Report by Magdalena Krukowska & Zuza Nazaruk

We enter the plantation of Ghana Palm Oil Development Company (GOPDC), a subsidiary of the Belgian SIAT (Société d’Investissement pour l’Agriculture Tropicale), in the Aboabo village from across a football field. Soon we bump into Nana Abbo, a retired villager arranging palm leaves on the floor. She makes brooms to sell for 2 cedis (0.15 EUR cent) and make some living. Although GOPDC has no use for palm leaves, she says that broom-making is a dangerous enterprise: “We felt that since we didn’t have jobs to do, we could go to the company, get some palm branches, make brooms and get earnings out of it. But the security guards, when we are caught, beat us or take us to prison, for just the palm branches. This makes life very unbearable.”

Nana Abbo’s story is typical of the Aboabo and Okumaning villagers, whose rights were trampled when the palm oil plantation settled in. The abuses happened despite a sophisticated certification scheme designed to prevent precisely such human rights and environmental violations. Our investigation shows how a voluntary industry standard  repeatedly fails to ensure dignified working and living conditions, underscoring the importance of the currently-negotiated EU directive on corporate due diligence. 

Why not sustainable palm oil 

GOPDC delivers certified-sustainable palm oil to European and African markets, for example,  Unilever or PZ Cussons. Palm oil’s diverse uses – from lipsticks and soap to crisps and cooking oil – made it ubiquitous in our daily life. 

GOPDC’s parent company SIAT joined Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2004 as one of the first members. GOPDC was the first in West Africa to be RSPO-certified in 2015, and SIAT repeatedly expresses the ambition to promote the certification in the region. SIAT is part of several RSPO working groups tasked with, for example, deciding on national interpretations of the RSPO standards in Ghana and Nigeria or promoting the consumption of certified palm oil. The company’s previous Deputy Managing Director, Gert Vandersmissen, sat on the RSPO Executive Board representing “Rest of the World”. The company’s section on the RSPO website states that SIAT wants “to be ahead of the other producers in Africa and be an example so that others are convinced to join the RSPO as well”.

The RSPO certifications came to SIAT despite multiple cases of abuse in the company’s compensating of indigenous communities for their land and employing workers, some of which go back decades. 

The European Commission deemed voluntary, industry-driven certifications – such as the RSPO – inefficient in preventing environmental and human rights abuses and in 2022 proposed the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. The directive’s original proposal envisioned that companies screen their full supply chains to improve their respect for human and environmental rights. During the lobbying process, business representatives have worked to convince Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and European Commission officials that voluntary industry standards are enough to mitigate risks of violations. The present version of the Directive’s proposal, to be negotiated this summer, obliges companies to take much more robust steps to mitigate any risks identified during due diligence. This may include developing and implementing policies and procedures to address identified risks, as well as engaging with suppliers to address issues if they arise. 

Giuseppe Cioffo, a Corporate Regulation and Extractives Officer at development NGO CIDSE, explains, “The law would have obliged SIAT to prevent abuses by its subsidiaries, including by consulting communities and respecting the rights of Indigenous people. If a strong civil liability regime was implemented, it would allow communities to hold responsible the parent company in Belgium for the abuses committed by its subsidiaries abroad. It would allow communities to seek justice where the headquarters of SIAT are located. Importantly, it would also lift barriers to accessing justice in such cases – including removing monetary fees and language barriers. In short, the SIAT Group would not be able to dismiss its responsibilities with regards to the actions of its subsidiaries.”

As the story of SIAT’s supposedly sustainable plantation in the Eastern region of Ghana shows, it is about time.

No other choice than precarious labour 

Before 2004, Abbo and other villagers grew food and cash crops on the land of a failed large-scale government plantation*, which they reclaimed per customary land rights. They recall that they could feed their families and sell extra produce at the local market. When GOPDC came to survey their land, the villagers opposed the establishment of a palm oil plantation but were met with brutal opposition.

“SIAT came with the regional minister, the inspectors of police, even the chief of the community, to forcefully eject us from our land and take us to prison,” Laryea Isaac, who got imprisoned and lost his land then, states. When the opposing villagers came back from imprisonment, “every property they had on the land was destroyed and SIAT was in the process of establishing palm,” Isaac adds. In 2004, GOPDC took around 12 000 hectares. 

Villagers were entitled to compensation for their lost assets but what they received was largely inadequate. Some never received anything. Those that did claim that the compensation was not based on a third-party valuation of their losses. 

Then, in 2010, the company extended its plantation by another 3000 hectares, again without offering adequate compensation. 

SIAT claims to assist “communities with education and social infrastructure development such as roads, potable water, electricity and dispensaries.” Despite promises of development, the palm oil plantation impoverished the villagers from Aboabo and Okumaning estates. Without their farmland, the villagers are forced to buy daily staples which they could grow before: “We do not have food to eat because we grow nothing apart from palm oil,” Daniel**, who currently works for GOPDC, states. 

Increased food prices mixed with decreasing employment opportunities pushed many villagers into working for GOPDC. “They took our land away and we ended up working for them,” Emmanuel Obeng, who lost his lucrative citrus trees in 2004, states bitterly. Obeng moved on to other work but many villagers continue working for GOPDC, where working conditions are dubious. 

During our visit in 2023, Daniel told us that he does “very hard work for minimal wages”. He could not disclose his wage, but Wisdom Koffi Adjawlo, director of the NGO Youth Volunteers for Environment Ghana, who has been monitoring the case, stated the compensation at 500 cedis (39 EUR) per month. The minimum monthly wage in the country is 400 cedis but already in 2018, the living wage was estimated at 900 cedis. 

Even this small wage is highly precarious. Adjawlo and Daniel disclosed that the company offers only temporary contracts to plantation workers. By not hiring permanent employees, GOPDC avoids paying for health insurance. Caring for oil palms is hard physical work with risks of physical injuries such as cuts or strains. If an accident occurs, the workers have to take care of their health on their own, and the company can refuse to reinstate them after their leave. Additionally, GOPDC does not offer appropriate protective equipment. The workers get one set every year, regardless of wear and tear, and must bear any costs of fixing it. Those tasked with spraying the plantation with chemicals feel this failing particularly acutely. 

