GMO, Abu Sakara, And The CPP

Feature Article, by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

Even though I was sorely disappointed by the CPP’s flag-bearer during the

2012 Presidential Elections debate in Tamale, I found his overall

performance relatively better than the other three candidates. Yet there

was something I did not like about his politics fundamentally, because some

of us were expecting more leadership from him as an agronomist, in terms of

ideas about our food security and nutrition, than from the other

candidates. The issue of GMOs had been triggered by the 2012 G8 Summit in

Washington, yet strangely enough, all four Presidential candidates appeared

to have agreed not to say anything about it! That we found very

disappointing from a CPP Presidential candidate, because of the Nkrumaist

tradition the Party seeks to champion.

A FORMER FLAG-BEARER INDEED!

Actually, apart from his silence on GMOs, I found his eloquence and

delivery relatively superior to all the other candidates. It made me wonder

whether Abu Sakara was the leader the CPP has been yearning for, to get our

Party back on its feet. Nevertheless, I have always had my doubts about him

because several entreaties to get him to comment on the GMO debate have

proved futile. Thus, it was a great joy to read in the news that the CPP

had organized a press conference denouncing the imposition of GMOs on

Ghanaians.

The strange thing about Abu Sakara was the speed with which he has suddenly

became an apostle of the pro-GMO lobby in the media! The meeting with

Parliament by the Food Sovereignty Ghana, to which the CPP Chairperson was

a part of the delegation, ended at 4.00 pm, and Abu Sakara was on the air

at 7.00am the next day. Abu Sakara joined in this debate carrying a baggage

of ridiculous contradictions, and the airs of a scientist, whilst actively

making thoughtless pronouncements. Even though Abu Sakara claimed he has no

problems with the safety of GMOs, and that the problem is with the patents,

Abu Sakara still finds his voice to support the claims of multinational

corporations over our sovereignty as a people! And he calls himself an

Nkrumaist!

I have come across all sorts of Nkrumaists, dedicated comrades who look at

what Nkrumah is pointing at, instead of admiring the finger of the great

man. I have seen opportunists, as well as charlatans. I did not once

imagine that I would live to see a self-proclaimed Nkrumaist whose

political instinct tells him to defend the interests of multinational

corporations rather than those of poor Ghanaian farmers. That concern is

simply not there. His principal focus has been to disparage those defending

the rights of Ghanaians, especially smallholder farmers, as people who are

being paid to act from fear!

Anyone with half a brain would know that if you accuse people of acting

from the basis of fear, you cannot turn around and ascribe another reason

for the same behaviour. In one breath, the resistance to GMOs is based on

fear, in another breath, people are being paid money to say what they are

saying. Even though Abu Sakara insists on the rules of evidence, he makes

these claims without a shred of evidence. What even makes this murkier are

the reasons behind this sudden gusto, and who activated this man into

action, jumping from radio station to radio station? To save the Ghanaian

farmer from the CPP?

“I AM A SCIENTIST! I’M A SCIENTIST! I’M A SCIENTIST!”

For those looking for the tell-tale signs of a charlatan, note that Abu

Sakara was the only member on the panels who kept repeating, “I am a

scientist”. If you know what empty barrels do most, then please, keep this

in mind as we go on. The main reason that Abu Sakara “the scientist” offers

for the opposition to GMOs is unscientific. Abu Sakara claims the

resistance to GMOs is based on fear. He even linked GM technology to

progress in terms that smack of a genuine fool rather than a scientist. He

compared GM technology with the invention of knives, and how “we used to

cut our meat with stones”.

This is really pathetic because, if Abu Sakara had known that top

scientists from all over the world, held a series of meetings and

conferences leading to the drafting of the Cartagena Protocols on

Biodiversity, he would obviously not have made such a fool of himself, in

the way he has. The most authoritative document, even in scientific terms,

on Biosafety is the Cartagena Protocols of Biosafety. What over 400

scientists from all over the world agreed to in the latter document was

that there was a clear difference between GM crops and normal crops

obtained through traditional breeding and selection. They also agreed that

this difference lies in the fact that GM crops are “obtained through

laboratory techniques”.

The Cartagena Protocol defines GMOs in agriculture as products of ‘Modern

Biotechnology’ created when the genomes of organisms are transformed

through laboratory techniques, including genetically engineered DNA and

their direct introduction into cells. They are not techniques used in

traditional breeding and selection. The protocols also point out that this

laboratory-based technology requires ‘sceptical’ (doubt, don’t presume

safety) analyses in rigorous risk assessment protocols including hazard

identification to detect hazards and the potential to cause unintended

effects. This is what has become known as “the precautionary principle”.

Thus, I found it terribly nauseating to hear Abu Sakara say repeatedly “I

am a scientist! I am a scientist!” and pretend not to know that other

scientists better than him have settled the question he is trying hard like

an empty barrel, to make the most noise about. How can a scientist hop from

radio station to radio station, spewing what he has so little knowledge of?

The minimum required of any scientist who cares about Biosafety is to know

something about the Cartagena Protocol, because it is a product of world

class scientists deliberating intensely in order to advise the human race

concerning a specific threat to life on Earth, and what steps are needed to

be taken in order to save human populations and the environment of the

unintended consequences of these new forms of life. 166 countries have

signed up to these protocols, including Ghana.

FAKE NKRUMAIST

Apparently, Abu Sakara is the only scientist who probably believes that

biohazards are the work of witchcraft! Or that he is not being paid to

speak in that strange and incoherent manner, but rather people are being

paid to fear biohazards! Incidentally, these protocols of which Ghana is a

signatory, requires that there should be public awareness and participation

in decisions to introduce genetically modified organisms into the

environment. Yet all we have seen in Ghana are attempts to round us up, and

force dangerous technology into our environment, accompanied by legislation

that will lead to the loss of our sovereignty! There is a slow but

incremental installation of the legislative instruments necessary for

control by foreign multinationals over our destiny as a people. The CPP

leadership has taken a courageous and principled stand and is calling for

public awareness and participation.

All of a sudden, this politician has become a scientist, hoping from radio

station to radio station, making “the most noise”, exactly like a very

familiar object when it is empty! These laws imposing GMOs on Ghanaians are

being passed without any form of public awareness and participation in the

decision-making. In fact the Plant Breeders Bill was read in Parliament

during the football match between Ghana and Egypt for the World Cup in

Brazil. Whilst Ghanaians were watching football some far-reaching questions

about our future, and even the powers of Parliament or the Executive, as

well as the Judiciary, how much of it we can keep for ourselves and which

rights to hand over to our new masters, were being considered.

The question we should all be asking ourselves is what makes Abu Sakara

think that it is somehow wrong for Ghanaians to complain about the

imposition of GMOs without public awareness and participation? Personally I

find it very strange that Abu Sakara is even a member of Kwame Nkrumah’s

own Party, the CPP! It is mind-boggling that such a palpably fake Nkrumaist

managed to slip through the net to become a whole flag-bearer of the CPP!

What an abomination! Abu Sakara joins the camp of those eager to

genetically colonize us through patents, and yet he claims to belong to the

Nkrumaist tradition. I even hear he plans to contest again. He reminds me

of the great Gyedu Blay Ambolley: “Abofra bi wants to be CPP flag-bearer,

but he likes GMO yor ke gari too much!

Forward Ever! Backward Never!!!

Cheers!

Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro