One of the teachers attacked

Officials of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) supervising the ongoing WASSCE examination were attacked by students of Bright Senior High School at Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region on Thursday over strict invigilation.

A journalist with the state-owned Daily Graphic was also beaten by the students during the melee.

His phone and bag were taken away by the students who chased him on a motorbike and pummeled him even as he jumped onto a moving commercial bus to save his life.

The marauding students trashed phones belonging to the invigilators.

They were angry about strict supervision and social-distancing protocols in the exam hall.

The police had to intervene to calm nerves.

The Kukurantumi incident is one of many such happenings. So far, students of Tweneboa Kodua Senior High School and Juaben Senior High School, both in the Ashanti Region; as well as their colleagues at Ndewura Jakpa Senior High Technical School in the Savanna Region, have rioted over strict invigilation and the difficulty of the exam questions.

Some of them said they were disappointed that none of the government-procured past questions they focused on, featured in the papers they have sat so far.

However, the Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Mr Anthony Boateng, has said the authorities will deal with all the students that rioted and vandalised school property to protest against the non-featuring of past questions procured for them by the government, in their final exam.

The GES, in November last year, procured 400,000 sets of questions and answer booklets from the West African Examination Council (WAEC), for distribution to the first batch of beneficiaries of the Free Senior High School policy.

The Head of Public Affairs at the Ministry of Education, Mr Vincent Ekow Assafuah, at the time, said the intervention was needful since it will guide the students in their preparation for the exam and help them excel.

Mr Boateng has told Class News that the rioting “is a very disturbing, worrying and very very unfortunate development”.

“We take a very serious view of what’s going on”, he said.

According to him, “The Ghana Education Service and, therefore, the schools, have the regulations that deal with discipline. Those issues have not been compromised in any way despite the circumstances in which we find ourselves. And, therefore, any student or anybody, who breaches any of these rules or regulations, will be dealt with according to the rules and regulations of the Service”.

In his view, it was preposterous for the students to have expected the same past questions to feature in the final exam.

“I do not think, for one moment, that anybody should think that supplying past questions and chief examiners’ reports to students means that the students were expecting those questions to appear in their final examination.

“It is a very ridiculous expectation”, he fumed.

Mr Boateng said the school authorities and the GES are studying all the social media footages of the rioting and destruction and would enforce the appropriate disciplinary sanctions.

“We have seen the videos, we have even identified some of the students, the disciplinary processes have been initiated, we are monitoring the situation, the schools are dealing with the situation, we are waiting for the reports; when the reports come in, all the appropriate sanctions will be applied”, he noted.

“If it means even withdrawing any student from school, we will go ahead and do that; if it means deboardinising some of them, we will.

“We will take all the appropriate measures to ensure that there’s total discipline and order in the schools”, he vowed.

President Akufo-Addo opening UESD in Somanya

President Akufo Addo yesterday commissioned the Main Campus of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development in Somanya in the Eastern Region. Hours before the commissioning the NDC in Yilo Krobo issued a statement asking the President not to re-visit his usual habit of taking credit for what he has no hand in and to appreciate the efforts of his predecessor John Dramani Mahama. The NDC said the project was one of the dreams of the NDC made possible by Former President Mahama and former Education Minister Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyeman.

A few hours later, there was a counter statement from the Krobo Bloc NPP Communication Bureau titled “Setting the records right about the University of Environment and Sustainability Development (UESD)”. In that statement, the NPP claimed that the opposition NDC lied about securing funds for the construction of the University. The party claimed that the NDC included the project in all budgets from 2009 but failed to implement and that it was only under Nana Addo’s government that the project was started and completed. Seeing as this is an election year and issues of infrastructure will play a crucial role in the electioneering campaign, starrfmfactchecker deems it necessary to subject the claims made by both parties to some scrutiny.

