Ghana in Focus special: Review of 2025 Part II, feat, Health, Illegal mining, Agriculture and the NPP opposition,

We continue our review of 2025.

Health

We explain why healthcare is not just about building hospitals/ clinics but providing first class facilities such as prostate cancer screening and cancer diagnosis as well as giving guidance and support in improving health outcomes.

We state the obesity time bomb in Ghana and urge the need for a national policy framework on health to ensure Ghanaians can live long and healthy lives and contribute to nation building.  We urge the government to make the NHIS ( National Health Insurance Scheme) universal for ALL.

Agriculture:

Agriculture is the mainstay of life in Ghana. Ghana is blessed with rich, fertile land that is capable of producing high quality food. Despite this, agriculture in Ghana has been left to chance since General Acheampong, with no great deliberate  policy on agriculture .  This has caused, food shortages, rotten food and high food inflation affecting family budgets. That said we critique the NPP's planting for Food and Jobs and why we feel it failed.

While we commend the current governments EAT GHANA initiative , we explore the viability of this initiative and give our recommendations including providing soft loans to Ghanaians farmers, creating markets for Ghanaian farmers and putting tariffs on imported food stuff like rice, tomatoes etc.  We end by stating Ghana must consume what is produces and produce what it consumes!

Illegal mining (Galamsey)

The biggest issue facing the very survival of the country.  In the last 8 years illegal small scale mining has become a national emergency issue with polluted rivers, polluted water, toxic lands and a damaged environment.

The failure of the last government to deal decisively with Galamsey led in part to its defeat at last years polls as the pubic became agitated that nothing was being done to tackle this menace.

We critique the current government's approach to tackling head on this national emergency.  We advise that there are Kings, High ranking police and military officials plus politically exposed persons who are INVOVLED in this eco terrorism alongside the Chinese.  As a definite solution we call on government to call a state of emergency by the close of 2026,otherwise one can conclude the government is complicit in this and warn of the dire consequences' of inaction including the very REAL possibility of Ghana having to import water by 2030!!

NPP Opposition ------- Finally, we press the opposition NPP to move past slogans and present credible, measurable policies on health, education, the economy, housing etc —ideas that acknowledges past failures' and meets the urgency of now.

Chapters

• 0:04 Welcome, Theme, And Listener Support
• 2:38 Health Infrastructure And Outcomes
• 5:20 Maternal Mortality And Cancer Gaps
• 8:56 Longevity, Lifestyle, And Prevention
• 12:16 Exercise, Diet, And A National Plan
• 17:01 Agriculture’s Promise And Shortfalls
• 21:09 Eat Ghana: Subsidies And Markets
• 24:56 School Feeding And Local Supply Chains
• 28:03 Tariffs, Storage, And Poultry Revival
• 31:56 Illegal Mining’s Toxic Toll
• 36:20 Complicity, Enforcement, And Emergency
• 40:08 Water Scarcity And Public Health Risks
• 43:44 MPP’s Loss And Policy Void

