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