Stories published by 2022 NGIJ Fellows

The 2022 NGIJ Fellows worked on several stories including human-interest stories on education, community development, employment scam, immigration and human rights violation.

Edmund Agyemang Boateng (Ghana) highlighted the discrepancy between the really weighted words of Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo, on climate change whenever he is on the global stage, and the deficiency of his government’s action back at home. He makes a compelling analysis in this report.

Philip Teye Agbove, also from Ghana, highlights the plight of the indigenes of Ada, a town in Ghana’s Greater Accra Region, whose main source of livelihood, a salt lagoon, is being monopolized by a rich and powerful company. In this report, Philip gives account of the injustices they suffer as Electrochem Ghana Limited enforces its right to the lagoon on account of a controversial lease agreement signed between it and the government.

In Sierra Leone, Victor Jones details the misappropriation of funds for a World Bank funded programme, ”Education for All” and how the corruption is depriving young people of quality education in this report.

Fellows honed fact-check skills that they acquired during the Fellowship. For instance, this story debunked a claim that “The loan that World Bank was supposed to give to Togo was given to Ghana on negotiations that Ghana export free electricity to Togo” after a Fact check: Data acquired from the Electricity Company of Ghana through a right to information request showed that Ghana does not export electricity to Togo for free.

In another story, fact-checking tools were used to debunk reports on social media that the US Government plans to reject dollar bills printed before 2021 as legal tender.

This report shows how Philip Agbove persisted to submit an RTI request in spite of opposition and threats from some officials at the Ada West District Assembly.

One of the stories written by Fellows used the deadly accident involving a 16-year-old basic school graduate who fell into an open pit to his death, to highlight the problem of these death traps and the need to tackle them. Read more stories published by the Fellows below.

Fact-check reports

https://www.fact-checkghana.com/bawumias-no-cholera-in-5-years-claim-completely-false/

https://www.fact-checkghana.com/knust-in-the-last-10-years-student-clashes-protests-and-gross-misconduct/

https://www.fact-checkghana.com/captain-smarts-claim-on-ghanas-free-electricity-export-to-togo-completely-false/

https://www.fact-checkghana.com/full-list-president-akufo-addo-scores-high-on-appointment-of-female-judges/

https://www.fact-checkghana.com/heres-how-transport-fares-have-increased-in-the-last-5-years/

https://www.fact-checkghana.com/pictures-of-fans-sneaking-alcohol-into-qatar-stadia-are-misleading/

https://www.fact-checkghana.com/ghanas-colours-illuminated-on-empire-state-building-here-are-the-facts/

https://www.fact-checkghana.com/photo-of-cash-in-trunk-of-car-not-related-to-ndc-regional-elections/

https://www.fact-checkghana.com/false-us-govt-is-not-rejecting-dollars-printed-before-2021/

https://www.fact-checkghana.com/sam-georges-claim-about-unprecedented-data-breach-in-australia-is-misleading/

https://www.fact-checkghana.com/false-lionel-messi-did-not-give-man-of-the-match-award-to-colleague/