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:04

Welcome to this week's edition of Garden in Focus with myself Kwame, a Ghanaian writer, broadcaster, journalist, historian, podcast, and entrepreneur. And in this week's edition of Garden in Focus is part two, looking at the review of 2025, looking at areas like illegal small-scale mining, otherwise known as Garemsay, looking about health, agriculture, and also the opposition MPP. So that's the theme for this week's edition of Ghanaian Focus review of 2025 part two, looking at health, education, the opposition MPP, and the illegal small-scale mining. So if you like what you hear, please share it with your friends, family, social media networks, subscribe to Ghana, African Fix on YouTube, hit the notification bell, and meaning that every time we upload a new podcast, uh YouTube notify you of that. Want to get as many subscribers as we can, so please tell your friends, tell your family on YouTube that Ghana and African Focus is great. Uh podcast is there on YouTube. Similarly, we're also on Spotify. So look out for Ghana African Focus on Spotify. Hit the follow button, meaning that Spotify will notify you every time we upload a new podcast, all right? And let us know your comments. So if you listen to me on Spotify, let me know what you think of the show. If you've got any um um recommendation that you want me to look into for future shows, let me know. So please let us know what you think about the show and what your comments are because that'd be good to know what you think about the shows. All right, and if you want to uh help us to produce more fantastic content from Ghana from the African continent, uh you can help us by donating as little as three U dollars a month. You can do that as a one-off payment or by monthly instalment. It's entitled to you. We do uh appreciate love your donations in kind. So if you want to uh make a donation, just hit the donate button on the fullness of the show. All right, so let's get into the podcast looking at Garney Focus, the year 20 2025, looking at health, agriculture, illegal small scale mining programs say, and MPP. So let's kick off then with health. So, you know, uh health is not just about building facilities like clinic hospitals, it's also about getting the right technology in there, but more importantly, it's also uh you know making the population know of their habits and preventive measures that they can use to avoid getting ill. Now, before I say why I say this, you know, there's been a lot of infrastructure, health infrastructure built in the last definitely under Muhammad Part 1 and also under Kufa Do eight years, you know, there are a lot of many clinics and hospitals built. So if you are coming to Ghana on holiday or if you're going to live in Ghana, you know, I've mentioned before the state system is getting better, it's better than it was, but it's not near Western standards, but it's getting better than it was 10 years ago. So, for example, uh Muhammad built the um University of Ghana Medical School. Uh, that's that is a fantastic, fantastic facility that can rival anything in Europe or North America. And uh Akufado built the Bank of Ghana. No, it wasn't actually Akufadu, it was actually um again, Muhammad Part 1. He also built the um Bank of Ghana Medical Center Encantments, and that's also a first-class medical center. So if you you know you can Google um Bank of Ghana Medical Center and also University of Ghana Medical School, you can Google those and you see for yourself the fantastic edifices that were built by John Jamani Mahama Part 1. He also built many uh local uh you know chief compounds in the regions of Ghana. Likewise, the Kufu had the agenda 111, uh building some you know clinics, particularly clinics in Ghana. And also let's not forget the rich hospital. Again, rich hospital is a very, very fantastic hospital with up to the equipment that was again built by John Giovanni Muhammad Part 1. So Muhammad did build a lot of infrastructure, but there's two things on that. So, one, like I say, so I have the infrastructure, but two, to this day, to this day, Ghana has a problem with infantality, yeah, and also um maternal mortality. So many Ghanaian women dying giving birth, yeah, just like it's in the US, just like it's in the UK. So something for me, somewhere is wrong, whereby as a country, we have not been able to deal with the alarming issue of maternal deaths in Ghana, where our women are dying during pregnancy or after pregnancy, after they've given birth over. So, you know, this is something that the government needs to iron out as part of its healthcare strategy healthcare policy. Again, you know, when we look at illnesses like prostate cancer, which is a big killer of black men globally, you know, as far as I'm aware, in terms of the local hospitals, there isn't a prostate cancer screening service whereby men can check their prostate glands to detect if there is a if it is swollen or if it's been inflamed, yeah, due to toxins, you know, and even breast screening, breast screening, you know, is only now been addressed after decades