RSPO certification despite abuses and court cases

GOPDC received its first RSPO certification in 2015 from the certification body TÜV Rheinland Indonesia. The way RSPO works is that certification bodies conduct a main audit to determine whether a company is fit to receive the certification. The certificate is valid for five years, with yearly audits and updates from the company.

According to RSPO spokesperson Kimasha Williams, “Unless investigations conclude otherwise, a member is not held in violation of the RSPO’s Standards for growers, the Principle and Criteria (P&C).”

In an email exchange, TÜV Rheinland stated that it conducted onsite audits at GOPDC between 2014 and 2020 according to RSPO guidelines. “The result of the audits was that the company met the requirements during the mentioned period,” the certification body’s spokesperson stated. 

In 2021, GOPDC got re-certified for another five years but with a different certification body: SCS Global. The certification body refused to speak to us, citing the “confidential nature” of their work (They did not have the same constraint while responding to Milieudefensie’s closer look at their certification practices).

During several audits by two certification bodies, there were at least three open court cases against GOPDC, which did not deter the company from receiving RSPO certification. In 2015 and 2017, five villagers from Aboabo demanded that the GOPDC pays them due compensation for their lost crops and lands. In 2021 – the year of the renewed RSPO certificate – the court ruled that GOPDC has to compensate the farmers based on the valuation of crops, lands, and nurseries conducted by the government body Land Valuation Board of Lands Commission. 

In its 2021 commitment to RSPO certification, SIAT states that it has “mechanisms in place to ensure (…) No existence of conflicts or disputes occurs that are not under resolution through a mutually agreed process.” Yet, its Ghanaian subsidiary continues to stall the court orders. In 2021, the company filed a motion to set aside the order for the Land Valuation Board to assess the crops. The court described GOPDC’s opposition as “way out of line” and “an abuse of the court system.” It stated: “The court sees the arguments of GOPDC in these two application [sic] as an attempt to frustrate a legitimate order made by this court.” The judge dismissed the motion and ordered GOPDC to pay both the compensation and legal costs. 

GOPDC now brought the case to the higher instance, the national court, where it awaits the decision. The plaintiffs still do not know when the court proceedings will resume. 

RSPO has its own complaint system. Yet, the Aboabo community is unaware of it. Diana Kyeremateng from the NGO Youth Volunteers for Environment Ghana highlighted that the community needs a person familiar with the certification to help them navigate the system. 

In an email exchange, RSPO spokesperson Williams suggested that “the certification process was not clear” to us, adding that “indeed it does take some time to understand”. If journalists who spend months on research supposedly cannot comprehend the certification process, one is left to wonder how affected communities or end consumers are supposed to get it. Subsequently, Williams informed us that there are currently no open complaint cases against GOPDC. 

The certification body TÜV Rheinland and consultant NGO ProForest noticed several of GOPDC’s abuses as far back as 2014. Then, ProForest described “major concerns over delay in payment” to people evicted from their farmland.

The NGO, however, only consults, and the final decision on certification is left up to the certification body. TÜV Rheinland also noticed several violations of the RSPO principles. In its 2017 surveillance report on GOPDC, the certification body describes an inadequate bonus system, a lack of facilities for protective equipment, and a failure to respect the company’s own medical insurance policy. 

According to the certification body, SIAT, and RSPO, all those issues were fixed in the following years. Yet, as our visit has shown, the problems still prevail in 2023 – and to such an extent that last year, the villagers’ struggle reached Brussels. A coalition of local NGOs from Ghana, the Ivory Coast, and Nigeria, all affected by abuses from SIAT’s subsidiaries, visited SIAT’s headquarters and the European Parliament to bring attention to their case. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive was an impetus for their visit, as it gave them hope that multinational corporations’ impunity in the Global South is coming to an end. “The [corporate sustainability] due diligence directive is a very good stand that countries, communities, and NGOs, could use to address the legality of possessing our land by the foreign company which only farms for export, not for the good of our communities,” Adjawlo, who represented Ghanaian communities, said.

The coalition met with SIAT’s CEO, Jan van Eykeren, who promised to meet the affected communities. Although the schedule was ready, the meeting did not take place. “We feel fooled once again,” Adjawlo shared.

The year of their Brussels visit, the three-country coalition also issued a statement in which they announced their boycott of the RSPO. 

Enforcement issues 

RSPO established “a definition of sustainable palm oil,” states Peter Oosterveer, a professor specializing in food systems at the University of Wageningen. “There’s a reference point. Before that, no one had a definition of sustainable palm oil. That’s an important step.” Yet, many issues stand in the way of ensuring real sustainability on the plantations. Difficulty in monitoring, the complexity of land rights, and conflict of interest due to financial dependency are the most important ones. 

While the RSPO standards may be applause-worthy, their implementation is often dubious: “Much depends on monitoring and control, and that’s often problematic,” Oosterveer states. NGOs have been highly critical of RSPO’s audit system. Danielle van Oijen from Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) calls the auditing a “check-the-box exercise”: “The auditors look at the company’s policies and then they have a few days of going inside the plantation.” Besides, auditors usually do not come from the region they are surveying. The first RSPO certificate for GOPDC was issued in Indonesia, while the second was agreed in the United States. “How, as a foreigner, who doesn’t even speak the language or know the local context, do you assess in a few hours if what the company says in the policies is true and happens in the plantations?,” van Oijen asks. 

TÜV Rheinland claims that they interviewed many stakeholders, including over 100 GOPDC employees and their family members, and visited at least two villages per audit. The villagers and Wisdom Koffi Adjawlo claim that at least 21 communities were affected by GOPDC’s actions. The rate of visiting two villages per audit for five years did not allow the certification body to visit even half of the affected communities.  

Nana Abbo, a retired villager beaten up for collecting GOPDC’s leftovers, did not make it into any audit reports. 

