Thursday, 28 January 2016

What Exactly Is The Point Of Government Ministers Speaking To Ghanaian Journalists Guilty Of Mean-Spirited Partisanship?

It is such a pity that Ghana's  Attorney General, Mrs. Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, had to complain to the National Media Commission (NMC), about comments attributed to her by Joy FM's Kojo Yankson.

The question is: Why did Mrs. Marrietta Brew Appiah-Oppong not simply  walk away from Kojo Yankson without answering him - when he approached her and questioned her without first identifying himself?

As an aternative course of action, in such a situation, what is wrong with smiling and simply saying: "No comment, young man."?

There would have been absolutely no need for her to complain to the NMC if the Attorney General had had the presence of mind to refrain from responding to Kojo Yankson - and the unfortunate impression in the minds of many that she was backtracking and seeking to swallow words she had  uttered would have been avoided. Pity.

It is important that cabinet ministers in Ghana don't feel that somehow they are compelled by society to always answer questions from journalists. That is daft.

They would be wise to refer such journalists to the spokespersons of the ministries they head - and focus on their work instead.

They need to work hard doing what they are mandated to do at the ministries they head,  to support a beleaguered President, who, alas, has his back to the wall - unfairly, in the view of some independent-minded and patriotic Ghanaians, it ought to be noted.

Above all, in case they forget, the Mrs. Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppongs must always remember that the President - a northerner loathed by many closet tribal-supremacists in Ghana for whom even in  21st century Africa being ruled by a northerner is an abomination - has to deal with the egregious mendacity of the worst of the political progeny of yesterday's bomb-throwers, who, like their political forebears, are busy sabotaging the nation-building effort at every turn, simply because they are not in charge of our homeland Ghana.

That President Mahama's real crime, for the most implacable of his political opponents, is that he is a northerner, is a fact. And, that it is the elephant in the room, for even many fair-minded and independent-minded Ghanaians, is also a fact. In a nation full of fence-sitting moral cowards, perhaps the reluctance of many decent people in Ghana to openly acknowledge the grain of truth in that outrage is also understandable.

Ironically, the most cynical of those closet tribal-supremacist political opponents of the President, always start off by accusing their victim of being a tribalistic politician, who is guilty of playing tribal politics. Incredible.

The question is: Do those backward and hypocritical individuals with antediluvian worldviews not understand that no tribe is superior or inferior to another in Nkrumah's Ghana -  particularly in the 21st century information age?

Surprising though it might be to them, scientific research has shown clearly that we share virtually the same DNA, whichever part of the Republic of Ghana we hail from. Long story short: We are one and the same people, it turns out.

It also ought to be pointed out that given the controversy generated by the presence in Ghana of the two ex-Guantanamo Bay U.S. military prison detainees, not identifying himself to the Attorney General before speaking to her to solicit her views on the matter, was unprofessional of Kojo Yankson.

Sadly, unprofessional conduct is rife in the Ghanaian media today.

For the sake of our country, and its people, journalists in Ghana ought to be more professional in their work. Those of them who want to become politicians should follow the example of those journalists in Ghana who have left their jobs with media houses to join political parties. That is a more honest and honourable approach.

Unsurprisingly, there are some in the Ghanaian media world - who know about such things - who say that Kojo Yankson  saw an opportunity to ambush the Attorney General, and score political points for the political party he favours, and took it with alacrity. His conduct was clearly unethical, if that indeed is true.

Unfortunately, Joy FM, the Ghanaian-owned radio station that provided a platform for the BBC World Service's late Komla Dumor's talent, is now enveloped by a miasma of mean-spirited partisanship.

That  is why years ago some of us switched to listening to Peace FM instead - to avoid having to listen to that tiresome and pretentious crowd with overblown ideas about themselves at Joy FM. Arrogant lot - yet not a single world-class individual in the Komla Dumor-mould amongst them.

At this stage of the game, Mrs. Marrietta Brew Appiah-Oppong and her cabinet colleagues, would be wise to do so too - and  give journalists from Joy FM a wide berth when approached.

What exactly is the point of high-ranking government ministers speaking to journalists, who mask their mean-spirited partisanship, by giving the world the false impression that they are earnest about carrying out the societal watchdog role, which  journalists are supposed to play, in a  democracy, when in reality they are actually engaged in ever-so-subtle propaganda on behalf of self-seeking politicians - in what after all is an election campaign  for what will be a hotly-contested presidential election that is only a few months away? Odd, that.

















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