Trainee historian of colonial Ghana with interests in labour, mining and decolonisation; PhD student @IAS,UG; Lover of African literature, adventures and music
Thanks so much for sharing this priceless slice of history. Based on his address, this looks more like the Conference of Independent African States held in April 1958 ahead of the AAPC which took place in December that year.
After Anton Lembede died, an editorial noted that he “worked himself literally to death, to see his a free race.” That speaks to the level of dedication that he had to African liberation.
Through his lens, Ghana was remembered.
Join us for an exhibition in honour of Gerald Annan-Forson.
Venue: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.
Date: 9th April - 9th May, 2026
@UnivofGh@univers1057fm#ThroughHisLens#Photography
Join us for the 9th Sam Moyo Memorial Lecture with Prof. Robin Kelly on Tue, 3 Feb, at Bronte Hotel. Explore Pan-Africanism, an enduring force in Global Africa since the 19th century. Don’t miss this inspiring discussion. All are welcome!
100 years ago today, Frantz Fanon was born.
Martiniquais by birth, Algerian by struggle #Fanon100 was not only a key thinker of anti-imperialist struggles in Africa and the Global South, but also a revolutionary activist.
"What matters is not to know the world but to change it"
“If you know all the languages of the world but don’t know your mother tongue, that is enslavement,” Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o told me in 2015.
“Tribalism is a colonial invention,” he added
FARE THE WELL!
Dr #David#Pessey who described himself as a student of #history and #politics will be laid to rest on Thursday, #March 27 at the #Larshibi Funeral Home.
He contributed significantly to the development of the Socialist Movement in Ghana-SMG (@SocialistGhana) as a very special cadre.
Indeed, he became the standard bearer as a result of his absolute honesty and unshaken adherence to principle.
We will miss him, but his deeds including his contributions to “Alhaji and Alhaji” will continue to guide and inspire us all.
We will not fail you!✊🏿✊🏿✊🏿
Pray without ceasing! Truth and Reconciliation Justice.
1. Andy Appiah-Kubi, then an NPP MP, foresaw the risk of a landslide loss for his party and dared to demand Ken Ofori-Atta’s removal. For that, his own government poisoned him. Even while hospitalized, senior officials attempted to forcibly remove him. He had to seek protection—not from criminals, but from his own government—through the U.S. embassy. In the end, they ensured he lost his seat.
2. These are his own words, not mine.
3. When I exposed attempts to stab and poison me in jail, the government finally admitted that they planted a National Security operative in my tiny 4x4 cell—not to kill me, they claimed, but to “monitor” me. And knife, poisoned bread and mobile phone the other inmates beat out of him, when he tried to get close to me were nothing but monitoring devices, I am sure.
4. What threat did I pose, stripped down to my boxers, locked behind two security gates, with 50 armed police officers standing guard outside? And yet, these are the same people given platforms today to preach about morality and democracy.
5. The public has no idea what it has taken to still be standing here, in dignity.
6. Foreign embassies constantly offered to extract me into asylum because of the intelligence they had—intelligence that made them certain I wouldn’t survive to see 2024.
7. Still, I refused. I stayed.
8. Our stories must be told! Part of ORAL and Resetting must also be to account the human pain and suffering.
9. We need a truth and reconciliation commission!
10. Ghanaians need to hear the stories of horror that the Previous regime put us through! We must tell our stories.
💔
LINDA OCLOO IS COURTING CORRUPTION, NOT SOLUTION
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Dear Linda Ocloo,
The Minority Leader of Parliament, Alexander Afenyo Markin, is widely quoted in media reports as saying that the Appointments Committee of Parliament did not ask you any questions at your vetting because the committee was begged on your behalf. The reason for the begging was that you could not stand scrutiny, so the committee gave you a pass, and Parliament subsequently approved your nomination as the Minister for the Greater Accra Region.
That is senseless and shameful by Parliament. A person who wants to preside over an important public office should be withdrawn immediately if he or she cannot stand scrutiny or accountability. But knowing what I know of our Parliament, this news did not shock me.