Additionally, customary land rights in West Africa are often not documented, which makes it a complex task to decipher property claims. Multiple NGOs, such as GRAIN and Friends of the Earth, point out that communities are often informed of the land lease agreement after it has already been concluded between the company and the government. The delay renders the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) principle unfulfillable. “Land conflicts are complex,” van Oijen highlights. “It’s just not possible to make a full assessment during an audit.” 

Finally, there is an inherent conflict of interest if companies pay certification bodies. According to Williams, having certification bodies with an “independent and third-party” relationship to RSPO do audits on the ground is a way to “ensure transparency and avoid conflict of interest.” Yet, this dependency can work the other way round: “If certification bodies are too harsh and do not give the certificate, they will not be hired anymore. A plantation company can shift to another certification body. This is a big problem in voluntary certification schemes,” van Oijen highlights. 

The issue is not restricted to RSPO but is endemic among voluntary certification schemes. RSPO’s sole accreditation body, Assurance Services International, which accredits companies like TÜV Rheinland or SCS Global to audit and give certifications, was recently named in an investigation on how FSC paper labels do not prevent deforestation. SCS Global was called out for certifying plantations with human rights abuses across West Africa. 

All this evidence circles back to why the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive came about – voluntary schemes do not ensure that no human rights violations take place. According to Van Oijen, “The industrial palm oil sector just has too many structural issues with labour, environment – like pollution and deforestation – and also with land rights. These structural issues are not solved by any certification scheme.”

Adjawlo puts it more bluntly: “RSPO is a protective body to legalize what the companies are doing. If you look at the criteria on which RSPO is based to license palm oil companies, you realize that they don’t take into consideration the human rights aspect. If they did, what happened here in Ghana, what is happening in Nigeria, cannot be happening. And RSPO goes ahead to certify these bodies.”

MEPs managed to push away lobbying in the de-forestation directive, where tire companies tried to exclude the rubber sector. SIAT has rubber plantations in the Ivory Coast and Cambodia and its clients were part of the lobbying effort. It seems that the MEPs will manage also with CSDDD and not allow for voluntary certifications to suffice instead of actual, long-awaited and belated, due diligence by the companies themselves. 

As GOPDC keeps on stalling the compensation, the directive may be decisive in changing the fate of the Aboabo community. Otherwise, many villagers remain stuck despite keeping up their fight. GOPDC worker Daniel explained that he is a car mechanic who doubles as a driver. Yet, without money, he cannot move to a different town to work, renew his license, or buy a car. “My hands are tied. I can only work with the company here to make ends meet,” he shares.

*Infobox  – see below

**Name changed for security reasons

SIAT withdrew comments on the article, citing partial contextualisation and referring us to official documents. The company claims to have a publicly available policy covering its commitment to FPIC but it is nowhere to be found. Similar to GOPDC’s land tenure agreement, which, according to the company website, is available upon request. We have asked for it on six different occasions over the span of 2.5 months, from GOPDC’s Office Manager Augustine Owosu-Sarpong and SIAT’s Chief Business Development Officer Mano Demeure, but we never received it.  

The production of this investigation is supported by a grant from the IJ4EU fund. The International Press Institute (IPI), the European Journalism Centre (EJC) and any other partners in the IJ4EU fund are not responsible for the content published and any use made out of it. 

Infobox text

How did large-scale palm oil plantations appear in Africa? 

The recent resurgence of industrial palm oil plantations in Africa stems from brutal history. Most of the recent projects involve old concessions with long-simmering land conflicts. 

Today, the expansion of industrial oil palm plantations in Africa is dominated by a handful of large, multinational companies. Just five companies control about three-quarters of the planted, industrial oil palm plantation area on the continent. The two most important are SOCFIN of Luxembourg and SIAT of Belgium, which control a quarter of all the large oil palm plantations on the continent.

Both of these companies built their plantation empires upon the ruins of a World Bank programme to construct oil palm and rubber plantations across several countries in West and Central Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. That programme was carried out in close collaboration with SOCFIN’s consulting firm, SOCFINCO. 

The person leading SOCFINCO’s operations in Nigeria was the founder of SIAT, Pierre Vandebeeck. From 1974 to the end of the 1980s, SOCFINCO crafted master plans for at least 7 World Bank-backed oil palm projects in 5 different states. Each project envisioned creating a para-statal company to take over the state’s existing plantations and develop new ones, as well as palm oil mills. 

As the parastatal companies claimed to act in the national interest, the palm oil companies could be sure that government will use decrees and military force, where necessary, to uproot people out of lands considered suitable for oil palm cultivation. The African governments also used public money to pay for this expansion, by way of loans from the World Bank. In Ghana, the government forcibly acquired the community land in the 1970s for its palm oil ambitions.

Then, in the 1990s, with the state plantation companies deep in debt, the World Bank pushed for privatisation. Vandebeeck established his own company, Siat Group (Société d’Investissement pour l’Agriculture Tropicale) in 1991 which gradually took over formerly state-owned companies in Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon and Ivory Coast. Today, SIAT’s subsidiaries own almost 47 000 hectares of palm plantations and over 5300 rubber plantations in Africa as well as it operates a 2700-ha rubber plantation in Cambodia.

However, many of the oil palm plantation projects that were announced over the past decade have failed, mainly because of the resistance of local communities that have been threatened by displacement and losing their source of income. As the report of The Alliance against industrial plantations in West and Central Africa shows, only 220 608 hectares have been developed into industrial oil palm plantations or replanted over the past decade. 

The reason for the failure of some investments is that many of the projects were led by companies with little or no previous experience with large-scale agriculture. Some of these companies simply wanted to profit from the rush for farmland in Africa, and most were interested in securing leases or concessions over large areas of land that they could then sell to another company after making minor investments in operations or no investments at all. 

Recent years have shown that industrial oil palm plantations are an ineffective mode of corporate agriculture. Despite considerable financial support from governments, financial institutions, or private donors, big palm oil companies only account for 10% of total harvested area of oil palms in Africa. Most of the palm oil sold in Africa comes from Malaysia and Indonesia. This cheap, low-quality palm oil undercuts the local markets for the higher-quality traditional palm oil supplied by small-scale producers.