of neglect by various governments. So I believe when there's some hospitals in Ghana that they are screening for breast cancer, yeah, but more needs to be done in areas like prostate cancer, cancer generally, and other non-communicable diseases that Ghanaians are are dying from. And this comes to my point about why health is more than just building great infrastructure and also having these um state of health equipment. Yeah, what also is not in the discussion about health anywhere in Ghana is the fact that you know Ghanaians are not living long lives. Yeah, so ancestors, you know, this is you know, 1800s, 1700s. My my own grandfather lived to 125 years old. Today in Ghana, people are not living nowhere near that. People are dying in Ghana, 35, 45, 50, 55, 70, 80, 65. That's not that's not a great age. Like I said, my grandfather, yeah, my mother's father lived to 125 years. So what is happening within Ghana that we're dying at a young age? This is what the health minister, the government on another, the government on the level, whoa, whoa, the health minister and the government are one of the same thing. So the government, health minister, health practitioners, and also health care deliveries, uh deliveries rather have to understand why are Ghanaians dying at young ages. Because 65 is not a big age, 75 is not a big age, even 80 is not a big age, you're just a baby. In the Bible, if you believe in the Bible, people live to 800 years old, 400 years, 300 years, and we're down at 45, 80, 55. So something somewhere is wrong. And I want to give a couple of pointers too as to why Ghanaians are dying young and what could be done as part of a national health strategy. That's something in Ghana we lack. We lack a coherent national health strategy. In the same way that we've we've not got a national development plan or a national economic plan, like in Krimahad, the same way we've not got a national coherent health strategy. So let me tell you from my observation why Ghanaians are dying young. And this is part of obesity crisis in Ghana. And next year I'll go into more deeper, you know, talking about the obesity crisis that's in Ghana. But for me, there's a couple of things as to why Ghanaians are dying young. One is that a lot of Ghanaians don't do exercise, proper exercise. Yeah, it's okay doing your walk, eight-minute walk, nine-minute walk, but you know, that's not burning off calories, and it's also not pumping your heart. You know, you got to think you got to do you know proper cardio, you got to run for about five five to ten minutes. I'm not saying do your marathon, but run, you know, round the block a couple of times, you know, in your neighborhood. You know, run at least twice a week, yeah. Also, you know, so so those cardiovascular activities, it pump ups your heart, yeah, because your heart is the engine of the body, just like a car, or just like an engine is the is the engine of the car. Yeah. So if an engine, if the engine is messed up, the car would just the car will not work. So if your heart is not pumping, yeah, as it should be, that creates heart problems, and that creates things like death strokes, yeah. So your heart is very, very important. And this is why in Ghana there's a problem with cardiovascular diseases, because we're not doing cardiovascular exercises, yeah, by protecting your health, by protecting your heart. Now, another thing, you know, and I'll go into this deeply, you know, next year when I touch on the beasty crisis, is that the foods that Ghanaians are eating and the oils that they're using. For me, this is a big, big, big issue in Ghana, the kind of food that we're eating, and also the oils that we're using to prepare these foods that we're eating. Yeah, for me, it's a massive issue and it's contributing to the early grave of many, many Ghanaians. And the government needs to have a policy framework whereby it encourages healthy eating among Ghanaians. Even in the UK, there was a um, you know, there was a policy framework whereby people were encouraged to eat five pieces of fruit a day. You know, yeah, five a day, five greens, five vegetables a day, five fruit a day. Yeah. You know, in Ghana, I don't know of any policy that pertains to eat five pieces of fruit a day. Yeah. So this is why I'm saying that Ghana, yeah, the Ministry of Health, the government of Ghana needs a coherent national health framework in order to instill in Ghanaians a healthy lifestyle, healthy habits, healthy living. Yeah, because you cannot create a nation with sick people. You have to create a nation, a nation building with healthy people. So it's incumbent on the government via the Minister of Health to come up with a national policy, a national framework that will begin to tackle uh some of these issues that are facing Ghanaians, which is why Ghanaians are dying very, very early, 50, 55, 60, 70. That's not a great age. So, you know, in terms of health, like I said, there needs to be a national coordinated framework whereby Ghanaians are encouraged to live healthy, exercise a lot, and also you know, uh engage in healthy lifestyles as opposed to the lifestyles