ABOUT UESD: The University is a government of Ghana project through the ministry of education. It is a new university at Trom-Somanya in the Yilo Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region with the view to improving equitable access to tertiary education in Ghana. Given that there are universities in the other regions of the country, the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) will specialize in the conduct of research and knowledge dissemination in the sciences, agro-business and the built environment. This new university will offer general and specialized programs to fill the gaps and ensure well rounded training for environmental and sustainable development professionals in Ghana. These include degree programs and research in climate change, water resources development, energy sustainability, energy economics and policy, urban architecture, natural resources and environmental economics, environmental policy and environmental science. The project involves the development of complete infrastructure to support the functions of the university.

SOURCE: https://www.uesd-ghana.com

The website, http://www.uesd-ghana.com names Brazilian Engineering Company CONTRACTA ENGENHARIA as the contractor in charge of the project. However documents from parliament and utterances from government officials name an Italian firm Contracta Construizioni Italia SRL as the company undertaking the project. Checks by Starrfmfactchecker show that the Italian firm is a company under Contracta Engenharia Ltda which is the parent company. https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.contracta_costruzioni_italia_srl.5738dbe7b8831d0fae1cbe6c0c2778c7.html

University Of Environment And Sustainable Development

In order to identify the facts surrounding the construction of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development, we want to present a timeline of the events leading to yesterday’s commissioning of the first phase of the project;

TIMELINE:

2012– then governing NDC in the executive summary of its manifesto stated that it will establish “a new public University in the Eastern Region to complete the NDC’s vision of providing a public University campus in every Region of the country and also to expand academic and residential facilities on existing campuses”( NDC 2012 Manifesto, Page 8)

April 2013- President Mahama inaugurated a 12-member committee to develop the roadmap for the establishment of the University.https://www.mahamalegacy.com/project/university-of-environment-and-sustainable-development-somanya-campus/. The committee was chaired by Professor Raymond Benning-Amoako-Nuamah

February 2014- President Mahama said in his State of the Nation Address that the establishment of the first University in the Eastern Region is becoming a reality and added that the 12 member committee has completed work. He stated then, that the draft bill will be presented to parliament soon. https://www.myjoyonline.com/news/full-transcript-president-john-mahamas-2014-state-of-the-nation-address/

Shortly after his State of the Nation Address, Education Minister Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyeman presented the memorandum of the bill to establish the university to parliament. Clause 3 of that memorandum stated that the “The University shall be established in Somanya and shall have (a) its first campus in Donkorkrom and any other place in the Eastern region; (b) other campuses in any other place as the Council may determine”.

June 2015: The 12-member committee tasked to develop the roadmap for the construction of the University submitted its report to President Mahama. https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/committee-presents-report-on-establishment-of-university-in-e-r.html

2016: President Mahama endorsed the approved bill which was subsequently ratified by parliament that year. On 20th October 2016, Finance Minister Seth Terkper presented the loan agreement for the establishment of the University to parliament. There were three papers;

1. Buyer Credit Facility Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and Deutsche Bank S.p.A. and its affiliates in the sum of up to Thirty-Eight Million, Seven Hundred and Thirty-Eight Thousand, Seven Hundred and Fifty Euros (€38,738,750.00) for the development of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development. The committee report on this agreement was submitted on 27th October 2020, motion was moved a day later and it was passed that same day, October 28.

2. Commercial Loan Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and Deutsche Bank S.p.A. and its affiliates in the sum of up to Six Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty-Six Thousand, Two Hundred and Fifty Euros (€6,836,250.00) for the development of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development. The committee report on this agreement was submitted on 27th October 2020, motion was moved a day later and it was passed that same day, October 28.

3. The final paper was the Commercial Contract between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and Contracta Construzione Italia Srl. in the sum of up to FortyFive Million, Five Hundred and Seventy-Five Thousand Euros (€45,575,000.00) for the development of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development

SOURCE: LOANS, TREATIES and CONVENTIONS, 6th Parliament

With funds secured and the bill passed, President Mahama cut the sod for the construction of the main campus of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development on Thursday December 29, 2016 just days before he was to hand over to then president-elect Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo. At the sod-cutting ceremony, President Mahama expressed hope that their “our exploits and initiatives will be sustained for the betterment of Ghana,” https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/prez-cuts-sod-for-university-of-environment-and-sustainable-development.html

