A photograph showing several tipper trucks parked at a beach with several men mining sand into the buckets of the trucks is generating controversy among some Members of Parliament(MP), leading to a scuffle at the foyer of the Ghanaian legislature.
Photo leads to scuffle among some Ghanaian MPs
Some members from the Minority and Majority sides of the house are divided over whether the picture was taken in Ghana, with the Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin claiming the picture shows sanding winning activities happening in Keta – one of several communities currently affected by tidal waves that have displaced about 4,000 people.
“I would want to show you a picture. This is what is happening at Keta. If you go to Wikipedia, you would see, this is a report, sand-winning activity in Keta coastal area and the source is Coverghana.com.gh as February 9, 2021. This is what is happening there,” Afenyo- Markin stated while displaying the picture for the TV cameras.
However, the claim was disputed by a minority Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Defeamekpor.
“I am an indigen of the area and I know the coastal lines for a fact between Afloa to Anyanui. The photographs they brought to show journalists was a photograph of a beach or of a coast that has forest and perhaps a hill log pondered by the waves. There’s no such landmark on the coastline of Keta, Afloa, Dzita, Blekusu or Anyanui in our area,” he said in an interview with JoyNews shortly after a struggle over the picture between the legislators from the opposing sides.
Fact-Check
Using Reverse Image Search, GhanaFact has found that the photograph was not taken in Ghana but rather in Sierra Leone sometime in January 2013 by Journalist and photographer, Tommy Trenchard.