that many Ghanaians are now, which includes drinking too much, smoking, particularly men, and also you know, the obesity time bomb, but there's a ticking time bomb in Ghana. So that's my stance on health. So it needs to be a national primary conduct, and it's something that's lacking so far from what I've seen in this government. So let's look into the second issue, which is agriculture. So agriculture is the mainstay of a country like Ghana, which is in a growing society. Ghana is like any African any African country, is rich, blessed with fertile land that can grow anything. So under the last government, NPP, they had a policy in terms of agriculture called planting for foods and jobs. Very, very wonderful idea, very great initiative. However, the implementation and the outcome of that planning and foods and job was such that it did not do great benefit that they could have done. What do I mean by that? So, right now in Ghana, and it's been going on for the past sort of five, seven years, food has become very, very expensive in Ghana, which is why at one point, yeah, many families in Ghana cannot afford three square meals a day because of food inflation in Ghana and food being very, very high. Yeah. Two, you know, a lot of Ghanaian farmers annually destroy their crops, whether it's onion, tomato, fruit, vegetables, etc., because lack of storage facilities, lack of silos. And thirdly, you know, a lot of the farmers are not getting markets in which they can sell their produce. So these three things have compounded to make Ghana, you know, the food inflation in Ghana very, very high, which is why, despite the favorable interest rate, the favorable inflation in Ghana, the fake the favorable stability of the city, food inflation is still high in Ghana because we do not grow what we eat and we don't eat what we grow. So essentially, what I'm saying is that you know, had the pandemic for food and jobs been a success, been implemented properly, food inflation in Ghana would not be as high as it is today. Yeah. And Ghanaian farmers will not be throwing food away because they've got no stylus and no storage facilities, particularly when it's off-season. Yeah. And also they would have a market in which to sell their produce. So right now, the current government under Jama Hama has got a food or initiative called Eat Ghana. So what I would what I take from that is that Ghana must produce what it consumes and consumes what it produces. And this is the but how but this is the big thing on this issue here, right? What we must do in Ghana to make this policy um thrive and to make it work is that the government must subsidize its farmers. The same way that farmers are subsidized in America, in the European Union, under common agricultural policy, in India, in China, in Vietnam, in Japan, all these places I've just mentioned, farmers are subsidized by the state. This is why they're able to import food stuff into Africa cheaper than local farmers are producing it. Because local farmers in Ghana are not subsidized, but they're competing with farmers in Asia, farmers in North America, farmers in Europe who are heavily subsidized by the taxpayers in those territories. Yeah. This is why, for example, imported rice from Vietnam or China is cheaper than the rice that is locally produced, locally grown in Ghana. And this is why many Ghanaians are buying the so-called perfume rice, you know, Thai rice, Vietnam rice, China rice, then they are doing local Ghanaian rice because it is cheaper because of these subsidies that Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian farmers get. So now, if we're going to compete with these farmers, yeah, sorry, with these farmers in Asia, particularly Asia and North America and Europe, and to make sense of eat Ghana, i.e., eat what we grow, grow what we eat, then the government has got to double-side farmers. And this is why I was against, you know, I'm not against women's empowerment, but I was against the initiative of a woman's bank and particularly having a whopping 400 million Ghanaian cities into this women's development bank. 400 million cities, roughly about 40 million US dollars. Now just imagine what 40 million dollars could do by giving that as soft loans or by subsidizing or by interest-free loans to Ghanaian farmers. Yeah, Ghanaian rice farmers, Ghanaian tomato farmers, Ghanaian cassava farmers, even Ghanaian uh uh cocoa farmers. Yeah, just imagine if that money was put into subsidizing or giving soft loans or interest-free loans to our farmers, our farmers could produce enough food to feed Ghana. And then we could export some, not necessarily to Asia or or Europe, right? Potentially Europe, but you know, we could export our surplus to other African nations. Yeah, just like we did in Kruma's time in under Nkrumah, Ghana was an exporter of food. After Nkrumah, when we neglected uh our farmers, Ghana is now or has become a net importer of food. Food that we can grow in Ghana. And so, as part of the government's eat Ghana policy for me, the government the government must either subsidize our farmers or give them soft loans or give