us strive for a safer and more secure future.

OccupyGhana – For God and Country.

-ENDS-

Like almost all Ghanaians, it had been blindingly obvious to us for a while that the Government would have to return to the IMF. Yet, not even that foreknowledge could describe the disappointment when Government made the formal announcement. This return is spectacularly remarkable because it is after we boldly announced the ‘Ghana Without Aid’ aspiration.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT

When the 2018 Fiscal Responsibility Act was passed, we were concerned whether that Act would indeed impose the kind of fiscal responsibility and discipline that Ghana needed. We therefore wrote a detailed letter to the Finance Minister on 29 January 2019, to inquire which steps were being taken to ensure that there was real control of excessive government expenditure. We received neither a response nor even a simple acknowledgement of receipt.

E-LEVY

It was clear to everyone that the E-Levy was not going to be the panacea to Ghana’s problem. We issued a press statement on 15 February 2022, in which we questioned the loftily utopian expectations, and stated that ‘the e-levy will be meaningless until it is linked with (1) the total implementation of our income tax laws, (2) absolute commitment to recovering our misused monies, and (3) complete fiscal transparency and accountability.’ Although we delivered copies of the statement to both the Executive and Parliament, that was also ignored.

WHY DO WE NEED IMF SUPPORT?

We have noted from the statement of the Information Minister, that Ghana would be seeking about $2B from the IMF. $2B is roughly ₡16B. Is that ALL we need to tide us over the mess that we find ourselves in? And do we have to go scurrying to the IMF to provide that, when from the Auditor-General’s Reports, calculated from 2016 to 2020, the amount of monies lost or stolen is ₡47,945,579,875? In dollar terms, that is almost three times the $2B we are going for.

Clearly, we would not need the IMF if the government was serious about recovering these lost and stolen monies, and then plugging the holes that allowed them to be lost or stolen in the first place.

DISALLOWANCE & SURCHARGE

Mercifully, the framers of our Constitution had sufficient foresight on these matters and therefore entrusted the Auditor-General to, beyond merely conducting audits and producing journalistic reports, disallow wrongful expenditure and surcharge people who either cause losses or steal our monies.

Also, the 2000 Audit Service Act specifically empowered the Attorney-General to take legal action to recover the monies, where the persons surcharged do not pay after 60 days.

Yet, for almost 25 years after the Constitution came into force, these fine laws simply adorned the pages of our statute books, and neither the government nor the Auditor-General took any step to enforce them.

What we were subjected to was the annual charade where the Auditor-General issued lame and tame Reports, did no disallowance or surcharge, and then passed the baton to Parliament’s inaptly named Public Accounts Committee to continue the charade with televised hearings that did not recover a pesewa of the lost or stolen funds.

SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT

It had to take OccupyGhana, formed only in 2014, to go to the Supreme Court to teach the Auditor-General how to read and understand the simple powers that the Constitution had vested in that office. Thankfully, the judiciary in June 2017, threw out all the defences that the government put up against our case, including the insultingly fatuous and risible objection that we did not have the capacity to take the government to court. The judiciary also ignored the blatantly false claim by the then Auditor-General that its Management Letters constituted the disallowances and surcharges that the Constitution demanded.

Ghana’s judiciary stood up for Ghana when it unanimously ordered both the Auditor-General and the Attorney-General to do what is mandatorily required of them by both the Constitution and the Audit Service Act.

RECOVERIES MADE

As if by divine providence, this development coincided with the appointment of a new Auditor-General who was prepared to act on the judgment. As the President acknowledged in his 2015 State of the Nation Address, the first act of disallowance by the Auditor-General stopped the potential theft of ₡5.4B (which at that date was roughly $1B) by public officials. And as the Vice President acknowledged in a speech during a Town Hall Meeting on 3 April 2019, the Auditor-General had by that date issued disallowance and surcharge certificates in excess of ₡500M and succeeded in recovering almost ₡70M in lost or stolen funds.

Although not a single public official or other person got prosecuted for any of these, the pleasing aspects of these developments in Ghana caught the eye of the World Bank. In its 2020 GLOBAL REPORT, titled ENHANCING GOVERNMENT EFFECTIVENESS AND TRANSPARENCY: THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION, the World Bank proudly mentioned the June 2017 OccupyGhana judgment and stated that these achievements in Ghana had inspired the enactment of ‘similar legislation on disallowances and surcharges’ elsewhere. We know that Uganda, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa, have passed laws that take inspiration from our disallowance and surcharge laws.

GOVERNMENT SHENANIGANS

However, Ghana’s role as the poster child in this matter was to suffer a severe jolt with the government’s shenanigans that forced the immediate past Auditor-General out of office. Two cases filed around the same time to determine the extent of the Auditor-General’s independence as provided under the Constitution, have simply stalled. They are not being listed for hearing, despite considerable pressure from civil society.

RETURN OF THE CHARADE

The result is that the charade has returned. The current Auditor-General is clearly scared to exercise the disallowance and surcharge powers. After months of pressure from OccupyGhana, the Auditor-General now claims that he has issued just ONE surcharge since the 2018 Reports were published.

His weak explanation is that after he issues his Reports listing the losses and thefts, he then investigates to gather evidence for surcharging. If the Auditor-General is now gathering evidence, then on what basis did he issue the Reports in the first place? It is only in Ghana that the cart can pull the horse and the tail can wag the dog in such a brazenly inexplicable manner.

The Attorney-General is not left out in this charade. Apart from being required by law and the Supreme Court to take steps to recover the lost and stolen monies, he is required by the 2016 Public Financial Management Act to submit reports on these steps.

However, he has ignored all our requests for information (spanning a full year) on whether he has prepared and submitted these reports, finally compelling us to file a petition against him with the Right to Information Commission on 30 June 2022. We await the Commission’s ruling.

IMF, THE BITTER TASTE…

That is why this return to the IMF for a ‘paltry’ $2B leaves a bitter taste in our mouths. We would not be submitting ourselves to this forced and humiliating ‘Ghana [is not yet] beyond aid’ position if we had prevented the losses and thefts in the first place. In the second place, we would not be here if we had taken the simple steps of recovering the monies lost and stolen.

How credible is this return to the IMF, when the monies we seek, sit comfortably in the bank accounts and pockets of those who caused us to lose the monies or who stole our monies?

DEMANDS

We strongly demand that the Auditor-General immediately resumes disallowances and surcharges.

We strongly demand that the Attorney-General enforces the disallowances and surcharges, including taking criminal action, as also demanded by the Supreme Court.

A nation that will not prevent or recover its lost and stolen monies, will keep making return trips to the IMF.

Yours in the service of God and Country,

OccupyGhana