#HackAgainstEbola ends in Accra

On November 19 and 20th, the Global Editors Network and Penplusbytes invited 7 teams from the Ghanaian media to participate in a competition on media innovation called #HackAgainstEbola, supported by OSIWA and Google, and two local sponsors Dalex and Internet Solutions. Each team was composed of a journalist, a designer and a developer, and they had two days to build a prototype on a specific theme: ‘How to better cover and prevent Ebola’. It is part of a global programme called Editors Lab, a series of international hackdays.

The competition was won by the team from Citi FM, with a prototype called Citi Ebola Updates, a mobile platform that enables people, both educated and uneducated to receive education, information and updates on the status of Ebola in their country in their preferred local language. You send a letter, corresponding to a language, to a short code, and you get 2 updates a day by phone call.

Two special mentions were given to the teams for Ebola Tracker (Graphic) and Ebola Sniper (GBC). The other teams participating were: Daily Guide, Multimedia, BFT/NAFTI and Ringier.
You can see all the projects here: http://community.globaleditorsnetwork.org/content/citi-ebola-updates-0

Pictures of the event are available on our Flickr account.

The winning team will be invited to participate in the Editors Lab Final, held in Barcelona during the GEN Summit 2015, next June. They will compete against the other winners from the Editors Lab.

The Jury was composed by:
-    Teemu Ropponen, iLab Liberia Country Director
-    Nathaniel Ashiagbor is a web programmer
-    Kwami Ahiabenu II, Penplusbytes
-    Evangeline de Bourgoing, Programme Manager at GEN

The next #HackAgainstEbola will be held in Lagos, November 24-25th, and the third one in Dakar mid-January.

About GEN: The Global Editors Network is a cross-platform community committed to sustainable, high-quality journalism, empowering newsrooms through a variety of programmes designed to inspire, connect and share. Our online community allows media innovators from around the world to interact and collaborate on projects created through our programmes.



Contact:
Laure Nouraout, Social Media Manager GEN, lnouraout@globaleditorsnetwork.org.

Ghanaian Journalists for #HackAgainstEbola

According to a recent World Health Organisation statement, the West African sub region could record 10,000 new cases of Ebola a week by Christmas if the epidemic is not handled properly.
To ensure journalists are well equipped to effectively cover the epidemic, the Global Editors Network (GEN) in collaboration with Penplusbytes is organizing a two-day competition on the 19 to 20 November 2014 at the Penplusbytes' New Media Hub for journalists, web developers and designers.

This Editors Lab is being organised in partnership with OSIWA and supported by Google and BBC. It is part of a series of international hackdays hosted by world-renowned media organizations, in New York (The New York Times), London (The Guardian), Madrid (El Pais), Buenos Aires (Clarin), Paris (Le Parisien), and many more.

This edition of the Editors Lab will be very specific, as it is focused on Ebola and renamed #HackAgainstEbola. This is a first of three Editors Lab focused on that theme. The next one will be in Lagos, and the last one in Dakar.

According to GEN's programme manager Evangeline de Bourgoing, "Epidemics create panic, irrational information, dangerous rumors and uncertified facts, which can all generate chaos. Ebola has not yet been neutralized and could continue to spread throughout Western Africa as well as other continents. Journalists must be prepared to fight all collateral damage associated with Ebola. Unfortunately journalists on the ground don't have the necessary resources and tools that match the responsibility they have to inform local communities."

The Editors Lab is trying to foster an environment to create those needed tools. The teams, composed of one journalist, one designer, and one developer, will work to build a prototype in 48 hours. The participating teams are: Citi, Graphic Communications, Times, Daily Guide, GNA, MultiMedia, BFT, NAFTI, STARR, GBC.

According to Jerry Sam, Projects Director at Penplusbytes, "The participants will benefit from two workshops, given by: - The UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) and Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research. This workshop will provide the participants with background info about Ebola (infection and transmission, signs and symptoms, diagnosis and treatment and preventive measures). It will help the participants better cover Ebola and debunk the rumors.

Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) will take  the teams through tools to enable them hack faster and better.

