Stay focused, we'll win - Dr. Bawumia | AM Newspaper Review
Newspaper headlines review and other matters arising in Ghana.
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Transcript
00:00 Thank you for staying with us. Time now for us to get into the news review. We host the
00:05 NDC's parliamentary candidate-elect for South Tongue. Aha, he says I should always focus
00:10 on the South. Maxwell Lukotor, he's our guest. Before I bring him into the fray, this segment
00:16 always brought to you by Endpoint Homeopathic Clinic and the proposition is the same. They're
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00:50 the end to chronic disease. But I have this question for you. Would have brought it to
00:56 you in the news this morning. I just want to run it by you. It's something that we've
01:00 discussed before, taxes. But I ask, would you pay more taxes if there were some guarantee
01:11 of better living? So recently, of course, we heard of what some people call celebrity
01:18 tax. If you're a master of ceremonies or an influence on social media, then government
01:27 wants to tax you a bit. Same way they are doing with bettors. 10% for bettors. I don't
01:32 know what percentage that would attract. For some of us, major upscale gigs would attract
01:39 the withholding tax of 7.5%. But now they want to spread it across. So everything you
01:44 do, you'll be taxed on it. What is your take on that? Let me know via the live stream.
01:51 Join us on Facebook. Let me say a very good morning now to Maxwell. Good morning, Max.
01:57 Good morning, my brother. How are you? I'm well. More taxes for better living. What do
02:03 you think? Yeah, good morning. First of all, let me commend you for remembering this up
02:11 very, very well. And to ask what your life is made to be. Is it go there or what? Anyway,
02:24 we'll discuss that one later. What do you think? Okay, let's do some watching. So like
02:41 you said earlier, it's always been a cliche that you can't tax people to prosperity. And
02:48 so you can't continue taxing people every day. There are a lot of us who are taxed in
02:52 different angles. So there should be some angles that you have some respite. This entertainment
02:58 industry, other things. There are a lot of taxes that we accept on these individuals.
03:02 So why do we think that we should continue taxing them to the last boom of every fish
03:06 they eat? No, I don't think. And no tax person will tell you that you can't tax people into
03:12 prosperity. Of course, a lot of the people should be brought into the tax net. But it
03:16 doesn't mean that every little thing anybody does would have to be taxed. If you are not
03:20 sure, very soon, even for briefing, you will be taxed for briefing. And it's not the best
03:26 situation we find ourselves. Even though people would want to ask, what do you use the taxes
03:31 that you are already taking to do? They would want you to justify it before they think about
03:36 paying more. Of course, it is our responsibility as citizens to also inquire from government
03:43 what we use our money to do. If we see extravagance, if you see flamboyance in their style of living,
03:52 if one minister can have all that money in her bedroom, and if you see things happening
03:57 like it used to happen in the past, where the president would be flying anywhere, anyhow,
04:02 in very expensive and luxurious airplanes, paying so much just for a trip, which can
04:09 be done better because his other colleagues from other countries are doing the same, then
04:14 it puts you to think, why should we continue to pay more taxes to the government for them
04:17 to go and use our money?
04:19 But you also realise that without taxes, completely without them, the country will run aground,
04:25 right?
04:26 Yeah, my brother. So I said earlier, we said that taxes are necessary for our group. And
04:32 then I also continue to say that we can't tax people into prosperity. Then I am also
04:37 saying that people would want to ask you what you are already taxing them is being used
04:42 for. They would want to justify some of those things. So if you take it and you are not
04:46 using it for any reasonable thing and you want to take more, will people be encouraged
04:51 to pay more? No, I'm not sure they will do. So you should be able to convince them that
04:55 what I have is being used to construct your roads, is being used to provide water, is
05:00 being used to provide electricity at the very subsidised cost where you can pay and all
05:04 those other things for you to be encouraged to say, oh, if I do this, my road in my corner
05:09 will be fixed because I saw my colleagues' one be fixed, mine will also be fixed. I don't
05:13 have to spend extra money myself going to buy gravels to come and fill my potholes when
05:17 you raise the whole road, it becomes very messy. And every day on the motorway, I have
05:21 to be buying shock absorbers. That money that should be used in buying shock absorbers will
05:26 be used to pay tax if the motorway is fixed. So for me, it's an egg issue. Governments
05:32 should be seen to be doing the things that citizens expect them to do before we can also
05:36 push further to want to pay the more taxes for them to use to do the things that--I don't
05:42 think in the West people complain so much when these taxes are imposed on them. Sometimes
05:46 those of us in Ghana, when we complain, our colleagues in our side will tell you, ah,
05:50 this is normal. In Europe, we do this, we pay this, we pay this. But the issue is that
05:54 the things they need have been fixed for them. But we have to go and fix the infrastructure
05:59 by ourselves.