Authors’ bios

Magdalena Krukowska (Belgium/Poland) – since 15 ys cooperating with Forbes magazine, professor of sustainability and journalism, author of the film reportages “Mantra of Bhutan”, “Shule Bora”, “War for the minerals of war”, broadcasted, among others in VOD.pl, TVN24, forbes.pl, and of the documentary „New City” about the land grabbing in the Philippines.

Follow her on Twitter    Find here on Lindkedin

Zuza Nazaruk (Netherlands/Poland) – Rotterdam-based journalist covering climate & environment. Current BIRN Fellow for Journalistic Excellence, a fellow with Civil Forum on Asset Recovery, and with International Journalists’ Programme. Her multimedia reporting appeared in Euronews Green, Unbias the News, DutchNews, Vers Beton, Kyiv Post, Gazeta Wyborcza, ENTR (France24), Equal Times, and more, in seven languages. 

Follow her on Twitter    Find her on LinkedIn

The post End of abuses-as-usual in sight? A Ghanaian community around the RSPO-certified plantation hopes so appeared first on iWatch Africa.

• UN Comtrade data shows that the European Union exported over $275 million worth of vehicles to Ghana in the last five years. “Many of these vehicles are comparable to those we consider end-of-life vehicles.”

• With an estimated 40% of Accra’s air pollution concentrations related to vehicle transport emissions, Accra’s yearly concentration of air pollution was 11 times higher than the WHO air quality standard as of 2020.

• Ghana’s local regulators; the Ghana Road Safety Authority, and the Ghana Standards Authority do not currently have any scientific specifications and emissions standards for auto spare parts exported to the country.

ACCRA, Ghana — In the bustling market of Abossey Okai in Accra, Ghana, one will find a vast array of imported auto parts from Europe and other parts of the world. The market is known for its wide variety of auto spare parts, including both new and used parts, and is a popular destination for those looking to repair or upgrade their vehicles.

However, the importation of end-of-life vehicles and used auto parts from Europe to the market is not only putting lives at risk but also contributing to significant environmental pollution in Ghana.

Robert Dumevo, a mechanic who runs his shop at Lapaz, a suburb of Accra, recounts how he narrowly escaped death on the N1 motorway in Accra. He had replaced a broken exhaust pipe on a client’s Hyundai Sonata, unaware that the replaced part was also faulty and resulted in the vehicle catching fire during a test drive.

“I was driving a ticking time bomb. My lungs were engulfed in smoke, and I struggled to breathe. I realized there was trouble when I tried to escape but my seat belt got jammed. I could feel the fire under my feet,” Robert recalled with some hint of trepidation.

Robert blames “unscrupulous spare part dealers” at Abossey Okai, Accra’s largest hub of spare parts importers, where he bought the replacement part.

“When you buy a used spare part at Abossey Okai, you cannot tell if it is fake, sub-standard, or faulty. Some businessmen are involved in the selling of sub-standard spare parts making it difficult to do our work,” he explained. (https://jardinefoods.com/)

Abossey Okai – A morgue for used car parts and end-of-life (ELVs) vehicles from Europe

Clement Boateng, the chairman of the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association, admitted that the prevalence of sub-standard auto parts ending up in vehicles and causing safety and environmental issues stems from the nature of auto parts imported from abroad. “Most of the second-hand auto parts dealers import parts from salvaged and end-of-life vehicles,” Clement revealed.

There are “over 15,000 shops” at Abossey Okai, with over fifty-five percent engaged in the import of used auto spare parts from abroad, he said adding, “when importing used auto parts, you must be there for physical inspection or have a trusted client. Otherwise, you will stay in Ghana, and they will load a thrash of auto parts containers to you.”

The used automobile parts and vehicle industry is one of the biggest in Europe and West Africa. Data provided by the Dutch Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT), shows that “Europe exports over a million light-duty vehicles” to Africa annually. UN Comtrade data shows that the European Union has exported over $275 million worth of vehicles to Ghana in the last five years with Germany being the biggest exporter.

“Many of these vehicles are comparable to those we consider end-of-life vehicles,” ILT notes, bringing into question the nature of port inspections that take place in Europe before export.

Frank Duru, is a car exporter with several years of experience based in Germany. He explained that there are instances when an official car inspection before export is replaced by a personal glance of approval.

“A few of them [vehicles] do not have the roadworthiness certificate, but we see they are in good condition,” he disclosed.

“Neither the exporting nor importing countries have minimum requirements in place to ensure that only quality used vehicles are traded,” said Veronica Ruiz Stannah, an expert on transportation at the United Nations Environment Programme.

This allows for a lot of used cars and car parts in poor conditions to pass inspections at European harbors and depart for West Africa, where they create substantial safety, environmental and health problems for people like Robert.

Response to trade of ELVs and used spare parts in Europe and Ghana

In 2020, ILT conducted a study on the European export of used vehicles to West Africa. The study revealed that 80 percent of 280,000 vehicles exported to West Africa from the Netherlands were “old and below the Euro 4/IV emission standard,” and often lacked requisite “roadworthiness certification.”

The study also noted that the trend was not entirely different among other European markets such as Germany, Belgium and France, Netherlands, and Italy.

Marietta Harjono, a coordinating specialist at the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) of the Netherlands, explained that, at the harbours, inspectors can stop the “worst vehicles, when they are waste or hazardous waste,” after conducting checks with customs officials.

She however stressed that, while a lot of the used cars may not be categorized as waste, they might still not be appropriate for export.

ILT in a 2021 proposal to the European Commission (EC) on the revision of EU regulation on end-of-life vehicles concluded that “environmental and health problems will arise in case third countries lack a proper system for handling vehicles that reach their end-of-life situation and become waste.”

The European Commission is currently in the process of revising its directive on end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), but it remains uncertain if a “cross-border aspect” will be included in the final regulation to end the export of  ELVs to places like Ghana and Nigeria according to the ILT.

The EC did not respond to questions about ELVs and used spare parts ending up in places like Ghana.