The team with the best project, will be chosen by our Jury:
-    Edward Tagoe (nandimobile.com)
-    Joe Jackson (Dalex Finance and Leasing Limited)
-    Evangéline de Bourgoing (Global Editors Network)
The winning team will compete against the other winning Editors Lab teams during the Editors Lab Final, the World Cup of Newsroom Innovation. This final stage of the Editors Lab international tournament will occur during the GEN Summit in Barcelona next June.



http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/33990-ghanaian-journalists-for-hackagainstebola.html#sthash.CtSm76v1.dpuf

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International Institute for ICT Journalism
www.penplusbytes.org

Ghanaian journalist wins first African Fact-Checking Awards

Video journalist Edem Srem and his team from MultiTvWorld in Ghana on Friday won the first-ever African Fact-Checking Awards, honouring journalism in Africa that exposes misleading claims by public figures.

The awards, launched this year by the AFP Foundation and its African fact-checking project, Africa Check, are the first of their kind and aimed at promoting a new and important form of journalism on the continent.

More than 40 journalists from 10 countries across Africa -- Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe –- submitted entries for the award.

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Winning journalists of the first Agence France-Presse sponsored African fact-checking awards Ghanaian Edem Srem (C), runner-up Paul Shalala (R) of Zimbabwe and 1st runner up Kenyan Victor Amadala pose on November 14, 2014 in Nairobi ©Tony Karumba (AFP)

The winning entry, "Trading Ghana's water for gold", is a hard-hitting video report that exposed misleading claims by the government in Ghana to have eradicated the risky practice of alluvial gold mining in the west African country.

The two joint runners up were Paul Shalala of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, for a report on false claims made about the impact of multi-national mining investment on food security in his country, and Victor Amadala of the website kenyakidz.com for a report debunking a superstition that leads parents to have the teeth of newborn babies removed.

The winning team will receive a total of 2,000 euros ($2,500) in prize money while each runner up will receive 1,000 euros.

"I think there is nothing more important in journalism than holding people to account for the promises and the claims they make," Srem said.

"I am very honoured, on behalf of myself and my team to win this award for that work."

The chairman of the AFP Foundation, Emmanuel Hoog, said in a statement: "By taking claims made by public figures, and by checking them rigorously and impartially, these African reporters and editors are defending the best values of journalism. They are also helping to promote openness and transparency in public affairs."

The winners were selected by a jury of prominent media figures chaired by Eric Chinje, the chief executive of African Media Initiative, a body bringing together leaders of hundreds of African media organisations.

"I hope this award serves as a call to excellence and integrity in journalism everywhere in Africa. The jury readily identified entries that demonstrated a high level of professionalism and balance in reporting," Chinje said.

The AFP Foundation, the non-profit media training arm of AFP news agency, in October 2012 launched the continent's first independent fact-checking project, the website africacheck.org, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, in a partnership with the Journalism Department of the University of the Witwatersrand.

It has since published hundreds of reports on topics from fake claims of health cures, to exposes of misleading statements about water quality on the continent and the effect of gun control legislation on murder rates.

For more information on the outcome of the awards, follow @AFP_Foundation or @AfricaCheck.

Winning journalist of the first Agence France-Presse-sponsored African fact-checking award Ghanaian Edem Srem (L) receives on November 14, 2014 the overall prize from foundation director Robert Holloway in Nairobi, Kenya ©Tony Karumba (AFP)

source : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2835276/Ghanaian-journalist-wins-African-Fact-Checking-Awards.html

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International Institute for ICT Journalism
www.penplusbytes.org

Scrap fuel subsidies -- Kan-Dapaah

Albert Kan-Dapaah, immediate past-Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of parliament, says subsidising petroleum products in any form by government has a tendency to ruin the country’s fiscal stability management, and must therefore not be tolerated anymore.

He said it has become economically prudent for Ghana to totally scrap costly fuel subsidies to help restore fiscal stability after the country has been burdened with overshooting budget deficit targets over the years.

Ghana’s budget deficit continues to swell due to excess public sector wages, a shortfall in projected tax revenue, and rising costs for fuel subsidies. The cost of subsidies last year reached one billion Ghana cedi, and was expected to rise to 2.4 billion Ghana cedi this year.

According to the former Energy Minister, fuel-cost subsidy is a desperate and ill economic policy that must not be encouraged. Ghana has always been pressured by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to cut off the subsidies, which they describe as wasteful and inefficient.

Mr. Kan-Dapaah was speaking at a sensitisation workshop in Sunyani. The workshop saw in attendance media practitioners, civil society activists and a section of the general public, and was part of the Citizen’s budget road-show organized by Financial Accountability and Transparency Africa (FAT-Africa), a Think Tank, and Penplusbytes, an NGO.