What shocked me was that one of your first moves after being sworn into office was to meet the CEO of Zoomlion and Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, Joseph Siaw Agyepong, to collaborate on keeping Accra clean.
Linda Ocloo, if you have some modicum of conscience—and I suppose you do—you would rescind your decision on Jospong and Zoomlion by just reading the comments people shared on the Facebook post about your meeting with Siaw Agyepong. From those comments, even the BuzStopBoys who don’t have any contract with the government, are doing better than Zoomlion.
Linda Ocloo, our elders say the herbalist who adds pepper to a soothing balm is definitely not seeking a cure. With your misstep, you are courting corruption, not a solution, to the waste management problem in Ghana’s capital. The reason Ghana is this dirty and politicians do not seem to find the solution is because of the corrupt and unconscionable monopoly contracts they have signed with Zoomlion/Jospong. Here are some hardcore facts to back my statement:
1. Zoomlion and the Jospong Group have been involved in many corruption scandals in Ghana and abroad. In 2013, when my GYEEDA investigation revealed Zoomlion’s culpability in multiple corruption deals at the YEA, the World Bank also exposed Zoomlion in a corruption scandal in Liberia. The World Bank announced a ban on the company following Zoomlion’s “acknowledgment of misconduct impacting the World Bank-financed Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation Project in Liberia. The company paid bribes to facilitate contract execution and processing of invoices.”
2. In Ghana, politicians and presidents continue to deal with Zoomlion as a monopoly in the sanitation sector sanitation, claiming falsely that the other companies lack the capacity and resources to do the work. For the information of all who fall for this lie, Zoomlion was handed multiple nationwide sanitation contracts in 2006 by the government when the company did not have waste management trucks. Zoomlion started with cheap man-powered tricycles. A CHRAJ investigation revealed that in the 2007 contract with all assemblies in Ghana, Zoomlion received payments long before it supplied the trucks to do the work. In Part 3 of my “Robbing the Assemblies” investigative documentary series, there is enormous evidence that some assemblies and private waste management companies did better than Zoomlion in waste management. (Robbing the Assemblies Part 3 is on YouTube).
3. In March 2018, the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Joseph Kofi Adda, said Ghanaians should blame Zoomlion Ghana Limited for the filth that had engulfed the country. Not long after that, there was a strong media campaign against the minister, leading to his removal from that ministry. President Akufo-Addo replaced Kofi Adda with Cecelia Abena Dapaah, who praised Zoomlion highly. (Cecelia Abena Dapaah left office after heavy cash was discovered in her room without fulfilling her pledge to make Accra the cleanest capital city in Africa).
4. If anybody doubted Kofi Adda’s assessment that Zoomlion is responsible for the filth in Ghana, here is the evidence:
a. The metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in Ghana used to be effective in enforcing sanitation bylaws. They used sanitary inspectors, popularly known as the “nsamansama” people. The government stopped that initiative and awarded the contract to Zoomlion under the Sanitation Guards programme.
b. Assemblies used to employ and supervise sweepers to clean markets and public places. Since 2006, the government has forced the assemblies to abandon that. The government uses the Assemblies Common Fund to pay Zoomlion to manage the sweepers under the YEA programme. In simple terms, Zoomlion is responsible for sweeping markets from Axim to Paga. In this contract, the government pays Zoomlion 850 cedis per sweeper monthly, but the contract says Zoomlion should take 600 cedis and pay the sweepers only 250 cedis a month. Sometimes, the sweepers are owed for up to one year even though Zoomlion claims to be pre-financing the programme, for which it charges the government.
c. When the sweepers finish cleaning the market and public places, Zoomlion has contracts with all the assemblies in Ghana to dump the waste collected by the sweepers at the final disposal site. That contract is called the Sanitation Improvement Package (SIP). So, the 600 cedis it takes per sweeper does not include disposing off the refuse collected.
d. Zoomlion, per my “Robbing the Assemblies” investigation, has contracts to manage the final disposal sites.