06:00 - Well, thank you for those--
06:01 - That is the reason why we see us grumbling, why we have to pay more of these taxes because
06:07 we don't see what they end up using it to do.
06:11 - Thank you for those thoughts, and I agree with you to a large extent. It's not about
06:15 how much you're paying, it's about the quality of life that your taxes would give you in
06:21 return. After all, that's why we elect government, to provide certain things for us. Most people
06:27 wouldn't have, you wouldn't have an airport, a private airport, or something of the sort.
06:33 These are things, roads, usually it is the state that does these things. Now we're talking
06:38 about dialysis at the Kolibu Teaching Hospital, which has moved from over 300 cities to about
06:44 800 cities, all because taxes or waivers have been withdrawn, and now they are facing the
06:51 full thrust of taxation. And we're taxing ourselves into everything. Now it's impacting
06:58 the health sector, it's impacting every sector, and just making life pretty burdensome. But
07:05 we soldier on. We don't throw in the towel. We'll keep soldiering on. It reminds me of
07:10 that lady who claims recently that she's been victimized at work. The one who was at
07:20 the demonstration put together by the Democracy House. The Occupy the Grovy House demonstration.
07:24 Exactly. And what she said, it broke my heart. And now there are claims that she's been victimized
07:29 at work, at least not substantiated, so I'll not go into it, but that's what she's put
07:34 out on social media. Anyway, we'll see how things go. Let's get into the Daily Graphic,
07:39 but don't forget, those of you watching us, to share your own thoughts with us via the
07:44 social media stream. The Daily Graphic, 400 schoolchildren stranded, rainstorm rips off
07:49 school roof. And you can find this, I mean, I'm not trying to be insensitive to them,
08:00 but you would even find places where there are worse structures. In fact, no structures,
08:05 and the trees and the rest. So at least they have a little bit of a structure and the roof
08:09 has been ripped off. We pray that the right thing will be done. And as for the places
08:13 that don't even have a structure, God have mercy. Scrap Article 71, it's unfair, TUC
08:21 charges. And Ghana on course for EU timber trade license, that's according to the Lands
08:26 and Natural Resources Minister. And CJ advocates financial independence of judiciary. All right.
08:33 So let's get into the stories now. This first one, the Trades Union Congress has joined
08:39 the call for the special salary and emoluments dispensation given to office holders under
08:44 Article 71 of the 1992 constitution to be scrapped, saying the provision is discriminatory.
08:51 The Secretary General of the TUC, Dr. Anthony Yaubin said Article 71 had created a super
08:59 class of people at the expense of others, fueling discrimination and injustice against
09:03 other classes of public sector workers. Speaking at the Institute of Economic Affairs Constitutional
09:09 Review Seminar last Tuesday, Dr. Ba said, quote, Article 71 smacks of discrimination
09:15 between the political elite and the people. Why should some public servants be placed
09:20 under Article 71 and others treated differently? We must either amend or change the constitution
09:27 and scrap Article 71. The TUC boss said Article 71 of the 1992 constitution was also at variance
09:35 with other provisions of the same constitution, such as Article 24, which stipulates, quote,
09:41 equal pay for equal work without distinction of any kind. That's the story there. Let me
09:49 quickly jump to page 13, do those two stories there and have you give your quick reactions,
09:55 your summary reactions to them. So the first one, the Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Saki
10:05 Tokonu, has bemoaned the lack of financial independence of the judiciary, saying it was
10:12 negatively affecting the work of the judiciary and ultimately justice delivery. Justice Tokonu,
10:18 who was speaking at the 2023 Annual General Meeting of the Association of Magistrates
10:22 and Judges Ghana yesterday, said although the 1992 constitution protected the independence
10:27 of the judiciary, the service had no control over its financial administration. Quoting
10:33 Article 1271 of the 1992 constitution, the Chief Justice said the constitution had categorically
10:40 insulated all activities of the judiciary, including its financial administration, from
10:46 external control to protect its independence due to the sensitivity of its functions. And
10:52 she says, quote, how can we be an independent arm of government if we do not have control
10:58 over our finances? Is the constitutionally guaranteed institutional independence of the
11:04 judiciary only a mirage? So financially, they are not independent and that is problematic.