JAN 2018- Work began on the construction of the University in Somanya. Minister of state in charge of tertiary education Prof. Kwesi Yankah granted an interview to the Daily Graphic in which he said that the Akufo Addo government had no intention of abandoning the project. He said work had started as early as December 4 the previous year. The minister explained that the delay in beginning the project was because of some technical challenges. https://www.businessghana.com/site/news/general/157807/Work-begins-on-Somanya-Campus-of-Environment-University

On July 18, 2018 GBC reported that parliament had adopted the 90 million dollar loan agreement between government of Ghana and the Exim-Import Bank of Korea for the construction of the Bunso Campus of the UESD( https://www.gbcghana.com/1.11666789 . The minority had raised concerns about the decision by government to set up the satellite campus of the University at Bunso instead of Donkorkrom as stated in the act 898 which established the university. Another concern the caucus had about the move by government was the cost of the project. The NDC MPs maintained that the 90 million dollar price tag for the Bunso project was outrageous especially since the main campus was constructed at 45 million euros. https://www.ayoffycial.com/2018/minority-kicks-against-illogical-90m-loan-for-uesd-bunso-campus-project/

So let’s note this; per the act that established the University, while the main campus was to be sited in Somanya, the satellite campuses were to be in Donkorkrom first and then any other in the region as may be determined by the University Council. The minority therefore felt the government violating the provisions of the act and brought about this controversy over whether government was relocating the University to Bunso. In November 2018 while on a three day tour of the Eastern Region, President Akufo Addo asked the chiefs and people in Somanya to disregard the claims. https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/university-of-environment-sustainable-dev-won-t-be-relocated-prez-says-as-he-begins-e-r-tour-ghana-news.html

January 2020: The first phase of the project was completed. According to Minister of State in charge of tertiary education, the University will begin admissions in the 2020 academic year. https://www.modernghana.com/news/978727/er-university-of-environment-and-sustainable.html

May 2020: According to President Akufo Addo, the agreement for the second phase of the Main Campus project was signed on 6th May 2020 with M/S Contracta and valued at forty-nine million, eight hundred and ninety-one thousand, ninety-eight euros to be completed within thirty (30) months of signature of the agreement.

On August 5, 2020 President Akufo Addo commissioned the first phase of the main campus of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development.

CONCLUSION:

From the above, the facts show that the NDC government did more than just the enactment of the Act 898 which established the University of Environment and Sustainable Development. Not only was the project captured in the 2012 Manifesto of the NDC, but the previous NDC administration began the process for the beginning of the project. This is manifest in the setting up of the 12-member committee that worked on the roadmap for the construction of the University. Then outgoing President Mahama also cut the sod for the beginning of the project in December 2016.

Contrary to the NPP’s claim that Nana Akufo Addo did all it takes to mobilize funds for the construction of the University, the 45 million euros for the first phase of the project was secured and approved by parliament in October 2016 under the NDC government. The NPP’s claim that the framework agreement was signed between government and the Exim Bank of Korea for the construction of the University is misleading. The facts remain that the first phase of the project was signed between government and the Deutsche Bank in 2016. Indeed the Exim Bank of Korea is providing funding for the satellite campus of the University at Bunso and not the Main Campus at Somanya which was commissioned yesterday.

That agreement involving the Exim Bank of Korea was approved by parliament in July 2018, more than 6 months after work on the Somanya Main Campus project had started. It is also not true that the previous government reneged on an agreement by bringing in a contractor from Brazil which led to protests by Exim Bank. On the website http://www.uesd-ghana.com, the company contracted to undertake the main campus project is Brazilian named CONTRACTA ENGENHARIA which is the parent company of the Italian firm Contracta Construizioni Italia SRL which implemented the project. Based on the facts, starrfmfactchecker finds the claim by the governing NPP that the opposition NDC lied about securing funds for the construction of the University is false. Finally it cannot be said that it was only under Nana Addo’s government that the project was started and completed. We rate the NPP’s claims as outright lies and therefore rated 2 stars.