them interest-free loans that will enable them to have the peace of mind to grow food that we need in Ghana. So for rice, rather importing rice from India, from China, from Vietnam, we go local rice. Yeah, we go Ghanaian rice. And by the way, the Ghanaian red rice and brown rice, and to an extent the white rice, is more healthier than the rice that comes from India. China, even I heard that you know the other day, Pakistan. Talk about Pakistan when they sell us rice. Yeah, and we're going to Pakistan to learn rice technology. Our rice in Ghana, our indigenous rice, is better than Pakistan rice. Yeah. So rather than give farmers in Pakistan, in India, in China, in Vietnam, in the US, you know, job by importing their rice, we can create jobs for our own farmers who can then create jobs, you know, in terms, you know, you know, secondary jobs in terms of warehousing, in terms of employing locals to be farmers, cultivators, you know, to be drivers of you know of the box rice, the store the rice, etc. We can create jobs for ourselves. Yeah. And then secondary, what the government can also do, yeah, is to engage with private partnerships in Ghana. There are very, very wealthy uh men, women, and entrepreneurs in Ghana, like Richard Kwei. So sorry, Richard Ni Amakwei. He's the Ghanaian that has the franchise for Birkin, Ghana. Yeah, this man, he's not even he's just about 40 years old, but he's a successful Ghanaian indigenous businessman. Yeah, he's also the owner of um Bill's microfinance credit scheme, yeah, whereby whereby you can get credit for your business. And this man's business alone has invested in getting startups in fintech, agriculture, etc. SME over SMEs. So why doesn't government have a partnership with Ghanaian entrepreneurs like Richard Ni Amakwe, the owner of Burger King Frances in Ghana, to ensure that our farmers get a market? And this is another thing that our farmers are crying about, they're not getting the market. Again, you see, under the school feeding program, and this is where you can begin to fashion the taste of the future generation, right? The young children, four, five, six, thirteen, fourteen, as part of the school feeding program, not the adults, because the adults have virtually made up their mind in terms of their tastes. So their taste is for foreign rice, you know, India, Chinese, Vietnam rice. But if we if the government had a has a plan to Guineanize the school feeding program, what do I mean by that? So all the rice dishes, all the bankrupt dishes, all the fermented corn dishes, and this juice that go with rice, the orchestra that go with bankrupt the the the you know this the fish and the peppers, the shito that goes with the kenki. All that should be produced by Ghanaian farmers. So the Ghanaian rice farmer can supply rice to every school, every every every tertiary school in Ghana under a school feeding program. Yeah, that's how farmers can develop, get a market, and that's how farmers can actually get capital because they've got a market to sell their goods, yeah, and then reinvest some of that profit into developing their businesses on a larger scale, scaling it up, yeah. So this is what government can do in order for our farmers to get market from the you know uh food that they produce. So it's a it's a win-win because if you are subsidizing the farmers, yeah, and then give them a market, i.e., school feeding program, every school in Ghana buys Ghanaian made in Ghana rice. Every school in Ghana, when they're preparing this too, you know, the cooks are preparing this chew, or the soup, they buy made in Ghana tomatoes, made in Ghana onions, made in Ghana millet, made in Ghana maize. You understand? Yeah, so the money that is generated from the school feeding program goes back to the government, goes back to the farmers, and then they can reinvest the money into creating more factories and so what have you. So that's how an initiative like Eat Ghana can work. So when we cultivate the minds and orientate the minds of our young people, 13, under 13, under 15, to eat Guyanese rice, to eat to eat, you know, to prepare jug rice with made in Ghana tomatoes, made in Ghana onions, made in Ghana spices. Then by the time that they become wives or have families of their own, they will buy made in Ghana rice as opposed to buying made in China, made in Vietnam, made in the rice. You see the dominant effect of that? So you see it's incumbent, it's it's it is imperative that this Eat Ghana program stabilizes our farmers or gives them soft loans, B, give them market to sell their produce, i.e., you know, the school feeding program, and also every government initiative, right? So if the government of Ghana is doing a program, you know, say that they they they inviting the president of Malawi or the president of the EU to come to Ghana, that function, that banquet at that function should be made in Ghana food. Yeah, and then that's how that's how you build a sector agriculture, and then you encourage the local Ghanaians to buy made in Ghana produce. Yeah, you know, we're not saying don't buy made in Indian rice, but there's an option now. You