Got more cards than a fraud boy

NIA says come for your Ghana Card before they start charging rent.

Author

Chale News
February 19, 2025

So, what’s in the bag today?

  • National: Ghana Cards still single and waiting—600K swipes left.

  • National: When it comes to declaring assets, Ghanaian officials have mastered the art of hide-and-seek—except they’re the only ones hiding, and we’re all seeking.

  • Regional: Galamsey operators have unlocked a new level of disguise—now mining gold under the cover of "just collecting sand.

  • Health: Ghana’s health system is fighting cholera and meningitis like a WhatsApp group admin dealing with drama—6,145 cases and counting.

  • National: Mahama just told the Council of State, "Prove your worth or pack up," and honestly, the streets agree.

  • Fact of the Day: As big as elephants are, they are afraid of this tiny thing

  • Economic: Akwatia’s MP-elect, Ernest Yaw Kumi, just made the Ghana’s Most Wanted list!

  • National: CSIR Research projects on life support after USAID left the chat.

QUICK BYTE

  • Ghanaians have left 600,000 Ghana Cards stranded at NIA offices since 2018. These poor cards have seen five AFCONs, two presidents, and the rise and fall of MoMo tax, and yet, their owners remain MIA. The NIA says they’re working on a new system to make collecting the cards easier, which is basically their way of saying, “Since y’all won’t come for them, maybe we should just bring them to you.” Maybe the NIA should just start a promo, “Pick up your card and stand a chance to win a bag of rice!” Or better yet, let’s tell people Sarkodie is picking his card tomorrow😂😂😂😂 Read more

  • Domelevo just exposed Ghana’s public officials for playing “now you see it, now you don’t” with their assets, and turns out, most of them just don’t. Even the judiciary, the same people who throw the book at us, have been conveniently dodging this little constitutional requirement like a trotro mate who doesn’t want to give you change. But the plot thickens. When Domelevo raised the issue, the authorities basically pulled the “we hear, we hear” move, shrugged, and said there’s no actual punishment for breaking this rule. Meaning, in Ghana, if you steal yam from the market, you’ll see the inside of a prison before you can say “Nana, forgive me.” But if you "misplace" millions of cedis and forget to declare your wealth? Oh, it’s just a little constitutional oopsie. Read more

  • If Ghana had an Olympics for creative excuses, galamsey operators would be taking gold—literally. Three Chinese nationals and their Ghanaian plug just got busted mining along the Pra River, but not before trying to convince authorities they were just winning sand. Yes, because apparently, in 2025, we don’t mine gold anymore, we just win it like a raffle prize. Want the deets in full? Check out the Deep Dive section.

  • Cholera and meningitis are outside fighting Ghanaians like they have a personal vendetta, and the numbers aren’t looking good. The Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, just dropped a not-so-fun update in Parliament: as of last week, Ghana has clocked 6,145 cholera cases, with 719 confirmed and 49 tragic losses. And if that wasn’t stressful enough, meningitis is also doing the most—129 cases, 16 deaths, and 29 people still on admission. Ghana’s immune system is currently going through it. Get the 411 in the Deep Dive section below

FACT OF THE DAY

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Elephants are afraid of bees.

  • Ghana’s Council of State has been catching strays for a minute, with people wondering if they’re just expensive spectators in the governance game. At their swearing-in ceremony, President Mahama straight-up told them to prove their relevance or risk fading into irrelevance. Many believe the Council is just a soft life extension. Some even want it scrapped altogether. But Mahama is betting on this new squad, led by former Speaker of Parliament Edward Doe Adjaho, to turn things around. The council also has some big names, including ex-Chief Justice Sophia Akufo and ex-Attorney General Betty Mould Iddrisu, so let’s see if experience translates into impact. Read more

  • Ghana’s science and research body, CSIR, is currently in hardship mode. Thanks to the USAID cutting its funding like a broke guy in December, 15 major research projects are now on life support. The affected projects, managed by the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), were meant to help smallholder farmers in northern Ghana access better seeds and farming technologies. But with the money taps closing, these projects are looking as dry as your bank account after Detty December. The council is now scrambling to find ways to fund itself, Can you blame them? When donor money dries up, it’s either innovate or become an abandoned government project faster than you can say Saglemi Housing (sorry we had to go there😂😂) If CSIR folds, say bye-bye to agricultural innovations and hello to even more overpriced imported tomatoes. Y’all ready to start paying 20 cedis for one small tomato? Read more

  • Akwatia’s MP-elect, Ernest Yaw Kumi, is in hot political soup after a Koforidua High Court issued a bench warrant for his arrest. The man was told “don’t get sworn in”, but he did it anyway. The court said “come and explain”, but Kumi dodged every single court hearing on the contempt case like it was a pothole on an Accra road. Even when Parliament tried to save him with a “he’s busy” letter, the judge basically said, “Busy where? Not in my courtroom.” Read more

DEEP DIVE

Sand & Gold Winners

National Security saw through their little masquerade party and swooped in like a disappointed father catching his kids red-handed. The operatives revealed that these guys had perfected the art of deception—setting up a very innocent-looking sand-winning site in the front while running a full-scale galamsey operation in the back. It’s giving ‘wash-and-set’ business with a little ‘money-laundering’ on the side.

But let’s be honest, this isn’t even surprising. Illegal miners have been playing hide-and-seek with the law for years, and this is just their latest trick. First, they were hiding under water, then they started mining at night, and now? Sand-winning is the new camouflage. At this rate, don’t be shocked if the next set of arrests involve people claiming they were just "digging a swimming pool." Read more

Cholera is out here fighting

Now, of course, the government says it’s “on top of the situation.” Surveillance is being strengthened, treatment is on speed dial, and public awareness campaigns are in full swing. But let’s be real—how many times have we heard this before? The real tea is, if you live in an area where clean water is a luxury and cholera is basically a seasonal guest, you already know prevention is largely in your hands.

The Health Minister also casually dropped that we’ve recorded a case of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV). Don’t panic—it’s not a new pandemic loading (we hope). He says the risk is low, which is exactly what they told us about COVID before we started wiping groceries down with bleach. But for now, our main focus is to keep cholera and meningitis from turning Ghana into a survival reality show.

So, dear reader, if your area water supply looks more like sobolo than H2O, you might want to boil and filter. Treat your immune system like it’s your laaaast 5 cedis. And if you feel weird symptoms coming, don’t self-medicate—Google will have you thinking it’s the end. Read more

NEWS SOURCES

Today’s stories are curated from: