Asenta - Monkey Business in Ghana

Ghanaians Want No “Monkey Business” in Their Country by G. Ofori Anor A soundly enraged and agitated Ghanaian immigrant community in the United States is just beginning to flex its muscles for a fight over a plan to resettle a number of American chimpanzees in their country. For many, it is like waking up one morning and finding an abused and abandoned (possibly diseased) monster of a chimpanzee delivered to your doorstep. This is how a plan by a Connecticut-based American non-governmental organization NGO, Friends of Animals (FOA) to resettle American chimpanzees in Ghana is seen. The primates, currently “housed” in a sanctuary in San Antonio, Texas, are part of a collection that have been used in laboratories and research programs throughout the United States. Some have seen captive years as circus performers or pets in private homes and zoos. Incensed groups and individuals believe they are on the trail of a fat rotten rat. The normally laid-back Ghanaian community in the US is literally jumping in its socks. At press time a new organization , Coalition of Concerned Ghanaians has been formed in New York for the sole purpose of stopping the repatriation of the primates into any part of Ghana by any means necessary. A spokesperson who wished to remain anonymous for now, told ASENTA that the coalition is made up of over 50 Ghanaian ethno-cultural organizations, alumni groups, professional bodies, churches, and schools throughout the United States. Said he, “we see this insulting program as a matter of life and death and are prepared to go to whatever lengths to stop it”. He will not give away any secrets, except to say that the coalition will seek help from whoever and whatever source, particularly from African-Americans. He appealed to Ghanaians and indeed friends of Ghana to “bring their anger to a town hall meeting that is planned to be held very shortly. Meanwhile, the Council of Ewe Associations of North America (CEANA) has initiated its own brand of activism against the project. The Ewes are the largest ethnic group whose homeland encompasses the area that FOA is reported to have acquired for the re-settlement of the primates. Understandably, "this monkey business" is a matter of survival or annihilation for generations of their seed. There is no doubt in people’s minds that the West is once again attempting to utilize its superior technology to deal Africa a deadly hand. The primates, they contend may very well be the subjects of an experiment to test the potency of a laboratory-generated virus on humans. It is commonly held by many Africans that AIDS/HIV took an identical route to reach humans. A red-eyed New York resident who would not give his name summed up the general feeling this way: "they created AIDS and Ebola to use in biological warfare, then sneaked it into Africa only to turn around and blame it on Africans. They know we do not have the means to detect anything. It will not happen again!" CEANA is calling on all Ghanaians home and abroad to "be vigilant……make sure no such chimpanzees and monkeys enter the country! The organization's position is further explained in the statement that follows which was released to the press recently: "The Council of Ewe Association of North America (CEANA), an umbrella organization that oversees the affairs of all Ewe-speaking people and their friends in North America and West Africa, is alarmed at the flagrant disregard for human life that the FoA and its agents have shown in the design of this project. The population of the Nkonya-Ntumda area is mainly agrarian. They depend on the natural ecosystems for their daily sustenance. There is no doubt that the introduction of a large number of chimpanzees, monkeys, and other primates in the area would change the ecological balance and affect the livelihood of the people. None of the directors of FOA seems to have addressed this issue. CEANA is concerned and demands a comprehensive environmental impact statement (and an independent review) detailing the effects of the project on all other living things: birds, reptile, fish and humans. CEANA's other concern is the silence or hesitation of hitherto very active animal rights and environmental organizations to comment on the project. The Environmental Intelligence Agency (EIA) is an animal rights group based in London, which oversees such environmental projects. The Ghanaian Chronicle had sent two e-mail messages to their president, Dave Curry, August 28th, 1999 and had received neither an acknowledgement of receipt nor a reply. What is the problem? Is this one too big for the EIA? Is the EIA scared to criticize an ally? Is the silence meant to condone wrongdoing? The unanswered questions go on.	CEANA and the people of Ghana deserve to know the independent details of happenings in our backyard. What we do not know can hurt us!! We are also concerned about the following: The difference in the statements made by the FOA's directors in Ghana (that they were returning the descendants of chimps and primates taken away from Ghana in the 1960's….to promote tourism) and what is published in their own journal, ACTIONLINE, (that they had found a sanctuary for laboratory animals…) makes the real intention of the project difficult to determine. CEANA is dissatisfied with the arguments advanced by the FOA's directors in defense of the project. Basically, they all seem to be saying that we should continue to trust them and they would do right by us. But it is foolhardy for a people who have made such contradictory statements about their intentions to continue to ask us to trust them. CEANA demands an independent review of all their actions, an independent review of the project, an independent medical assessment of all the animals earmarked for the project and their prosecution, should they be found guilty of any criminal actions and/or intentions. Secondly, FOA's assertion that the concentration of chimpanzees, monkeys and other primates on an isolated Konkolobi island and adjacent Nkonya-Ntumda area, hundreds of miles away from any major city, will generate tourism is so baseless as to be incredulous. Primates are not new to them. So the possibilities of generating local tourism are nil. The cost of transportation from all major cities in Ghana to the area and the inconveniences of lack of hotels, poor roads and poor telecommunication systems make the proposal distasteful as a tourist project. It fits better into the frame of "finding a sanctuary for laboratory animals…." CEANA is also not convinced that "a resource center for the study of chimps" is one of the priorities of Ghana or the Volta Region at this time. The explanations of FOA's directors notwithstanding, CEANA is still concerned with the health status of the animals involved in the project and the possible spread of disease among local primates, other animals and even humans. In the first place, Ghana does not have the technology and the personnel to adequately and independently assess the heath status of the animals in the project. She might have to depend on FOA, who have already made contradictory statements about their intentions, or EIA which has demonstrated its reluctance to get involved. Secondly, international examples abound in Australia and New Zealand about the adverse effects of introducing new species or increasing the number of any one species in an ecological development. Ghana has enough health problems and obstacles to economic development. She does not need high technology diseases that she has neither the manpower, the machinery, nor the financial resources to deal with. If we need to concentrate primates on an island in countries in West Africa for that purpose, we do not need to import them from the United States. When was the last time the West took away something good from Ghana and returned it on their own? Another point that undercuts the philosophical underpinnings of FoA is its willingness to smoke four (4) large African pythons to death and to capture 21 others in order to create a home for their primates. One would have thought the "Friends of Animals" would be humane to all animals regardless of their origin. By this action, FoA has demonstrated that they are hypocritical in their actions and that they are least concerned about indigenous African animals. Secondly, in Ewe mythology, pythons are sacred animals. That they should be brutalized to death and captured by FOA and their agents shows that FOA is disrespectful and totally contemptuous of the Ewe people, their culture and beliefs. In line with the concerns expressed above, CEANA demands that the project be HALTED until an independent environmental impact statement is prepared, an independent medical evaluation of all animals in the project is done, until the international and environmental experts are agreed on the safety, the usefulness and the environmental soundness of the project. Finally, all concerned Ghanaians must be convinced about the good intentions of the project. Thanks in anticipation for your understanding and cooperation"

Ghanaians Want No “Monkey Business” in Their Country

by G. Ofori Anor

A soundly enraged and agitated Ghanaian immigrant community in the United States is just beginning to flex its muscles for a fight over a plan to resettle a number of American chimpanzees in their country.

For many, it is like waking up one morning and finding an abused and abandoned (possibly diseased) monster of a chimpanzee delivered to your doorstep.

This is how a plan by a Connecticut-based American non-governmental organization NGO, Friends of Animals (FOA) to resettle American chimpanzees in Ghana is seen. The primates, currently “housed” in a sanctuary in San Antonio, Texas, are part of a collection that have been used in laboratories and research programs throughout the United States. Some have seen captive years as circus performers or pets in private homes and zoos. Incensed groups and individuals believe they are on the trail of a fat rotten rat.

The normally laid-back Ghanaian community in the US is literally jumping in its socks. At press time a new organization , Coalition of Concerned Ghanaians has been formed in New York for the sole purpose of stopping the repatriation of the primates into any part of Ghana by any means necessary.

A spokesperson who wished to remain anonymous for now, told ASENTA that the coalition is made up of over 50 Ghanaian ethno-cultural organizations, alumni groups, professional bodies, churches, and schools throughout the United States. Said he, “we see this insulting program as a matter of life and death and are prepared to go to whatever lengths to stop it”. He will not give away any secrets, except to say that the coalition will seek help from whoever and whatever source, particularly from African-Americans. He appealed to Ghanaians and indeed friends of Ghana to “bring their anger to a town hall meeting that is planned to be held very shortly.

Meanwhile, the Council of Ewe Associations of North America (CEANA) has initiated its own brand of activism against the project. The Ewes are the largest ethnic group whose homeland encompasses the area that FOA is reported to have acquired for the re-settlement of the primates. Understandably, "this monkey business" is a matter of survival or annihilation for generations of their seed. There is no doubt in people’s minds that the West is once again attempting to utilize its superior technology to deal Africa a deadly hand.

The primates, they contend may very well be the subjects of an experiment to test the potency of a laboratory-generated virus on humans. It is commonly held by many Africans that AIDS/HIV took an identical route to reach humans.

A red-eyed New York resident who would not give his name summed up the general feeling this way: "they created AIDS and Ebola to use in biological warfare, then sneaked it into Africa only to turn around and blame it on Africans. They know we do not have the means to detect anything. It will not happen again!"