The concept behind the roadshow is to make national budget information readily accessible to citizens through the publication of a “Citizen Friendly Budget” version, presented in a language devoid of technical economic jargon and in a format that the ordinary people can understand.

He stressed the need for the general public to get an understanding of the budget as government’s economic policy document. This, he noted, will bequeath the citizenry first-hand information about the country’s expenditure and fiscal management direction.

He advocated a stringent and effective public financial management system at Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to check misappropriation of funds and corruption, saying: “Lack of financial management discipline in the public sector is taking a huge toll of the public purse”.

He therefore urged the public to demand accountability from the government to help ensure judicious utilisation of public funds.

Source: | B&FT Online | http://thebftonline.com/content/scrap-fuel-subsidies-kan-dapaah

Hack4Oil Drives Tech Innovations for Oil Sector Transparency

Ghana's oil production is in full swing, and measures must be put in place at every stage of the process to maximize the benefits. Can new digital technologies play a role?

Penplusbytes recently hosted a 48-hour hackathon, dubbed "Hack4Oil," to stimulate ideas, technologies and innovative solutions to enhance government-citizen engagement and improve governance of Ghana's nascent oil and gas industry. The Accra event focused on three thematic areas—accountability and transparency, policy and regulation, and environment and health.

Participants of Ghana's first hackathon for oil and gas governance included developers from the countries' top universities and schools of technology. Photo by PenPlusBytes

Dr. Frimpong, an advisor at Petroleum Commission-Ghana, led participants through the Petroleum and Local Content Regulation of 2013, inviting developers to learn about the sector and find creative solutions to its challenges. He and other presenters kicked off the event with speed talks on a variety of topics. Speakers included Kwami Ahiabenu II of Penplusbytes, Jim Cust of the Natural Resources Governance Institute (NRGI), Benjamin Boakye of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Edwin Ametsikor of the Ghana Wildlife Society, Edem Agbe of STAR-Ghana, Barnabas Owusu of the West Africa AIDS Foundation, and Nana Ama Yirrah of the Community Land and Development Foundation.

With instruction from global experts, including NRGI's Jim Cust via Skype from London, Hack4Oil participants tackled extractive sector governance challenges using innovative technology. Photo by PenPlusBytes

Next, a crop of young and talented programmers, analysts and developers from Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology, CODERYTE, ISTECH Ghana, the University of Cape Coast and Ashesi University interacted with extractive sector stakeholders to identify challenges.
Ibrahim Abubakar, a developer from the University of Cape Coast, said that technology could help Ghana avoid the missteps that Nigeria and other oil-rich countries have made. "I see a lot of problems in the oil industry, and I think the public needs a lot of information. Technology will help us get the information to the public more efficiently and effectively," he said.
Priscilla Hazel, a developer from MEST and a newcomer to extractive sector issues, called the hackathon "an interesting and welcome challenge."
"I signed up for Hack4oil because I wanted to be part of something that helps find solutions to revenue management challenges in the oil and gas sector," she said.

Eight teams worked with mentors to develop "relevant, context-specific solutions" during the two-day competition in Accra. Photo by PenPlusBytes

Let the hack begin
The stage was set for hacking to begin with eight teams—Infoil, Mekasa, IWitness, Oil Journey, IDDL, Greenlight, Planeteers, and Global. Five groups of mentors helped participants build what said David Salassie Opoku, a mentor, called "relevant, context-specific solutions."

MEST developer David Mumini, with teammates Alfred Ayi-Bontey and Abideen Adelu, designed a winning submission that uses SMS technology to track oil and gas revenues and expenditures. Photo by PenPlusBytes

After hours of hacking, the panel of judges made up of Ekua Odoom, Teemu Ropponen, Edward Tagoe, William Sam and Rayborn Bulley declared Oil Journey's David Alhassan Mumuni, Alfred Ayitey Ayi-Bontey and Abideen Adelu the winning team. Their prototype not only lets citizens monitor and review the application of oil revenues by subscribing to and receiving information by SMS and voice system, but it also lets them have a say in which development projects the oil money should fund. The voice system is developed in local languages to give citizens access to information, regardless of their literacy levels. [See Oil Journey's website for more information on the winning project.]
Teams Infoil and Planeteers took the 2nd and 3rd prizes respectively. Infoil developed a prototype to aid monitoring and accessing the use of oil revenue, while the Planeteers focused on a prototype that gives local communities and advocacy groups a channel to identify and report the impact of oil and gas activities on marine ecology.