e. Zoomlion has a standing contract with the assemblies to undertake fumigation in all the assemblies. Auditor-General’s reports often indicate that the work is not done in many places, but the company is paid in Accra from the assemblies’ share of the Common Fund.
f. Zoomlion was awarded a standing contract in 2009 for another fumigation at the assemblies. This contract was awarded by the Ministry of Health and payment is made in Accra through the National Health Insurance Scheme.
g. Zoomlion and the Jospong Group also have a third fumigation contract awarded annually by the Ministry of Local Government. It was expanded during COVID-19.
h. Zoomlion and the Jospong Group have other nationwide contracts to process and manage solid and liquid waste.
5. So, if one company has been in charge of all these government contracts and makes billions from them, who should we blame if Accra and Ghana are still filthy? What new thing are you, Linda Ocloo, expecting from Zoomlion?
6. In September 2022, the AMA CEO wanted the list of the cleaners working in her metropolis, based on which money is deducted from her Common Fund at source and paid to Zoomlion. She wrote a letter to the Youth Employment Authority. (Letter in the comment section of this post).
7. The YEA, which signed the contract with Zoomlion and is supposed to recruit the cleaners for Zoomlion, told the AMA CEO that it did not know the number of cleaners being managed by Zoomlion, but it continued to pay Zoomlion based on the number Zoomlion presents. How do I know this?
8. The October 13, 2022 board minutes of the YEA captures the frustration of the YEA CEO, Kofi Baah Agyepong, who wanted the contract with Zoomlion terminated. In the board minutes, the YEA CEO is quoted as confessing that the YEA could not respond to the AMA CEO because the YEA did not know the people who were supposed to be working in the AMA area.
9. The board minutes said:
"The CEO further stated that management does not have the data to authenticate any claims from the service provider [Zoomlion], including the number of beneficiaries at post and working. Hence, when the Accra Metropolitan Assembly requested information on beneficiaries working in the metropolis, management could not provide them with the same. The CEO mentioned that this occasioned a meeting with the regional minister, who raised further issues with the quality of work done in Accra city and its environs. The CEO stated that management has the capacity to manage the sanitation [module] if given the opportunity."
Linda Ocloo, in “The Fourth John: Reign, Rejection & Rebound,” I said that whenever Zoomlion is involved, politicians and government officials act without consulting their brains. I hope that John Mahama has learnt some lessons and that you will help him to do what is right this time. I also hope that, unlike others, you will consult your brains if you really want to find a solution to Accra’s filth.
Relying on Zoomlion to solve the sanitation problem in Ghana is like partnering with a convicted pedophile to undertake a campaign against child sex abuse.
If you want to see Accra clean, allow the assemblies to control the people who clean their markets and streets. Their money is used to pay the cleaners, so they should have control. The assemblies’ sanitation and waste management departments are better equipped with personnel than Zoomlion’s district offices. What they lack is their funds, which the government gives to Zoomlion.
Because almost all the money goes to Zoomlion, the sweepers are not motivated to go out and clean the cities. In the last Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu and Dr. Kwabena Donkor raised the issue of Zoomlion’s slave wages to the sweepers. Speaker Bagbin constituted a committee to investigate this when Dr. Kwabena Donkor first raised this. As with Zoomlion investigations, nothing came out of it.
By partnering with Zoomlion, you are courting corruption, not a solution.
Yours sincerely,
Manasseh Azure Awuni.
1. President John Dramani Mahama
2. Vice President Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang
3. Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah
4. Executive Secretary to the President, Dr. Callistus Mahama
5. Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Ayine
6. Malik Basintale, CEO of the YEA
7. Ahmed Ibrahim, Minister of Local Government
8. All Men and Women of Conscience in the Mahama administration
“Any serving President foolish enough to lay his head on a coin should know he is inciting people to take it off; the head I mean"
Chinua Achebe.- "Anthills of the Savannah"
@AfiIAm When the story of this election is told shall we remember this brazen violation of the law. I received two calls today and messages too...and how do they have all our details?