Comrade Kwaku Aboagye Boampong

An organizer of the All African Peoples’ Revolutionary Party( A-ARP), Comrade Kwaku Aboagye Boampong says the establishment of Founders’ day on August 4 as a holiday is celebrating traitors who undermined the Independence struggle led by Ghana’s first President Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

Speaking on Radio 360’s morning flagship programme “Y3nsom” hosted by Kwame Malcolm in Takoradi, the avowed Pan Africanist wondered why people refer to Ghana’ s first President as a dictator since dictators hardly ensure all their citizens are educated as Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah did and sought to do till he was overthrown.

“UP that has turned into NPP today that UP became United Party because there were so many fragmented political parties that were sectional, regionalist in nature; one is called Muslim Association Party; what is that? Volta Peoples’ Party, Northern Peoples’ Party; how can one build a nation with such political. parties? So Nkrumah said no we will have any regional or sectional political party in this country. If you want to become opposition to the CPP, form. a national party; that is how come.so even the opposition was made possible by Nkrumah himself; this is the man you are talking about. It is the UP that later became the Progress Party that Busia led.

Busia according to Afrifa, could not even win the election even after CPP had been banned,so he put him there; according to Afrifa himself in his book “The Coup of 1966?; that is what Afrifa wrote about Busia.

So the rest of the members of the Big Six if you analyze them well, most of them were just by virtue of association at a point in time. but in our.struggle for Independence, most of them betrayed the cause ” the A-ARP organizer bellowed.

He said most of the Big Six are not known even in Togo and said even a member of the Big Six; Obetsebi Lamptey was jailed for bomb-throwing against Osagyefo Nkrumah by the father of the sitting President Nana Akufo Addo.

He lamented about the celebrations of the Founders Day on August 4 instead of the Republic Day of July 1.

“First July makes you responsible you see the reality that you need to fend for yourself.as a nation as you are independent; self-reliance. We will not be going cup in hand around the world begging for assistance for school feeding programmes etc.

It means from today onwards we are no longer slaves, implying we have an arduous task ahead and this is the orientation young people must have that there will not be free lunch anywhere ….we must work hard to build our nation so if you tell us July 1 is no more and you want to take us to Saltpond August 4, what does it mean? When we know along the line some people betrayed the struggle; then it means you want to tell us that we need to celebrate traitors. This is not the history you want to teach young people whatever motive the President had in this was not borne out of the love for this nation but to celebrate a certain agenda which does not augur well for this nation….for Nkrumah, it is not a day that you will accord him before he is recognized; Kwame Nkrumah has paid his dues..there are more statues outside Ghana in honour of him than in Ghana; after destroying his bronze statue at the Polo Grounds in Accra, a gold statue has been erected in his honour in Ethiopia…whatever you do Nkrumah will forever be Nkrumah he did not trample on peoples’ rights but saw further than they can all see, he made more sacrifices that they all made. The sacrifices he made in this country many of them will not do today ; he used 2 shirts, one shorts and a pair of trousers to tour the country in 1948 when there were no V-8s nor land cruisers around.” Comrade Aboagye Boampoh posited.

He rebuffed claims of the host that a stand-alone day on his birthday September 21 has been set aside for him.

” It is not Nkrumah as a person it is the struggles he made, as for the man Nkrumah, he is dead and gone. It is a legacy he bestowed to us ..any country around the world that has developed at a point in time has a leader who sees their country’s resource and together with them they chart a course; Mao began in China and if you go to China, since 1949 they have not changed their political party. They have come from a very impoverished state to become a superpower in this world. Today if they sneeze America catches a cold and is nervous ..today the Chines walk chest out but we the black people we walk crestfallen as if we are lost yet our African continent is three times bigger than China; three times bigger than the United States and abundantly rich yet its citizens are poor yet the politician will put 50 cedis in a Tee Shirt and throw it to you to go vote for them…if you knew the wealth of this land , they will not insult you in that way, ” stated the unrepentant Pan African Organiser.