have no, you have no options now, yeah. Buy made in Ghana rice, yeah. And what we also do that also by putting import duty on imported rice and imported you know foodstuffs so that it doesn't compete with our farmers, yeah. And we also provide stylers and storage units for our farmers, whereby, if for example, if a manga grower or orange grower you know uh is is looking for storage facilities out there season, they can use this, use the facilities rather than let the oranges or let the mangoes rot in the bush. And then the farmer making losses. So this is ways and means as to how the eat Ghana initiative can be its success if it's implemented properly, unlike the food and unlike pandemic food and jobs that the MPP did, that was not implemented properly. And so I welcome the eat Ghana initiatives that NTC is doing, but it needs to follow the measures that have highlighted in order for eat Ghana to be a success and for eat Ghana to mean something in terms of nation building in Ghana. All right, so that's my you know uh take on agriculture in Ghana. We've got to grow what we eat, eat what we grow, and put tariffs on these imported goods so that our farmers can, you know, uh not be affected by cheap imports into coming to Ghana. Because, you know, I bet you any money, if I if I as a Ghanaian, if I was a Ghanaian farmer and I wanted to sell my rice in India, they'll put tariff, they'll put they'll put big tariffs on that to protect Indian rice farmers. So why am I doing the same in Ghana? Protect our farmers by slapping tariff on import food coming to Ghana because it is criminal, criminal that we are importing rice, importing cassava from China, importing chicken from the Netherlands and America, importing tomatoes, imported onions. It's criminal whereby we can do ourselves. So even the poultry industry, again, in Ghana, we could create our own poultry industry instead by importing by imported chicken from other countries, which is which is probably not good for us. We could create our own homegrown organic chicken. Yeah, and again, that came part of the school feeding program that to provide a protein for our children, right? The chicken is Ghana made. Yeah, so I hope you understand my um logic and my mindset behind government's eat Ghana program as to how they can scale it up and how they can make it uh beneficial for Ghana and Ghanaians. Now I move on to Ghana Sei or illegal mining. Now, illegal mining, like I mentioned before, is is a basically killing Ghana, it's a silent killer. Yeah? So under the MPP, eight years, you know, this illegal, small-scale mining, it became a national issue. Our journalists in Ghana, like Erastus Asarodonko of Multimedia, and also Captain Smart of Multimedia, they've done they did a lot of you know documentaries, particularly Erastus, into this into the damaging of small-scale mining in the last eight years. So all the main water boys in Ghana with a prayer and cobra or thing, yeah, most of the most of the river votes rivers in Ghana have been polluted because of the toxic metal effects of cyanide, of lead and mercury that is seeping to the ground and that's going on going into the rivers. Yeah, and so under the eight years of MPP and the Kuffadu, they could not destroy this canker, this cancer, yeah, this ecoterrorism called illegal small scale mining, where people, not to mention any names, but people were mining without licenses or without the proper documentation. But since I got this concession, that concession. And there's one famous case which I won't go into right now of one big wig, yeah, who had a mining company and was mining illegally or mining without concession, yeah. But because that person was politically aligned at the time, that person was not dealt with by the government at the time, and so many people who were involved in illegal small scale mining, I'm saying, you know, got off the hook, licensed to Rome, and because of that, destroyed Ghana water bodies. And for me, the biggest purpose was the Chinese. How can you allow Chinese into your country and mine gold and at the same time destroy your water body, your environment, and your rivers? Do you think you, as a Ghanaian, can go to China and do coal mining? Because China got a lot of coal. You think you can go to China and dig up their reserve and dig for coal? You think you you can mine for coal as a Ghanaian as African in China? No, you can't. Because they're protective of the industries. So why the hell have we allowed the Chinese, particularly Chinese? Yeah, they're the big one because they've got the machinery, or rather, they've got the capital. Then they got the machinery, and then they got the and and obviously they've got the finance, yeah, to facilitate to large scale small illegal scale mining. Why are we allowed that? Is it because we don't think long term? We didn't think of our future, we we think of the here and now, or that we or that we damn greedy Ghanaians, too greedy, yeah. And you see now, because of this illegal small scale mining, particularly in the mining communities, children have been born with no eyes, children have been born with no limbs, children being born with no penis, no vagina, no ears. This is because the people who made that child, who produced that child, are drinking contaminated water because the water in these mining communities has been polluted because of because of mercury, cyanide, and mercury, cyanide, there must be one, um lead, poison our rivers, poison our water bodies, and people in the villages are drinking dirty, stinking, put it water that is resulting that is going to their bloodstream and causing you know children that have been born deformed. Yeah, and even now, we're under the NDC, it's nearly one year since they came to power. Gamsei have not changed, they're not been able to could tell Gamsei, even though they talk that they've they've they've got this task force. I mean, under MPP was called Operation Vanguard. I don't know what it's called under this government, but there's another operation in in place. We know also, right, that there's sub-kings. Not I hate that word chief, because that chief is a European term that they use to disintegrate our kingship. So I say sub-kings, not chief, sub-kings. So you know that there's sub-kings, yeah, even some kings in some areas, and even some police and some big people who are Ghanaians are involved not only in the facilitating of the small-scale mining, that's illegal, but also helping the Chinese get lands in mining areas, in Asante, in Eastern Region, in Western region, in central region to mine gold. Also in Bono and Afa region. And we know that just as the last government, there are some big Whigs in the current government of the NDC who are engaged in illegal small scale mining, which is why, which is why the current government, as yet, cannot do anything about it because you'd be arresting your own people. Just like the last government could not do anything about it because most of their people were involved in small scale mining. So we know that there are members of the ruling elite, members of the current political party in power that are doing illegal small-scale mining, which is why calls for state of emergency so far have been um you know refused by the current government. But, you know, if this year coming, 2026, if the government does not issue a state of emergency, then we know that they are complicit in this illegal small-scale mining. Because this is terrorism, eco-terrorism, the destruction of our lands, destruction of our rivers, destruction of our water body, that is eco-terrorism, destruction of our environment, that is eco-terrorism, that is terrorism. That is killing, sucking the lifeblood of the people, which is resulting in newborn babies being born, like I said, with no vagina, no penis, and you don't and you don't want to institute a state of emergency. This is an emergency, beloved. This is terrorism. What did America do in the aftermath of 9-11? So in Ghana, if the government is serious about, for me, eliminating illegal small-scale mining, it should constitute, right? I'm getting place of leak the legal framework for it, a state of emergency. Because right now in Ghana, 90% of the water boys are polluted, and this is why you're in Ghana, this is why sometimes the water is intermittent, because the Ghana Water Authority or company, because of the pollution in the water, right? They have to use chemicals, more, you know, they have to more use more chemicals to clean the water. And because of the pollution and causing nature of the river bodies, right, it is causing you know big cities in Accra, you know, come out of September to have you know water for part of the day. Because it's intermittent water, because next thing you hear it, right, Ghana Water Company gotta do some work on the water. Yeah? Ghana water company got to do this, got to do that. Why? Because of the effects of illegal small-scale mining. So I'm saying to our government, if by this time next year there's no state of emergency, it means the government is complicit in illegal small scale mining and it's protecting its own people. So that's what I'll say about that. It is an emergency, it is ecoterrorism, our land, our river, our waters that are have been destroyed, and something needs to be done about it. Ghanese in Ghana, you need to wake up, demonstrate, protest to local assembly, to your MP, to Regional Minister, and even to the president that this thing cannot wait another year for it to be done. Because the longer this thing goes on, you know the water that you're bathing with. The water that you're bathing with is polluted. The water that you have in the shower with, that you're having a bath with is polluted. Even the pure water that we're drinking, where is it coming from? So you can't you can't use bottled water, imported bottled water to bathe, to cook, whatever, can you? And I hear now, particularly in light of Erastus Asai Donko's report, that if this thing continues, this Ghana say continues by Ghana will be importing water by 2030. That's just over four years' time. Is that what we want in Ghana? I'll leave it there. Now the last issue is the MPP uh opposition. You know, MPP suffered a massive historic