Despite the health and environmental problems caused by end-of-life automobile parts and vehicles from Europe, Ghana’s local regulators; the Ghana Road Safety Authority, and the Ghana Standards Authority do not currently have any scientific specifications and emissions standards for auto spare parts exported to the country.

Head of Regulation, Inspection, and Compliance at the Ghana Road Safety Authority, Kwame Koduah Atuahene told iWatch Africa that his authority and the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) are engaged in a conversation “to ensure that spare parts imports at least meet some conformity test and standards.”

The Ghana Standards Authority in a written response as part of this investigation also noted that: “The GSA does not have a written policy specific to vehicle spare parts. The Authority is currently pursuing the development of national standards for replacement parts (spare parts).”

Meanwhile, in 2002, Ghana introduced a regulation that made the import of vehicles over ten years more costly by imposing penalties.

Emissions, Health and Environmental Problems

In spite of this regulation, it is typical to encounter many cars releasing thick exhaust fumes while driving through Ghana’s capital, Accra, – a health hazard for many pedestrians, street hawkers, and shop owners resulting in thousands of deaths annually.

Accra’s air pollution is considered critical as around 16 percent of the air is severely polluted and unhealthy, with an additional 30 percent unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as people with asthma according to the Air Quality Index.

At an event to mark the International Day of Clean Air Blue Skies last September, Dr. Francis Chisaka Kasolo, the World Health Organisation Representative to Ghana noted that air pollution was the biggest environmental risk responsible for premature deaths from heart attacks, stroke, and respiratory diseases in the country.

With an estimated 40% of Accra’s air pollution concentrations related to vehicle transport emissions, its yearly concentration of air pollution was 11 times higher than the WHO air quality standard as of 2020.

The country imports about 100,000 vehicles per year, 90 percent of which are used vehicles.  Most of the cars currently used in Ghana are Euro 1 and 2, meaning that they are the most pollutant according to the EU emission standards.

So far, officials in Ghana have failed to implement legislation passed in 2020 that aims to completely ban the import of vehicles older than 10 years.

Daniel Essel, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Transport in Ghana, during a session at COP27, praised the legislation but failed to mention that the government had chosen not to implement it, raising issues about commitment of Ghanaian officials to addressing concerns related to ELVs and used car parts.

“Policymakers in Ghana are not doing enough to curtail used vehicle consumption and, to that end, reduce the harms – crashes, pollution, etc. – that come with it,” says Festival Godwin Boateng, a Ph.D. researcher at the Center for Sustainable Urban Development at Columbia Climate School in New York.

Way Forward

To safeguard the environment and public safety, Dr. Boateng insists that any ban on ELVs in Ghana should be couched as part of broader policies such as investments to make public transport, walking and cycling cleaner, safer and affordable as well as investments in city planning and minibus electrification.

For a regional solution, the ILT recommends that “African governments agree as much as possible to harmonised or regional import standards for used vehicles. Whether it is on maximum age, minimum euro class, maximum mileage, proof of roadworthiness and or condition of the vehicles at export.”

Robert narrowly avoided a fatal outcome but unfortunately, thousands including the environment bear the consequences of years of ineffective policies on the import of ELVs and used car parts.

Until the necessary actions are taken, Robert believes that “many people will continue to perish each year” through no fault of their own.

Report by Gideon Sarpong, Additional reporting by Raluca Besliu, Daniel Abugre Anyorigya and Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi.

This investigation was supported by Journalismfund.eu.

The post Exporting Hazard: The dark side of European used cars and parts trade in Ghana appeared first on iWatch Africa.

1. China’s trespassing vessels and the economic impact on Ghana’s fisheries sector   
2. How Big Tech’s Content Moderation Policies Could Jeopardize Users in Authoritarian Regimes
3. Garbage Out, Garbage In: How Europe’s e-waste problem is a burden on Africa
4. Transforming climate finance for debt-distressed economies during COVID-19
5. EC proposed Carbon Border Adjustment mechanism: Key considerations for Least Developed Countries
6. Ocean-Climate Nexus: A Blue-Carbon Pathway for West African States
7. The New Censorship: Why Protecting Journalists Online from Harassment is Critical to Press Freedom
8. Ghana given ‘Yellow Card’ by the European Commission following iWatch’s investigation on illegal fishing
9. How the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons (SALWs) is fueling conflicts in West Africa
10. Gideon Sarpong writes: Ghanaian women journalists face threats, abuse in carrying out mandate

Follow @iwatchafrica

The post READ: iWatch Africa’s Top 10 Reports in 2021 appeared first on iWatch Africa.

This year-long initiative seeks to influence policy decisions at the highest level of governance in Ghana and across the sub-region and will be a combination of virtual meetings and physical summits.

The theme for the maiden edition is; ‘’Navigating some critical sectors in 2021’ with guests sharing their expectations for the new year.

Co-founder of iWatch Africa, Gideon Sarpong believes that the dialogue series, “will be an important vehicle for talking through critical issues facing the region and finding areas of convergence for development.”

“I expect that these dialogue series would be an immersive experience with an end goal of designing practical blueprints across several domains for sustainable development,” he added.

The launch will be a virtual session and it is open to the public:

iWatch Africa is inviting you to the launch of its Policy Dialogue Series.

Topic: Navigating some critical sectors in 2021

Time: Saturday, January 16, 2021 02:00 PM GMT

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89608831830?pwd=N3p2TVlYV0k0cW90TDBkQ3YwZ0JEUT09

Meeting ID: 896 0883 1830

Passcode: 257197

Source: iWatch Africa | Follow @iwatchafrica

The post iWatch Africa to launch its 2021 ‘Policy Dialogue Series’ on Saturday, Jan 16 appeared first on iWatch Africa.

The World Health Organization updated the ‘Criteria for releasing COVID-19 patients from isolation’ last May. The discharge criterion in summary states that:

• For symptomatic patients: 10 days after symptom onset, plus at least 3 additional days without symptoms (including without fever and without respiratory symptoms)
• For asymptomatic cases: 10 days after positive test for SARS-CoV-2

This new guidelines allows for patients to be discharged after the requisite duration without necessarily undergoing the rigorous testing guideline WHO issued in January 2020. The January guideline placed premium on the test- based strategy for discontinuing transmission-based precautions thus a patient was discharged after obtaining 2 negative PCR tests at least 24 hours apart.

Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Aboagye who announced Ghana’s revised policy noted that recent data and new clinical management guide by the WHO on the modification of discharge criteria informed Ghana’s decision.

Following the announcement, Ghana’s active COVID-19 case count has dropped to 3596 active cases as at June 22^nd from a high of 8585 active cases on June 19^th.

Meanwhile, Nana Kofo Quakyi, Research Fellow and Adjunct Asst. Prof at New York University has described the GHS decision to lump together data on recoveries and discharges as “misleading.”

“Cases still being managed at home are still active cases because discharge is not the same as recovery. Parroting the intentional conflation of the two concepts abets a misleading narrative about the actual case load in the medical and public health systems. This is not just semantics,” Mr. Quakyi wrote in a blogpost.

He further insisted that the “discharge criteria is not meant to replace the original one laid out by the WHO” and called on the Ghana Health Service to “separate the discharges from the recoveries” on the GHS COVID19 Dashboard.

Virologist Peter Kojo Quarshie also warned that, “some of those discharges will not be cured, but the economic cost of keeping them in the hospital is not justified. It just needs not to be called recovery but discharge.”

Read Also: iWatch Africa holds maiden town hall meeting at 37 Military Lorry Station

The Ghana Health Service has so far failed to address the concerns raised by several health experts. A glance of the local dashboard as at July, 23^rd still shows the conflation of recoveries and discharges.

Report by Gideon Sarpong | iWatch Africa

The post Ghana: Active COVID-19 cases drop sharply after adopting new WHO guidelines as experts express concern appeared first on iWatch Africa.

On June 2^nd 2020, contact tracers in the region decided to embark on a strike action over slashed allowances, which authorities have failed to address.

A spokesperson for the contact tracers, Ibrahim Dauda explained that the group would remain on strike until their “grievances are addressed with regards to the amount we are supposed to receive for work.”

This strike comes weeks after the President had indicated that the government had set aside an insurance package to cushion health officials at the forefront of Ghana’s fight against the novel Coronavirus disease in the country.

The number of recorded cases in the Ashanti Region on the eve of the strike stood at 1247 cases. Two weeks after the strike action, June 15^th, the cases have shot up to 2205 representing an increase of 958 cases in the region alone.

The Ashanti Region has consistently maintained its position as the region with the second-highest number of cases in the Ghana but the sharp increase in the number of counted cases should be a concern to health officials.

Meanwhile, the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate did not respond to a request for comment for this report and has not officially addressed the strike action by the contact tracers.

Read Also: Police shoot 15-year old for flouting COVID-19 restrictions

The President in an address to the nation last night also failed to directly address the strike action although he directed the mandatory wearing of nose masks in the country as cases continue to surge.

According to the Ministry of Health, Ghana’s confirmed coronavirus cases cumulatively, stood at 11,964 as at 15th June with 4,258 fully recovered patients. The total number of active cases currently stands at 7,652 with 54 recorded deaths.

Report by Gideon Sarpong | iWatch Africa

The post Ghana: Over 70% spike in COVID-19 cases in Ashanti Region since contact tracers declared strike appeared first on iWatch Africa.

Speaking last Tuesday during a press briefing in Accra, the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said: “We are considering it [the herbal cure]. We have reached out to them [Madagascar]. We have asked that it [should] be made available to us.”

The minister however admitted that the Madagascar COVID-Organics would have to undergo further tests by regulatory bodies before the drug could be administered in the country.

“Like all drugs, it will be tested by FDA and in this case by the Center for Plant Medicine and if proven efficacious, we can recommend its use,” he stated.

Madagascar’s president, Andry Rajoelina, last week defended the unproven Covid-Organics drink, which is reportedly made from Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood) and herbs, telling France 24 it was a “preventive and curative remedy” and “works really well”.

However, when Dr. Zabulon Yoti, WHO Africa Regional Emergencies Director (Acting) was asked during a press briefing organized by the Reuters Foundation last week whether WHO had any data or evidence of its efficacy, he said: “No, at the moment we have no cure for COVID-19.”

He further cautioned against use of drugs which have not undergone clinical trials.

“So currently the herbal treatments out there have not undergone clinical trials. What we are offering as WHO is to work with these countries to do proper clinical trials and also to monitor the effects of those who have taken these medicines, so we can see if these are really potent medicines,” he said. (vipcleaners.com)

Meanwhile, a Member of Parliament in Ghana, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has condemned the prejudice the Madagascar Coronavirus “cure” has suffered.

In a tweet, he said: “The prejudice against anything from Africa must be boldly confronted.”

The lawmaker further commended the Africa Union for reaching out to the Madagascan President on the herbal medicine.

Read Also: Fixing the Future: What must the world do now and post COVID-19?

“I highly commend the African Union for reaching out to the Madagascan President, Andry Rajoelina on the wonder coronavirus herbal medicine: COVID-Organics.”

WHO has however paid for advertisements to appear alongside Google searches for Artemisia annua. The advertisements lead to a WHO page that says such medicinal plants should be tested for efficacy and negative side effects.

“Africans deserve to use medicines tested to the same standards as people in the rest of the world,” the statement says.

It remains unclear when the Food and Drugs Authority in Ghana will complete its assessment of the Madagascar Covid-Organics and make the results available to the general public.

By Gideon Sarpong | iWatch Africa

The post Ghana requests for Madagascar’s COVID-Organics despite caution from WHO appeared first on iWatch Africa.

The future, it seems, to a considerable extent, is damaged by the virus. Already, before COVID-19, the world was suffering grave predicaments, including growing inequality between the rich and the poor as well as high youth unemployment (in particular low-skilled individuals). The high unemployment among low-end workers is explained partly by the advancement in robotics, InfoTech and biotech in the delivery of work. At the same time, many economies were suffering from slower growth, increased public debt, dwindling domestic revenue mobilisation, and illegal migration management, among others. As a result, many economies were close to recession.

Moreover, the social fibre of the world is also witnessing marked changes. Social norms, including what constitutes “truth” is now fiercely challenged. In the political space, populism and nationalism dogmas appear to have taken hold of the political establishments across the globe. COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the already frail predicament of the world.

The world, for many years, has witnessed different kinds of plagues. In the 1340s, the black disease (believed to have started from central Asia) consumed about 75 million lives worldwide. It was not until 1771 that an antidote was found to the disease. Between 1918 and 1919, the world again witnessed another deadly plague called Spanish Flu. This disease ravaged havoc around the globe, killing circa 100 million people. AIDS is another plague that has killed over 25 million people since 1981. The others include malaria, which kills over 2 million people every year worldwide and several thousand also die every year from chorale outbreaks. Other epidemics such as SAS, H1N1, MERS and Ebola have also slain many people around the world. Certainly, plagues have been one of humanity’s worst enemies because of the devastations they bring.

The corollary of these plagues is that not only do they devour human lives, but also the global economy always takes a hit. Healthcare infrastructure gets stretched, and sometimes pockets of social unrests are recorded. Businesses see profit plummet, individuals lose jobs, and many are left unable to fend for themselves and their families. Governments lose revenues and often are unable to provide the social support required during such critical times effectively. Fiscal rectitude gets jettisoned, especially when the disruptions are not ephemeral. Under such situation, countries are likely to accumulate more debt which elevates budgetary imbalance. Such imbalance often takes years to redress. Plagues, therefore, have from time immemorial not been good for the global economy.

The COVID-19 is undoubtedly impacting the global economy negatively. Growth is forecasted to significantly plunge in many countries as various lockdown measures are implemented. Unemployment is predicted to soar to levels comparable to the cold war era. Many businesses across the multiple sectors including; tourism and hospitality, transportation, manufacturing, education, among others have all collapsed or are on the verge of collapse. Already, many across the world are accessing state-sponsored stimulus for their businesses or consumption. Many are also being fed through food bank programmes.

Nonetheless, some positive norms have also emerged out of the pandemic. The key one is the improvement in hygiene standards as more people wash their hands and sanitise regularly. This, in addition to “no handshakes” and people removing their outdoor footwear before entering their homes, is expected to reduce transmission of infection among people. Another vital norm gaining prominence is the use of technology infrastructure for the delivery of education and work. As many are working from home, virtual communication infrastructure has become the surest way of getting things done. Concerning the delivery of education, information technology infrastructure has been quite helpful. These new normal habits many expect will continue even when the pandemic is over and done with.

Despite these identified positives, the virus on a balanced-scale is having a more negative impact on all people. It, therefore, has become obvious that COVID-19 potentially could damage the future of humanity. If this assertion is to hold, is there anything humanity could do to salvage the future? Yes! There are many things the world can do to get the virus to pass by with minimal effect. Below, I discuss some of the things humanity can do to ensure the future is not further damaged and to an extent, even reverse some of the direr COVID-19 consequences.

Education – To fix the future requires that we correct the present education system since it’s the sure way to an unknown future. Despite the relevance of education in determining the future we desire, no one can be certain of the type of training that will be relevant to the future. This assertion is so true because human’s prediction of the future has been often imprecise. So, it’s evident that we have a problem in determining the relevant education system for the future. Improving on our prediction of the future is crucial since what we learn today must be based on our prediction of what the future will be like. As the capacity of technology keeps expanding, it becomes imperative that the present system where schools cram information into students’ brain is revised. Some few decades ago, the cramming system was perfect because information was scarce. To make education responsive to modern problems requires a complete overhaul of the present system. Our schools must begin to emphasis the 4Cs – critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. We must leverage technology to aid in the delivery of education in line with the education 4.0 concept which encourages cyber-physical interactions. This will require investments in technology infrastructure and also making them accessible to every school-going child regardless of geography. These investments must be made since humankind will continue to deal with plague nobody has ever encountered going into the future. With the advent of supercomputers, artificial intelligence and advancements in biochemical technologies, for humans to be relevant would require that education does not only afford us stability but also afford us the ability to learn and reinvent knowledge continually. The new education system must enable people to be able to harness the community of knowledge to address societal problems.

Prioritising healthcare infrastructure – If there is one thing that COVID-19 has exposed, it is the weakness in global health infrastructure and systems. COVID-19 has created an unprecedented disruption to global health systems in modern history. The World Health Organisation’s recent acknowledgement of significant gaps in global health investments has elevated health and welfare concerns around the world. As such, the need for adequate investments in equipment and staff training is most pressing if the world is to have a health system resilient enough to meet this pandemic and future pandemics. It is also critical that much attention is devoted to building robust cooperation, especially in the areas of information sharing among the various national, sub-national, regional and global health systems. Such fruitful cooperation ultimately will become the foundation for the much needed global health security.

Enhance connectedness and built consensus on global commons – Another area that is critical to fixing the future would be the extent to which the world cooperate in addressing the three most dreadful challenges of the world – destructive technological advances, persistent Nukes threat and the ecological destruction by anthropological considerations. Cooperation in other equally important matters such as science and research, fighting various forms of crimes- financial, cyber, drugs and human trafficking – just to mention, but a few would be a critical enabler for the beautiful future we all envisage. The adverse impacts of these global concerns are not geography-specific and could affect anybody in any part of the world. Need I mention though that the magnitude may vary from one place to the other. Human connectedness has reached levels that it will take a lot to reverse. In such complex connectedness, cooperation among nations is the sure way all countries can benefit. Institutions established to advance the global agenda must continue to reinvent themselves while engaging new actors. To fix the future depends on us fixing what is broken within the current global governance architecture. It will require us all to repurpose international coordination on global problems from the perspective of national to global solidarity.