That Maa Lydia is a very lawless individual. Wasn't campaigning supposed to end yesterday?
Why is she calling constituents to go and vote for her today?
I was called twice! And woke up to 2 missed calls.
Reeks of desperation.
Vote her out and the NPP out!
#Election2024
In October 2024, following complaints from several Ghanaian students studying in the United Kingdom, funds were released to cover tuition fees and stipends for students at selected universities. However, these funds were accompanied by a list originating from Accra, which appeared to prioritise students affiliated with the NPP or those with high-level connections within the party. As a result, many of us, who lack such affiliations, have been excluded from receiving the needed financial support.
Without payment of our fees, we are now facing dire consequences, including threats of deportation and have been sacked from our hostels. Despite repeated calls to the Ghana Embassy for assistance, we have been advised to secure someone with high-level influence to contact Dr. Kingsley Agyemang on our behalf. Universities, such as the University of Manchester, Loughborough University and Anglia Ruskin University have also reported difficulties in obtaining responses from the Ghana Embassy when they reached out to discuss the situation.
Many of us have already received formal letters from UK Visas and Immigration, stating that if our fees are not paid, we must leave the UK. The alternative is facing severe sanctions, including potential detention and prosecution. This situation has become increasingly distressing, as some of us have been evicted from our accommodations, leaving us exposed to the harsh winter weather with no place to stay.
For those of us without family, friends, or connections in the NPP, the suffering is unbearable. We are left with no advocate to speak for us or intervene in our plight. Each day is a struggle, and as we endure the cold and snow, we continue to hope for a resolution to this unjust and devastating situation.
It is deeply disheartening to endure this challenging situation while Dr. Kingsley Agyemang and Vice President Bawumia appear to show no empathy for our plight. Instead, their focus seems to be on campaigning for votes from the electorate, leaving us feeling abandoned and unsupported in our time of need.
NOTE: I've posted this as I received it from a desperate student in the UK. Time is running out on them and they just want attention to their plight as early as possible, or else they will be deported soon. This student also showed me a school portal where he/she has been logged out because of the non-payment of fees.
MONEY OVER LIVES — WHEN CALLOUSNESS, UNBRIDLED GREED AND UNCONTROLLABLE CORRUPTION COMBINE TO RISK THE LIVES OF GHANA’S SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Painstaking parliamentary oversight has uncovered a grand callous, dangerous, murderous and corrupt scheme that puts the health of Senior High School students in extreme jeopardy.
My unimpeachable investigation reveals how a crony company was allowed to criminally re-package over 15,000 50kg bags of expired and contaminated rice into different 50kg bags without expiry dates under the full protection of NPP political heavyweights.
This expired and contaminated rice was then delivered to Senior High Schools across the country and fed to students.
On 20th December, 2023, the Ashanti Regional Office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) received an alert from a patriotic Ghanaian about a suspicious re-packaging exercise which had not been authorized by the FDA.
This unauthorized re-packaging was shockingly being carried out at the storage facility of the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) in the Ashanti Region.
When FDA officials acted on the alert, it emerged that a similar alert had been received by the Ashanti Regional Police Command and the command had promptly moved in to close the storage facility.
The FDA and the Ashanti Regional Police Command then commenced investigations into the matter.
The Ashanti Regional FDA’s investigations revealed the following damning findings as contained in an intercepted report signed by its Ashanti Regional Head, John Laryea Odai-Tettey:
1. Moshosho Rice (25% broken white rice) with registration number FDA/Ce 20-701 was imported by Lamens Investments Africa Limited.
2. The Notify Party is the National Food Buffer Stock Company.
3. The rice was exported from India by Satya Balajee Rice Industries PVT Ltd.
4. In all 33,000 bags of 50kg bags of rice were imported.
5. The National Food Buffer Stock storage facility in Kumasi received 22,000 bags of 50kg rice by the time of the alert, whilst the remaining 10,000 bags were being kept at a bonded warehouse in Tema known as Lynbrok.