11:12 Finally, 400 schoolchildren stranded, rainstorm rips off school roof and the fate of over
11:17 200 pupils of the Manle Dada Basic and African Unity Schools in the La Dada Kotopo municipality
11:24 hangs in the balance after a rainstorm destroyed their classrooms. A nine-unit classroom block
11:30 and adjoining offices at the African Unity School were destroyed in May this year, but
11:35 they have not seen any renovation yet. May, we're in September. So the school and its
11:42 roof and you can see rainwater even collecting in the classrooms, the CJ and financial independence
11:49 of the judiciary and Article 71, your take, Maxwell.
11:53 Yeah, my brother, about the ripping off of the roof of the little children, their classroom.
12:03 It's unfortunate that this is our engineering argument. I don't know whether we are through
12:08 with it and our conscience doesn't prick us when we do some of these things, but it
12:11 more tends to be what the supervisors would want to exert on these contractors who are
12:18 doing this particular work.
12:20 Have you seen the recent building that collapsed somewhere in Ofanko, I think?
12:26 Yes, it's also lack of supervision. The quest to make money at every instance has taken
12:34 over our sense of judgment and responsibility. A lot of our people are thinking every day
12:41 more of how they can make so much into their own pocket to the detriment of the quality
12:49 of work they have to deliver. Unfortunately, we have a system of checking some of these
12:55 things, but the supervisors are worse off. They would want to take the 20 percent, the
13:00 10 percent, the 15 percent from the contractor. So instead of using a particular thickness
13:05 of the roofing sheet to roof, he may want to go down a little more. Maybe you are supposed
13:11 to use 4 mm to go do the roofing, but you go and take a 3.5 mm. Maybe the quality of
13:22 the wood that he has to use is not the right.
13:32 Well it appears we're losing the connection to Maxwell Lukuto. We'll try to work it out
13:38 and get him back on the show. Maxwell, we lost you briefly. I got a lot of what you
13:46 said about the 4 mm to 3.5 mm and all of that. But briefly, your quick thoughts. Go ahead.
13:53 So again, I'm saying that if the supervisors do a good job and they supervise every aspect
13:59 of the project, I'm not sure how this is going to be happening. How many times have we seen
14:03 very old buildings being ripped off or being affected by disaster in this nature? It is
14:09 rather the new ones that are being constructed that are getting affected every day. So I
14:13 think that if the supervisors do their job very properly, they are very responsible.
14:17 And people should feel responsible if a contractor is known. So he should be made to go back
14:24 as quick as possible to go and repair these things. Now about the Article 71 workers,
14:29 it's unfortunate that they are the masters of their game. They are the ones who set the
14:33 rules. And so TUC may want to complain, they will listen, but whether they're going to
14:37 change is another matter. And so it's unfortunate. Of course, no two workers can be the same.
14:44 Yes, equal pay for equal work. But it was until recently that we have this single-spine
14:51 salary structure be designed and implemented for a class of people. Unfortunately, in the
14:59 past, you see every aspect, like the police, the teachers, the nurses, having their structure
15:04 designed differently. So gradually we are getting there. I just pray and hope that they
15:07 will listen and also synchronise this. But I don't know how soon that will really happen.
15:13 And so it's unfortunate. The third issue is about the...
15:19 The Chief Justice and the financial strength.
