“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” – 1 Corinthians 13:11
Like her or hate her, Dr. Hannah Bissiw has demonstrated a high sense of commitment and patriotism to Ghana and love of country. She deserves commendation and not condemnation as some have tried to do.
Dr. Hannah Louisa Bissiw Kotei was on 12th February, 2025 appointed the Administrator of the Minerals Development Fund (MDF). She could have stayed in her office, signed documents, issued cheques and given instructions. But she decided to go to the “field” to see for herself reports of illegal mining at various places, particularly Forest Reserves.
The Minerals Development Fund (MDF) is a public fund established by Act 912 of Parliament in 2016. The source of the Fund is twenty (20) per cent of mineral royalties collected by the Ghana Revenue Authority on behalf of the State — from holders of mining leases with respect to their mining operations.
Funding of the MDF could also take the form of grants, donations, gifts as well as other voluntary contributions, or from investments made by the Board. The MDF aims at promoting sustainable mining in various areas through the implementation of the Minerals Development Scheme (MDS).
The Fund is expected to be used to: redress the harmful effects of mining on affected communities and persons; pursue local economic development projects and alternative livelihood projects in communities affected by mining activities; undertake minerals related research and development into capacity building of human resources for mining institutions and institutions that train manpower for the regulatory agency; undertake projects aimed at promoting the mining sector; give support to the policy planning, evaluation and monitoring functions of the Ministry in respect of mining related activities.
On Joy News on 30/04/2025, the Administrator of the MDF, Dr. Hannah Bissiw stated, “The truth of the matter is that we’ve not been fair with our brothers and sisters living in our mining communities. No, we’ve not, and MDF is the voice of these people.”
Our minds go to Nigeria — and to the Ogoni activist and environmental campaigner who was executed by the Abacha regime for attempting to fight injustice in Ogoniland and the Niger Delta.
On November 10, 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa, the prominent Nigerian writer and activist was executed alongside eight others after a special military tribunal had found them guilty of anti-government campaigns. Nigeria was expelled from the Commonwealth of Nations for three (3) years.
Saro-Wiwa was the founder and leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) which advocated the rights of the Ogoni people against the exploitation of their land by oil companies. He was a vocal critic of the Nigerian Government and the Environmental Damage Caused by Oil Companies in the Ogoni Region.
The Nigerian government accused him of being behind the murder of four prominent Ogoni chiefs — a charge he vehemently denied. There was a vibrant international plea for clemency for Saro-Wiwa and his co-accused, who were all executed in secrecy. There was an international hue and cry about the government’s motives as well as the fairness of the trial.
While in military custody, Saro-Wiwa (who was denied access by family, friends, and lawyers) smuggled a letter from the hospital: “For two nights I have not slept a wink, I am being intimidated, harassed and de-humanised even though I am supposed to be receiving medical attention… I am like Ogoni — battered, bruised, brutalised, bloodied, and almost buried.” For his closing testimony at the trial, Saro-Wiwa wrote: “I and my colleagues are not the only ones on trial. Shell is here on trial and it is as well that it is represented by counsel said to be holding a watching brief. The company has indeed ducked this particular trial, but its day will surely come and the lessons learnt here may prove useful to it. For there is no doubt in my mind that the ecological war that the company has waged in the Delta will be called to question sooner than later and the crimes of that war be duly punished. The crime of the company’s dirty wars against the Ogoni people will also be punished”.
Hannah is a well-known figure in the National Democratic Congress. She had been a Member of Parliament before representing Tano South. She was once a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture as well as Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, and also the National Women’s Organiser. She was trained in Cuba as a veterinary doctor after passing out of Kumasi Girls’ Secondary School.
Hannah had not been spared by local newspapers and columnists, particularly with respect to her mansion at her home-town, Techiman, as well as her ownership of a brand-new Toyota Landcruiser valued at $120,000. Her explanation of having received the vehicle as a birthday gift did not reach her detractors. Nor did the explanation that she did not retrieve targeted supplies earlier donated reach them. There was no love between Hannah as NDC National Women’s Organiser and the rank-and-file NPP followers; her charge that the NPP won the 2020 Presidential Election with the help and complicity of the Electoral Commission. All these are past — just as some people say: “All shall pass.”
Now, with her association with the mining sector, she has left no stone unturned to help fight galamsey. She could not have any nice words for the Nyinahin Police particularly the Commander who insisted on her releasing the seven Chinese her task force arrested at the galamsey site at Akomfre township.
(You recall the illegal fuel chain at Jimmirah Forest Reserve.) She says: “The community is fed up… they are fed up that they destroy the land and water bodies… they blame the government.”
The obvious question: who brought the Chinese from China and directed them to Akomfre, Bui Subinso or such other villages – the chiefs? The inhabitants? How did the excavators get there? What benefit do the owners of the land get? What are the effects of the galamsey? Devastation of the land, pollution of their water bodies, no water for domestic use…
Who are the culprits? Politicians lead the list; the “mmobrowa” (commoners) who do the yeoman’s job and get daily wages cannot afford to buy an excavator. Do we need to look far? The Frimpong-Boateng Report on Galamsey is available for those interested.
In 1900, Yaa Asantewaa played an effective role in Ashanti history leading a war against the British for Governor Hodgson daring to insist on having the Golden Stool to sit on. She was deported to Seychelles in 1901. Joan d’Arc led a company of volunteers in France to fight off the English; when captured, she was put on trial by Bishop Pierre Cauchon on accusations of heresy, which included blaspheming by wearing men’s clothes… declared guilty and burned at the stake on 30th May 1431 aged 19.
In 1456, a Roman Catholic inquisitorial Court re-investigated Joan’s trial and overturned the verdict. After the French Revolution, she became a national symbol of France, and in 1920 she was canonized (declared a saint) by Pope Benedict XV.
Hannah, need not be detracted by the naysayers, for some Ghanaians the galamsey fight is a national fight, and anyone who plays a role remains a hero-and Hannah is a heroine.