6. Lamens Investments Africa and National Food Buffer Stock realizing that the best before date for the Moshosho Rice was December 2023 started criminally re-packaging the Moshosho Rice from its original yellow 50kg polypropylene bags into white 50kg polypropylene bags with the inscription “CEDAO ECOWAS Regional Food Security Reserve.”
7. Whilst the best before date on the original Moshosho Rice packaging was December 2023, there was no date on the new bags being used for the re-packaging. This contravenes the General Labelling Regulation, LI 1541.
8. The country of origin (India) was also changed to Ghana concealing the true identity of the rice and creating a false narrative that Buffer Stock and the Free SHS Secretariat were distributing Made-in-Ghana rice.
9. This illegal re-packaging was carried out without FDA’s approval as required by law.
10. The National Food Buffer Stock storage facility had neither been licensed for storage or re-packaging contrary to the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851)
11. It was determined that the NAFCO storage facility had no qualified or trained person to supervise its activities.
President Akufo-Addo’s appointed CEO of the National Food Buffer Stock Company is Alhaji Hanan Abdul-Wahab. He is also the NPP’s Parliamentary Candidate for the Pusiga Constituency.
The Board of the National Food Buffer Stock Company is chaired by the NPP’s National Organizer, Henry Nana Boakye.
It is most instructive to note that the importer, Lamens Investments Africa Ltd has admitted to its wrongdoing and agreed to pay an administrative fine of GHS100,000.00
Indeed, additional intercepted documents confirm that Lamens paid a 50% deposit of the fine to the FDA amounting to GHS50,000.00. It was received by the FDA on January 5, 2024. (See evidence of payment and Lamens admission of guilt attached.)
FDA insiders say
Yes I can confirm the Ghana Police Service took me to the hospital and couldn’t pay for my drugs and medical tests.
On the first day, they kept harassing the just released protestors who came to see me at the Hospital to pay for the medications prescribed by the Hospital. They refused and called the Police out on it.
Eventually my brother gave the CID 100 cedis to pay for part of the drugs. The other drugs prescribed were not procured. Also they didn’t pay for the blood tests that I had to do that day.
When the news broke that they didn’t pay for the drugs. They sent Momo to Priscilla - one of the arrested protestors - to reimburse the money they took from my brother. We are also ready to share the receipt of the Momo transaction, where they paid back the money gotten.
I was in fact returned to the cell that, without the other medication being purchased.
The next day, as early as 4am, one CID came to my cell, to accost me; and scream profanities at me, over the fact that the protestors had made the fact of their inability to procure medicines public.
I ignored him.
Later that morning we returned to the Hospital for further tests. That’s when part of the other drugs were paid for by the Police. After the fact. Not before.
I am granting my consent to the Ghana Police Service to share the receipts they claim; to show the date the prescribed drugs were procured. Apparently they are hiding behind that! Let them do it.
Beyond, me however. Let us be clear, the police take several suspects to the hospital (when they eventually do after weeks of begging); and then bring them back to the cell without paying for their medications.
This is routine! So routine that as recently as literally yesterday, I sent my relatives to purchase drugs prescribed for an inmate. I have the receipts.
The individual had been sick for a whole month before he was sent to hospital. They kept claiming that they call the CID and he doesn’t show up. So that’s all they can do. And even when he came and took him to the Hospital, none of the drugs prescribed was purchased. They just dumped back in the cell at 1 am and left.
Let’s be clear! These issues are routine and systemic.
When it comes to me, they act as if all this is strange and new. The constant playing to the gallery that the Police do in my case, confirms at least to me that they are aware that what they do is wrong.
Just this morning, I engaged in a verbal confrontation with the Police over an individual who has been in custody for 2 weeks without being brought to court. Because the CID, one Abada, says the guy should confess first.
The abuses are so routine that if I begin, I will writing an encyclopedia.
But do you Ghanaians really care about the truth? If not, just read their laughable press statements and move on!