Ekua Odoom, Teemu Ropponen and other judges looked for specificity as they identified winning solutions. Photo by PenPlusBytes

Hack4Oil, the first hackathon to focus on Ghana's oil and gas sector, created needed buzz to drive ideas, technologies and innovations. Teemu Ropponen, director of iLab Liberia and a judge called the event "brilliant, with a very high turnout and very high quality of people."
"The emerging substance was amazing," she said. "The judges asked the teams to focus and think about [specific] problems and not try to solve everything—so narrow and deep, rather than broad and shallow…. My expectations were definitely met."

The top team, Oil Journey, will receive seed funding and mentoring to develop their winning concept.

Kwami Ahiabenu II is the president of the International Institute for ICT Journalism, also known as PenPlusBytes, based in Accra. The organization works in partnership with NRGI and ACEP, with support from STAR-Ghana.

Source : http://www.resourcegovernance.org/news/blog/hack4oil-drives-tech-innovations-oil-sector-transparency

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International Institute for ICT Journalism
www.penplusbytes.org

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International Institute for ICT Journalism
www.penplusbytes.org

PENPLUSBYTES AND FAT AFRICA CITIZENS’ BUDGET ROADSHOW KICK OFF

In order to stimulate citizens’ interest to meaningfully participate in contributing to a national budget that seeks their own welfare, Financial Accountability and Transparency Africa (FAT Africa) and Penplusbytes is undertaking a roadshow to make national budget information readily accessible to citizens through the publication of Citizen Friendly Budget version presented in a language devoid of technical jargons and in a format that ordinary people can understand.

This roadshow taking place  on Wednesday, 12th November in Sunyani at Eusbett Hotel and  Thursday 13th November in Kumasi at Royal Lamerta Hotel forms part of “Producing a Citizens’ Budget for Ghana” with support from Star Ghana. This project seeks to simplify key aspects of the budget and will be disseminated as printed copies, online version http://myghanabudget.org/, SMS and Mobile App.

The Government Budget is a Program-Based Budget crafted along various programs to be executed by the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies. The essence of the Citizen’s Budget is to disaggregate the structure of the national budget onto the local platform where the citizenry see themselves as the final beneficiaries of these programs. ‘Producing a Citizens’ budget for Ghana’ project’s overall outcome is to ensure public participation, provoke debate and help shape public policy.

Focusing on an objective to disseminate the budget information to help demystify government budgeting and financial governance as a whole, the roadshow which will have, in attendance, members of the media, civil society and members of the general public, will also see the distribution of simplified national Budget booklet, online web platform and mobile app to citizens; empowering them to be involved in the monitoring and tracking of the status of budget implementation thereby holding Government accountable.

Jeremiah Sam, Projects Director at Penplusbytes, speaking at Sunyani during the roadshow said “Producing a Citizens’ Budget for Ghana” roadshow forms an essential part of broadening the opportunities of citizens to actively engage in national dialogue through active engagement throughout the life cycle of national budgets and it is our believe that this roadshow citizens participate objectively, more effectively and express their needs and priorities to influence decision making and resource allocation in Ghana.


ABOUT

Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to empower the media through the use of Information and Communications Technology to advance journalism in the coverage of governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and mining, oil and gas.

FAT-Africa is a Civil Society Organization and a Think Tank that advocates and promotes Good Financial Governance with the aim of creating an enabling climate to nurture a culture of efficient public sector and financial management principles in Africa.

Penplusbytes join Civil Society Organisations to Launch Platform on IMF Bailout

Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Platform on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Bailout to Ghana was launched in Accra on Tuesday.
It was meant to engage citizens on issues concerning the bailout negotiations and areas that government must be keenly interested in, to the benefit of all.

Mr. Joe Winful, Chairman of the CSO Platform, said the ultimate agreement would be for the citizens of Ghana and there is the need for broad consultation with citizens during the course of the negotiations.

He said in the past, when such programmes have been worked out with the IMF, there were virtually no discussions with CSOs and therefore no input from them and other non-state actors and that lack of transparency must be avoided this time round.