CEANA is calling on all Ghanaians home and abroad to "be vigilant……make sure no such chimpanzees and monkeys enter the country! The organization's position is further explained in the statement that follows which was released to the press recently:

"The Council of Ewe Association of North America (CEANA), an umbrella organization that oversees the affairs of all Ewe-speaking people and their friends in North America and West Africa, is alarmed at the flagrant disregard for human life that the FoA and its agents have shown in the design of this project. The population of the Nkonya-Ntumda area is mainly agrarian. They depend on the natural ecosystems for their daily sustenance. There is no doubt that the introduction of a large number of chimpanzees, monkeys, and other primates in the area would change the ecological balance and affect the livelihood of the people. None of the directors of FOA seems to have addressed this issue. CEANA is concerned and demands a comprehensive environmental impact statement (and an independent review) detailing the effects of the project on all other living things: birds, reptile, fish and humans.

CEANA's other concern is the silence or hesitation of hitherto very active animal rights and environmental organizations to comment on the project. The Environmental Intelligence Agency (EIA) is an animal rights group based in London, which oversees such environmental projects. The Ghanaian Chronicle had sent two e-mail messages to their president, Dave Curry, August 28th, 1999 and had received neither an acknowledgement of receipt nor a reply. What is the problem? Is this one too big for the EIA? Is the EIA scared to criticize an ally? Is the silence meant to condone wrongdoing? The unanswered questions go on.

CEANA and the people of Ghana deserve to know the independent details of happenings in our backyard. What we do not know can hurt us!!

We are also concerned about the following: The difference in the statements made by the FOA's directors in Ghana (that they were returning the descendants of chimps and primates taken away from Ghana in the 1960's….to promote tourism) and what is published in their own journal, ACTIONLINE, (that they had found a sanctuary for laboratory animals…) makes the real intention of the project difficult to determine. CEANA is dissatisfied with the arguments advanced by the FOA's directors in defense of the project. Basically, they all seem to be saying that we should continue to trust them and they would do right by us. But it is foolhardy for a people who have made such contradictory statements about their intentions to continue to ask us to trust them. CEANA demands an independent review of all their actions, an independent review of the project, an independent medical assessment of all the animals earmarked for the project and their prosecution, should they be found guilty of any criminal actions and/or intentions.

Secondly, FOA's assertion that the concentration of chimpanzees, monkeys and other primates on an isolated Konkolobi island and adjacent Nkonya-Ntumda area, hundreds of miles away from any major city, will generate tourism is so baseless as to be incredulous. Primates are not new to them. So the possibilities of generating local tourism are nil. The cost of transportation from all major cities in Ghana to the area and the inconveniences of lack of hotels, poor roads and poor telecommunication systems make the proposal distasteful as a tourist project. It fits better into the frame of "finding a sanctuary for laboratory animals…." CEANA is also not convinced that "a resource center for the study of chimps" is one of the priorities of Ghana or the Volta Region at this time.

The explanations of FOA's directors notwithstanding, CEANA is still concerned with the health status of the animals involved in the project and the possible spread of disease among local primates, other animals and even humans. In the first place, Ghana does not have the technology and the personnel to adequately and independently assess the heath status of the animals in the project. She might have to depend on FOA, who have already made contradictory statements about their intentions, or EIA which has demonstrated its reluctance to get involved. Secondly, international examples abound in Australia and New Zealand about the adverse effects of introducing new species or increasing the number of any one species in an ecological development. Ghana has enough health problems and obstacles to economic development. She does not need high technology diseases that she has neither the manpower, the machinery, nor the financial resources to deal with.

If we need to concentrate primates on an island in countries in West Africa for that purpose, we do not need to import them from the United States. When was the last time the West took away something good from Ghana and returned it on their own?

Another point that undercuts the philosophical underpinnings of FoA is its willingness to smoke four (4) large African pythons to death and to capture 21 others in order to create a home for their primates. One would have thought the "Friends of Animals" would be humane to all animals regardless of their origin. By this action, FoA has demonstrated that they are hypocritical in their actions and that they are least concerned about indigenous African animals.

Secondly, in Ewe mythology, pythons are sacred animals. That they should be brutalized to death and captured by FOA and their agents shows that FOA is disrespectful and totally contemptuous of the Ewe people, their culture and beliefs.

In line with the concerns expressed above, CEANA demands that the project be HALTED until an independent environmental impact statement is prepared, an independent medical evaluation of all animals in the project is done, until the international and environmental experts are agreed on the safety, the usefulness and the environmental soundness of the project. Finally, all concerned Ghanaians must be convinced about the good intentions of the project.

Thanks in anticipation for your understanding and cooperation"