defeat a year ago in the elections, but they've not, for me, made a deep retrospective look and analysis as to why the last election. I even hear I think it's somewhere like Katie Hammond, who was the member for um yeah, it was MP for I think Adamset, yeah, part of the Asante region, right? That MPP handed over power to the NDC. Isn't that isn't that an insult? You see, and the MPP don't want to really admit why they lost the election, and you've not done that deep inspective reflection as to why you lost and how you lost, and you're thinking your um arrogance or your uh my thinking that you you you you're gonna get elected in 2028? I don't think so, beloved. I don't think so. If I was MPP, you'd forget 28 because we in Ghana, we lived in Ghana last eight years before. January 25, when Muhammad came in, we saw the damage that you did MPP. Interest rates peaking at 30%, 35%, inflation peaked at 54%. The dollar, CD dollar, was at one time 17 to a dollar. Yeah. At one time it was even 20, 20 cents to a pound. We haven't forgotten that, you know. We haven't also forgotten the domestic debt extinction program. The first time in Ghana's history, that the country, that Ghana, country Ghana, had to not only get a bailout, but also to use public money from pensioners, from investors to pay back creditors under the so-called domestic debt program, domestic debt exchange program. You think we forgot that? You think we forgot how MPP destroyed the economy of Ghana but had to run to the IMF to get a bailout 2023? You think we forgot about that? You think about how you neglected the healthcare sector that was expensive during COVID? And if it wasn't for the World Health Organization, why Ghanaians, many Ghanaians would have died during COVID? Because Ghana was ill-prepared for COVID. But because we got money from the World Health Organization, why many lives were saved in Ghana? Yeah? So do you think with all that happened over the last eight years that any right-minded thinking Ghanaian will vote MPP in 2028? I don't think so, beloved. And we know that they're having their primaries to elect the flagbearer who will contest the 2028 election, I believe, in January next year. Yeah, so obviously when December right now, so January's just a week away. So in January 2026, MPP are going to elect their flag bearer to see who would uh be the party's nomination to um contest 2021 election. And by all um indicators, uh the former vice president and presidential candidate doctor Alaji Mahmoud Baumia appears to be the favorite. Overalls include Ken Jadapong and also Bayern Champong. So, but it appears like you know MPP are gonna vote for um Mahmoud Baumia. But for me, it doesn't matter who they put because, like I said, MPP have got no fresh policy. What policies have you got? Yeah, that you're gonna Ghanaians to 15 2028. You got nothing, beloved. I don't think you got any policy. What's the policy on health? What's the policy on education? You know, what's the policy on the economy? We know we did the economy, right? The economy is much better now than when it was when you left office. So, what are you gonna do different from what this government is doing? So, for me, MPP needs to really go out into a country, take a deep look at what went wrong, how it ran wrong, why it last 2028, and then come back to the Ghana and Electric with fresh innovative policies that is different from what they were when they were in power between 2016 and 2024. So, you know, for me, in my in my wrapping up with the MPP, that for me, A, they have to do a more deeper retrospection of why they lost the election last year, and that for me, they've got nothing to offer the Ghanaian public in terms of making a comeback in 2020 because you know, for me, four years is not long time to do a deep reflection, let alone have fresh policies that are going to you know make Ghanaians more richer, yeah, and more prosperous. Yeah. So, you know, that's that on the MPP, and that brings to an end uh this edition of Ghanaian Focus special looking at 2025 part two, looking about the opposition, MPP, looking at health, agriculture, and also integral small scale mining. Like what you hear? Please share to your friends, family, social media networks. Please subscribe to Ghana African Focus on YouTube. Hit the bell, meaning that YouTube will notify you when we upload. Again, look out for Ghana African Focus on Spotify. Hit the follow button, meaning that Spotify will notify you uh when we upload new podcasts. Please let us have the comments. So, particularly if you listen to me on Spotify or on the main um BuzzSpark website, Ghanaian Focus website, you know, please leave a comment. We'd love to know what you think about the show, and we'd love to know what you would like as future topics. All right, so in next week, um, we're gonna look at the year in Africa 2025, particularly looking about Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, etc. Look out for that. So, for myself Kwame, and for more the crew here on Ghana in Focus, thank you very much for listening. And we'll see you in the next edition of Ghana, Africa in Focus.