The platform made up of several institutions including Penplusbytes, Ghana anti-corruption Coalition, Centre for democratic Development, Send, Ghana, Ghana Institute for Public Policy, Occupy Ghana, African Centre for parliamentary Affairs, Institute for Chartered Accountants, IMANI Ghana, Oxfam Ghana, Financial Accountability and Transparency- Africa, and Ghana Integrity Initiative.

Mr. Winful said although the programme was negotiated by Government, it is essentially a programme between the IMF and the people of Ghana and the success would be influenced by the extent to which the citizens of the country buy into the programme.

“A transparent process and the ability for Civil Society and non-State Actors to conclude the negotiations will facilitate the process to sell the programme to Ghanaians,” he added.

He said it is a grave concern to Ghanaians that the current negotiations are on-going without any prior conversation with the people represented by civil society and other non-state actors, including Members of Parliament.

The Chairman said in view of these lapses the platform was formed to advocate the views of citizens to be taken into account in the agreement with the Fund so that they would buy into the accord and work towards a successful execution of conditionalities that would be imposed on the country.

He said the CSO Platform on IMF Bailout is not established to bash the Government or criticise the IMF but to ensure that citizen’s voices and key stakeholders inputs are harness constructively.

This, he said would improve the final IMF deal that is beneficial to Ghana and minimise the possibility of Ghana going back to IMF in the near future.

He said the platform expects that through their actions they would be able to increase public interest and discourse on a major issues on the IMF bailout; promote public awareness and inclusiveness in the bailout discussions and the fiscal programme; give needed guidance and advice to Government’s negotiating team, and obtain a programme that would meet the best interest of the people.

This, he said, could be achieved through reaching as many citizens as possible to deploy relevant ICT tools and interventions, such as bulk SMS, Social Media and on-line Platform to make informed contributions and to moderate discussions via email.

Mr Winful explained that the Platform is non-partisan, non-religious and it is not a new organisation, however, it is a movement of committed Ghanaians who believe they could leverage the IMF bailout to the greater benefit of the country.

“At the CSO Platform, we believe our role is not to serve as a marketing department or the mouthpiece for the Government of Ghana nor the IMF during this negotiations and subsequent negotiations of the bailout and its subsequent implications.

“We will serve as a catalyst for a sustained citizen-based participatory national dialogue of each step of the IMF bailout for Ghana,” he added.

He announced that the platform would be working with key pillars to initiate a national conversation and hold a forum to discuss and agree on common positions on the key issues by civil society to inform both Government and IMF.

It would also engage the media, academia, faith-based organisations, among others to embark on a sustained campaign to educate Ghanaians on the bailout, agree on mechanisms to monitor the implementation of the final agreement that comes out of the negotiations.

“We recognise that on the major issues that would constitute the Agreement with the Fund, Civil Society and other non-state actors have divergent views. For this reason, we are negotiating to hire a renounced Economist to prepare a discussion pare to be discussed by Civil Society and other non-State Actor at a National Forum in Accra to agree on a common positions to be adopted by civil society” he said.

In August, the Government requested a three-year IMF support package to deal with the country’s financial challenges. Negotiations have already commenced with Dr Kwesi Botchway, a former Finance Minister leading the Ghana team.

The IMF programme is expected to begin from January 2015.


Source: Ghana News Agency (GNA)

STATEMENT : PRESS LAUNCH OF THE GHANA CIVIL SOCIETY PLATFORM ON THE IMF BAILOUT

STATEMENT READ BY MR JOE WINFUL AT THE PRESS LAUNCH OF THE GHANA CIVIL
SOCIETY PLATFORM ON THE IMF BAILOUT AT THE PRESS CENTRE IN ACCRA
 

 
Distinguished Members of the Media,
Colleague Members of the Platform
Invited Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I must thank all of you Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press and our
Distinguished Guests for responding to our invitation. My name is Joe
Winful. I am the Executive Chairman of the Financial Accountability &
Transparency-Africa and the Chairman of the Platform that we are launching
today.
 
Rationale
 
In August 2014 the government of Ghana (GOG) requested IMF's support to
deal with the country's financial crisis which will culminate in a three
year IMF package. Ghana will be going for a full blown three year IMF
programme and a GOG Team led by the former Minister of Finance, Dr. Kwesi
Botchway has commenced negotiations with the IMF to agree on the details
of the IMF bailout. This is in order and appropriate.
 
However, while conceding that the negotiations must necessarily be between
government and the IMF, we will want to stress that the ultimate Agreement
will be for the citizens of Ghana and hence the need for broad
consultation with citizens during the course of the negotiations.
 
In the past, when such programmes have been worked out with the IMF, there
have been virtually no discussions with Civil Society and therefore no
input from Civil Society and other non-state actors. We take the view that
this lack of transparency must be avoided this time round.
 
Although the programme is negotiated by Government, it is essentially a
programme between the IMF and the people of Ghana. The success of the
programme will be influenced by the extent to which the citizens of Ghana
buy into the programme. A transparent process and the ability for Civil
Society and Non- State Actors to contribute to the negotiations will
facilitate the process to sell the programme to Ghanaians.
 
This is important because, in the past, Ghanaians have been most
apprehensive about and suspicious of IMF programmes. This apparent
distrust stems from inadequate information dissemination resulting from a
general lack of participation. Citizens must be active participants in
such Public Financial Management issues. Transparency and a perceived
sense of inclusiveness in such an important programme will benefit both
the Government and IMF.
 
It must be a matter of grave concern to all Ghanaians that the current
negotiations are going on without any prior conversation with the people
of Ghana represented by civil society and other non-state actors. Not even
our representatives in Parliament have been consulted prior to the
negotiations to share with the government and the negotiators their views
on the key issues to be negotiated. And yet there would be no chance for
Parliament to debate and make any changes to the agreement once it is
agreed between GOG and the Fund. Clearly the inclusion of 2 or 4 members
of the Finance Committee from both sides of the divide on the negotiating
team would have been useful.
 
The Platform has been formed to advocate for the views of citizens to be
taken into account in this important agreement with the Fund so that the
citizens of Ghana will buy into the Agreement and work towards a
successful execution of whatever conditionalities the Agreement imposes on
us. In our opinion, it is the only way to make this bailout the last
bailout that we will seek as a country.
 
 
A National Forum on the IMF
 
We recognize that on the major issues that will constitute the Agreement
with the Fund, Civil Society and other non-state actors have divergent
views. For this reason we are negotiating to hire a renowned economist to
prepare a Discussion Paper to be discussed by Civil Society and other
non-state actors at a National Forum in Accra to agree on common positions
to be adopted by Civil Society. This Forum which we have dubbed the
National Conversation will take place at the Best Western Hotel in Accra
on November 18th.
 
 
 We further believe that Civil Society should help to monitor the
implementation of the Agreement that will be signed by the government.
The Platform will therefore put in place a monitoring mechanism to
oversight the implementation.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen the Platform will be known as the Civil Society
Platform on the IMF Bailout. The initiative to advocate for civil society
inclusiveness in major public financial management issues and in
particular the IMF negotiation was mooted by the Financial Accountability
& Transparency-Africa, IMANI Center for Policy & Education and Africa
Centre for Energy Policy.
 
We have now been joined by several institutions to form the Platform.
These institutions include, Penplusbytes, Ghana Integrity Initiative,
Ghana Anti Corruption Coalition, CDD, SEND Ghana, Ghana Institute for
Public Policy, OccupyGhana, African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs,
Institute of Chartered Accountants, African Centre of Parliamentary
Affairs among others.
 
Expanded Expected Outcomes and Benefits
 
Our expectations are that through our efforts, we will be able to:
 
·         Increase public interest and discourse on a major issue in the
country's public financial management, namely, the IMF bailout.
 
·         Promote public awareness and inclusiveness in the bailout
discussions and the fiscal programme. Engage the media, academia, faith
based organisations to embark on a sustained campaign to educate Ghanaians
on the bailout
·         Give needed guidance and advice to Government's negotiating
team, and
 
·         Obtain a Programme the details of which meet the best interests
of the people of Ghana.
 
 
Use of ICT Tools and Interventions
 
To reach as many citizens as possible we intend to deploy relevant ICT
tools and interventions:
1.      Bulk SMS: -All the necessary information about the IMF bailout
will be reduced to easy to comprehend messages that will seek to inform
citizens about the conditions of the bail out and how that will shape the
country's financial future. This SMS will be interactive such that
citizens, based on the information received, can send back their views and
opinions with regards to the bailout.
 