The new normal – One element of the future is about cultural changes that are to come. Some of the prescribed protocols to control the COVID-19 have a direct impact on the culture of many people. For example, among many Africans, shaking hands is seen as an expression of affection, respect and connection with each other. This practice is now strongly discouraged as it is one of the amplified ways for the spread of the virus. People are now frequently washing hands under running water and sanitising hands when necessary. Social gatherings have been constrained to a limited number of people with strict adherence to social distancing. These are new normals. It is imperative to note that to fix the future, these “new normals” must be taken into account as a new fixture of life.

Read Also:Fact-Check: Claim that smoking tobacco is helpful against coronavirus is ‘unproven’ and misleading

To conclude, it has become apparent that the future requires fixing if humanity is to avoid the lacklustre way COVID-19 pandemic has been dealt with. The weak coordination among nations, the poor state of global health systems due to years of neglect, and inadequate education on the COVID-19 pandemic need not repeat in the future. The world needs to make the right investments and interventions required to sufficiently position it to deal with future pandemics. This will require all of us to build strong global solidarity against future plagues and through that protect humanity.

Article by

Henry, KYEREMEH- Co-Founder: iWatch Africa, (kyeremeh@gmail.com)

The post Fixing the Future: What must the world do now and post COVID-19? appeared first on iWatch Africa.

In an article first published on PeaceFMOnline dated 9^th May, 2020, Kwesi Pratt stated that, “When the disease [COVID-19] started, we were told that if you smoke, the likelihood to contract the disease is very strong and your recovery is not as good as the non-smokers and so on…Just last week, according to a French scientist’s research, they have discovered that nicotine is good against COVID-19 meaning smoking tawa (tobacco) is helpful…”

A statement released by the WHO on 11^th May, has however debunked the conclusions made by the veteran journalist, who has also previously admitted to being a chain smoker.

“There is currently insufficient information to confirm any link between tobacco or nicotine in the prevention or treatment of COVID-19,” the WHO statement read.

Contrary to the claims made by Kwesi Pratt and distortions of the French study, the statement also noted that, “a review of studies by public health experts convened by WHO on 29 April 2020 found that smokers are more likely to develop severe disease with COVID-19, compared to non-smokers.”

French researchers led by Jean-Pierre Changeux, a neurobiologist at the Institut Pasteur, hypothesized that nicotine patches may help prevent infections with the dangerous virus. The study, which is in its early stages and unproven looked at around 500 COVID-19 patients, of whom 350 had been treated in hospital and 150 had a mild disease progression. Only 5% were smokers, Zahir Amoura, co-author of the study, told the news agency AFP. They published a corresponding theory on the science portal Qeios.

WHO has however cautioned the media and researchers against “amplifying unproven claims” as it continues to evaluate new research.

“WHO is constantly evaluating new research, including research that examines the link between tobacco use, nicotine use, and COVID-19. WHO urges researchers, scientists and the media to be cautious about amplifying unproven claims that tobacco or nicotine could reduce the risk of COVID-19.”

The French researchers are currently awaiting approval from health authorities in France to carry out clinical trials.

With further research needed, France’s top health official, Jerome Saloman is discouraging people from picking up smoking or using nicotine patches as a protective measure against the virus.

“We must not forget the harmful effects of nicotine,” he stated.  The caution expressed by France’s top health official is in sync with the statement from WHO which also cautioned that, “tobacco smoking is a known risk factor for many respiratory infections and increases the severity of respiratory diseases.”

“Tobacco kills more than 8 million people globally every year. More than 7 million of these deaths are from direct tobacco use and around 1.2 million are due to non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke,” WHO warned. (https://zonaroofingaz.com/)

Report by Gideon Sarpong | iWatch Africa

The post Fact-Check: Claim that smoking tobacco is helpful against coronavirus is ‘unproven’ and misleading appeared first on iWatch Africa.

On April 19, Ghana became the first country in the Sub-Saharan region to lift its partial lockdown. The confirmed COVID-19 cases as at then stood at 1047, with number of deaths at 9.

Two weeks following the lift in the lockdown, the Ghana Health Service has announced that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases stood at 2,719, 294 recoveries and 18 deaths representing over 100 percent increase in deaths and confirmed cases.

Former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa has expressed his “disappointment” over President Nana Akufo-Addo’s decision to lift the lockdown imposed on some parts of the country.

According to him, the upsurge in COVID-19 cases in the country defeat the government’s decision to lift the lockdown.

He said, “looking at the science of this whole distribution of COVID-19, one will realize that it has moved from the center, Accra, towards the periphery…Even with our cases, there was still a lot of backlog in testing which we felt was not good enough [to warrant the lifting of the lockdown].”

Meanwhile, Dr. Zabulon Yoti, the Regional Emergencies Director (Acting), World Health Organisation in a press briefing organized by the Thomson Reuters Foundation has advised governments to “institute targeted lockdowns” to prevent spike in cases as many countries in the Sub-Saharan region relax lockdown restrictions.

“If governments institute targeted lockdowns, we would not see these spikes after lockdowns are lifted. Also, there must be flexibility in the way we respond to these pandemics. There is a fear of spikes if the lockdowns are lifted without adequate measures in place,” Dr. Yoti told a group of journalists during the briefing.

As part of the government’s effort to contain the surge in COVID-19 cases in Ghana, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah at a press briefing on Tuesday in Accra insisted that public buildings and offices must have a “no mask no entry” policy.

The ‘no mask no entry’ operation is in line with enforcement of COVID-19 directives issued by the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council and Ministry of Health, he stated.

Meanwhile, Senior Research Fellow at Ghana’s leading biomedical research, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), Dr. Kofi Bonney has argued that,  “It will be difficult to limit the spread of the virus because of the disregard for Government’s directives aimed at achieving the aforementioned purpose.”

“The blatant disregard by Ghanaians with regard to the social distancing and regular washing of hands directive will cause problems,” he added

Ghana remains West Africa’s second most impacted behind Nigeria who have 2,800 plus cases at May 4th.

Report by Gideon Sarpong | iWatch Africa | Follow @gideonsarpong

The post Ghana: Gov’t under pressure as confirmed COVID-19 cases surge following lift in lockdown appeared first on iWatch Africa.