15:22 Yes, the Chief Justice. Unfortunately, our fear is that once they are given this independence
15:29 to manage their finances, even now the filing fees and the court fees that we pay are already
15:38 high. We wouldn't be too sure how things are going to go. And so we are just scared that
15:42 if they are given that kind of independence, things will also go off the roof. But of course,
15:46 I'm sure, being an arm of government, they're going to discuss that with the executive and
15:50 also through the parliament so that we see how these things can be done. But I don't
15:55 know how many institutions... I'm not sure parliament has its own way of managing its
16:00 finances. It also depends on the executive to manage their finances. And so I wouldn't
16:04 be too sure how easy government or the executive arm is going to take this and to get it off
16:10 for them. I am not too sure. It's always been like, "Check me, let me check you." And so
16:15 I am not sure government or the executive arm is going to budge and to give the financial
16:21 independence that they may be seeking at this moment. I'm not too sure.
16:24 Let's get into some other stories very quickly. The Ghanaian Times newspaper, "Measures to
16:28 ensure public health safety. FDA to clamp down on media over promotion of unapproved
16:34 medicines." And unapproved medicines, if they are not approved, you don't go ahead and advertise
16:42 them. That's the bottom line. But some media houses, unfortunately, dabbling in that. Here
16:49 we have standards, of course, and we check for FDA approval. And then there's 38th National
16:54 Farmers Day to be held in the Western region and Ghana to save $2 billion in 2023 from
17:00 external debt service suspension. That's according to the governor.
17:03 When all this talk comes through, sometimes I just ask myself, how does this affect the
17:09 person on the street? Even Kofi Brookman is no longer for, you can't be broke and get
17:15 Kofi Brookman. So all this talk we like and to save this and to do that, how is it affecting
17:22 the ordinary man? Zilch. Police chase man for allegedly poisoning girlfriend to death.
17:28 So let's just do those stories very quickly. We'll go to page 11 and then, let me see,
17:36 we'll do page three first. The police are on a manhand for a 22 year old Okada rider
17:41 who allegedly poisoned to death his girlfriend at Kransang in the Suhum municipality of the
17:47 Eastern region. The Okada rider, whose name has only been given as Akoko, was the boyfriend
17:53 of a 17 year old Matilda Dankwa who recently completed or graduated from junior high school.
18:00 I don't know why we always use completed. What have they completed? Confirming the incident
18:04 to journalists, the assembly member for the area, Ransford Novo, said Dankwa became pregnant
18:09 for the Okada rider and she refused to terminate the pregnancy when the suspect requested her
18:14 to do so. The assembly member said the suspect carried the girlfriend on his motorcycle and
18:18 a few minutes later, she was found dead with foam oozing out of her mouth. And the police
18:27 say they suspected foul play and appealed to the public to divulge any information that
18:33 may lead to the arrest of the suspect. What a very dastardly act and a sad way to go.
18:42 Let's get to that story on page 11. The Food and Drugs Authority has said it will sanction
18:46 media houses that promote unapproved medicines as part of measures to ensure public health
18:52 and safety. Pursuant to section 129 of Act 85, quote, persons who contravenes were liable
19:02 to summary convictions or a fine not less than 7,500 penalty units and not more than
19:08 15 years and not more than 25 years imprisonment or both. Pictured there, Dr. Delese Mimidako,
19:14 CEO of the FDA, would want them to be more active when it comes to such issues and it
19:23 is good that they are highlighting some of them. Let's quickly get into the daily guide
19:30 and I'll let you respond because these are pretty straightforward matters. The daily
19:33 guide says, "Stay focused, we'll win." That's according to Baumea and of course, another
19:39 story captured there, Kodjopoku endorses Veep. I saw that yesterday. Then Ken launches donation
19:48 platform. That story on page six. I don't know about Kodjopoku, some of what he used
19:54 to say and supporting maybe the front runner for the MPP's flag bearership but well, I
20:01 guess in politics, it's what they say. Sales shift depending on what happens at what time.
20:09 This interesting story, "Mohammad Gore trolled over car," quotation marks, "bribe comment."
20:16 That story is on page six and this is what it says, "Joyce Bawa Mokhtari, an aide to
20:22 former President John Romani Mohammed, was caught in the crossfire yesterday with tweets
20:27 of media personality Nanaaba Anamua over a picture of one of the saloon cars," not salon,
20:33 salon is where you go to fix your hair, saloon is the car. "Saloon cars supplied by the
20:39 NDC in 2012 to lure University of Ghana students. On September 25, 2023, Nanaaba Anamua posted
20:46 the picture with a caption, 'In 2012, by this time, the NDC was distributing this car
20:51 on the Lagon campus. Ironically, none of the male students got one.'" Well, this upset
20:58 the ex-president's aide who reprimanded the TV personality and questioned her motives.