2.      Social Media: - We shall also engage citizens particularly on
Facebook and Twitter where vibrant discussions will be undertaken and
relevant citizens' comments will be collated to inform the final
recommendations that will be sent to the Ministry of Finance. The forum
will also be carried on line through Google+ hangout where as many
citizens can participate in an online forum to raise their awareness about
the pertinent issues surrounding the IMF bailout and their views collated.
3.      On-line Platform: -There will be an online platform to serve as a
one-stop-shop knowledge and resource centre where all information about
the bailout will be made available. It will also serve as a citizen based
advocacy platform where citizens can send all information pertaining to
the bailout via web-forms. It will be incorporated with emailing alerts
systems that will enable easy sharing of contents among citizens and CSOs
for a collective effort in getting citizens voices heard on the bailout
and for a greater impact of the recommendations made by these identified
groups and also for citizens and CSOs to make informed contributions to
moderated discussions via email.
 
 Ladies and gentlemen of the press at this juncture I would like to share
with you our key public message which is premised on increasing the
likelihood that this current IMF bailout under negotiations becomes "the
bailout that ends all future bailouts," by focusing on three key
principles:
 
1.      Make broad consultation with Ghanaian citizens an integral part of
the process. A 3-year package under discussion in the context of elections
coming up in 2016 should compel GOG and IMF to build broad consensus on
the measures being negotiated, and on how to fairly distribute their
economic and social impacts. Such process should allow for inputs and
discussions with citizens representatives, including: civil society
organizations, trade unions, faith based groups, academia, media and
parliament.
 
2.      Set transparency and accountability measures that address
underlying causes fueling undisciplined public spending. Off-budget and
over-budget spending (e.g. for political patronage during election times),
corruption and lack of transparency in the management of public finances
are the root causes of Ghana having to go for an IMF bailout once more.
Nevertheless, the bailout should be seen as an opportunity to strengthen
accountability systems of both horizontal (e.g. public finance
institutions such as the auditor general and parliament) as well as
vertical (e.g. through media and ordinary citizens as watchdogs)
institutions involved in public finance oversight.
 
3.      Protect strategic pro-poor and pro-development spending. The
burden of a fiscal adjustment should not be placed over the shoulders of
the most vulnerable, and already underserved; nor should it be done at the
cost of strategic investments on long term development. Measures should
avoid further weakening Ghana's health sector (especially in the wake of
an Ebola crisis in West Africa); avoid reducing agriculture spending that
strengthens the food security and resiliency of rural populations; and
avoid diminishing investments in the education of their children, as a
pathway out of poverty.
Independence
 
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, it is important to note that the CSO
platform on IMF bailout is not established to bash the GOG or to criticize
the IMF. Our contribution is to ensure citizens voices and key
stakeholders inputs are harness constructively to improve the final IMF
deal that is beneficial to Ghana and will minimize the possibility of
Ghana going back to IMF in the near future.
 
The platform is nonpartisan, non-religious and it not a new organisation,
however, it is a movement of committed Ghanaians who believe   we can
leverage the IMF bailout to greater benefit of the country as a whole. At
the CSO platform we believe our role is not to serve as marketing
department or the mouth piece for the government of Ghana nor the IMF
during this negotiation and subsequent negotiation of the bailout and its
subsequent implementation. We will serve as a catalyst for a sustained
citizen based participatory national dialogue of each step of the IMF
bailout for Ghana.
 
Working together these partners will co-ordinate activities and jointly
harness our collective strength to ensure project success. Let me take
advantage of this opportunity to call on other interested concerned
citizens, CSOs, media, professional bodies to sign up and join the
platform to ensure greater and deeper engagement.
The platform craves for your maximum support, especially the media, to
achieve its objectives and finally improve the living standard of the poor
at the end of the bailout programme.
I thank you for the opportunity and I thank you all for your attention.
 
 
Mr. Joseph Winful is the Executive Chairman of the Financial
Accountability & Transparency-Africa and the Chairman of the CSO Platform
on IMF. He is a Chartered Management Accountant by profession and recently
retired as Senior Partner/CEO of the Ghana Office and an Exco Member and
also Board Member of KPMG Africa. Joe was elected Senior Partner of the
Ghana firm in 2000 and has oversight responsibilities for Sierra Leone and
Liberia.
 

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International Institute for ICT Journalism
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