21:02 Joyce wrote, "What's the intent? Shame NDC ladies under a guy's tweet because some are
21:08 being criticized for their silence in the face of today's hardship and poor leadership.
21:14 This shouldn't be coming from you, my sister, an avoidable tweet." Anyway, those are the
21:20 stories and the NDC also coming into the fray. Any thoughts?
21:24 Yeah, I want to put in drugs authority and on the media houses. Yes, it's true that most
21:31 media houses are struggling and even how to pay their workers is always an issue. How
21:38 much do we pay should not even be discussed at all. So sometimes you go to the streams
21:44 to want to do some adverts that they have not verified authenticity or otherwise any
21:51 license on the food and drugs authority. And they go ahead to do it. A bigger example is
21:56 we also recently about this Makufa mixture where somebody just poured more Coca-Cola
22:03 and Fanta into a container labeled it Makufa and give out to some media houses. And then
22:09 they went and gave out advertising and some to the extent that they themselves have experienced
22:14 it, that it is good for performance in bed and these other things. Unfortunately, most
22:19 of these smaller media houses are corporates in issues of this nature. To stay alive and
22:26 upload, they go to the extent of illiteracy and everything to make money out of this bedless
22:33 to be able to sort out themselves. And so I think that is a good thing if the food and
22:37 drugs authority will zoom in into the media houses and make sure that those who do these
22:42 things against the regulations of the nations are brought to book. Unfortunately, these
22:49 very people when they're doing it, they even say the food and drugs authority has approved
22:54 these things that they're advertising. So you ask yourself, where have they cited the
22:59 approval certificate or whatever before they go ahead.
23:02 Or are some entities faking the certificate? That could be another problem.
23:07 Exactly. There are some entities that also fake their certificates and give to them and
23:11 they don't do their double checking from the FDA before they go ahead and do all these
23:16 things. And for me, the intriguing aspect is that the media personalities themselves
23:21 sometimes put themselves in their shoe. They will say that I have tried it, I have tested
23:25 it and I have found the potency and all that. Meanwhile, they have not even taken a sip
23:29 of it. It's unfortunate. So some of these things should be checked and it's good.
23:37 Right. Thank you, Maxwell, for your thoughts on that. We've basically come to the end of
23:44 the news review. There's the story in the business find the fruit vegetable farmers
23:50 must enhance intra Africa trade and quick loan services for access bank customers. I
23:57 believe that will bring us to the conclusion of the news review. If you can hear me, Maxwell,
24:02 do you have any final thoughts right before we wrap?
24:10 I'm sure it will end by Monday. I'm sure people should be encouraged to do that.
24:17 It breaks my heart to hear some of these things. And for people to know that you have to do
24:28 dialysis three times in a week and at least shortly after, you have to pay about 736 Gagana
24:35 cedis or so. It's so killing. And so the health ministry and government should do something
24:42 about this. If not, more, more, more, more people are going to die out of this thing.
24:47 It's heartbreaking to hear some of these things. And it's unfortunate. The lady you spoke about
24:52 earlier in the video spoke about how a teacher's ward died because the dialysis machine broke
24:59 down and now out of nowhere it's going to tell more on a lot of people. It's unfortunate.
25:06 The government should help us sort out some of these things.
25:13 Right. And of course, we know part of that is on the back of taxation. Well, thank you,
25:16 Maxwell Lukato for joining the conversation. He, of course, is the NDC's parliamentary
25:20 candidate elect for South at home. He joined the conversation. Have a good day, Maxwell.
25:26 So right before we go, of course, shouts to Endpoint Homeopathic Clinic. They enable us
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25:57 call lines 0244 867 068 or 0274 234 321. Endpoint Homeopathic Clinic. The end to chronic disease.
26:09 And for the first time in a long while, Chelsea winning a match by a goal to nothing. That's
26:16 something to celebrate, right? The Blues. Sports is up next.
26:22 [Music]