Was The Public Humiliation Of Adakabre Frimpong Manso And Kwame Nkrumah Tikesie Necessary?

One finds it odd that there has been virtually no comment in the Ghanaian media about the unacceptable public humiliation of Adakabre Frimpong Manso and Kwame Nkrumah Tekesie.

Indeed, the silence of their fellow journalists, thus far, has been deafening - since the two of them issued their 'apologies' on 6th April, 2016.

Whatever their sins, on a purely human level, pressurising Adakabre Frimpong Manso and Kwame Nkrumah Tekesie to apologise publicly - clearly against their will - was an abuse of their right to dignity. Nothing can justify that - and one wouldn't wish that on even one's worst enemy.

The bludgeoning of Adakabre Frimpong Manso and Kwame Nkrumah Tikesie into apologising publicly - for what apparently some of those in Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo's inner circle perceive to be an anti-Nana Addo bias on their part - reflects badly on all the parties involved in this illiberal conspiracy and attempt at censorship.

By caving in to blatant blackmail, the Despite Group has given carte blanche to intolerant politicians who are criticism-averse, to control them in future - a future in which their broadcast frequencies and  licenses could be taken away from them by those they allowed to humiliate Adakabre Frimpong Manso and Kwame Nkrumah Tekesie.

Given a choice, Osei Kwame Despite has shown clearly that he will grovel before politicians, in order to curry favour with them. That is not why his company was allocated what is a public resource (radio-frequency spectrum), given out by the state, to private entities, to ensure plurality in Ghanaian society.

Personally, although I admire his business acumen, sadly, I  have lost respect for his Despite Group - which I used to hold in high esteem for its pioneering private-sector role in making its Twi language broadcasting part of mainstream media: and a reliable  source of news for the masses of the Ghanaian people.

Over the years, in addition to being a reliable source of news in Twi for many ordinary Ghanaians, its television and radio stations,  have also disseminated important public  service and public-interest information, as well as educated and  entertained miilions of people, across our homeland Ghana.

A key  role of the Ghanaian media is to protect our democracy from those who would tyrannise us and deny us our fundamental human rights. That  precludes media houses from doing face-saving deals with intolerant politicians hounding journalists - to enable them escape public opprobrium.

In allowing the humiliation of Adakabre Frimpong Manso and Kwame Nkrumah Tekesie, those in charge of the Despite Group's media subsidiary, did not show themselves to be reliable defenders of freedom of expression in Ghana - whom society can depend on to protect ordinary Ghanaians from intolerant and tyrannical politicians.

Clearly, they  think only of the company's owners' individual self-interest, not the national interest - which in this particular instance should have been a media group refusing to be dictated to by criticism-averse politicians.

Although it might appear to be a harsh judgement, the plain truth is that by this singular act of egregious cynicism, in which they in effect betrayed their own employees, and allowed unreasonable politicians to humiliate them publicly, they have shown that they  are not fit to be media owners in our democracy.

Why did they not simply tell those New Patriotic Party (NPP) leaders, who pushed for the party to  boycott radio programmes on Neat FM and Okay FM, to lodge official complaints against Adakabre Frimpong Manso and  Kwame Nkrumah Tikesie, with the National Media Commission?

And on their part, Adakabre Frimpong Manso and Kwame Nkrumah Tikesie - and other journalists of that ilk - ought to stick to the code of ethics governing their profession. Journalists must always be balanced and fair in their work. If they want to do politics, let them resign from their jobs and become full-time politicians.

Those in Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo's inner circle, who appear to be more Catholic than the Pope himself, ought to understand clearly that they risk creating an Emperor-with-no-clothes-presidency for their charge - if they don't discard their "Let's destroy so and so because he or she is undermining Nana Addo," mentality.

What was wrong with choosing a strategy to debate Adakabre Frimpong Manso and Kwame Nkrumah Tikesie and countering their alleged bias against Nana Addo with superior arguments, during the radio programmes they host - instead of the disgraceful bullying strategy they employed to silence the two?

Their intolerance is making many independent-minded and fair-minded middle-class Ghanaians - who ordinarily are natural NPP voters - to begin wondering what kind of presidency Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo's will be like.

And some are begining to weigh the possibility of a future in which people's careers and businesses are destroyed because they are critical of a President Akufo-Addo - in considering who to vote for in the November presidential election.

If Nana Addo loses the trust of most independent-minded, and fair-minded middle-class Ghanaians, it will be because of the miasma now enveloping his campaign, which results from the toxicity of the hare-brained scheming of the Bernard Antwi-Boasiakos and Asare Otchere-Darkos in his inner circle. He may not like to hear that - but it is the plain truth.

To avert that potential tragedy, Nana Addo himself needs to take control of his own image as a politician, and work hard to dispel the unfortunate impression gaining ground that he is intolerant of dissenting views, and will do all he can to destroy those who oppose him, stealthily, by proxy.

Yet, the truth is that he is essentially a good and decent human being. He must be more watchful of what some of those in his inner circle are doing in his name - lest they ruin his chances of winning the November presidential election.

He can begin to repair some of the damage done to his image by the over-exuberance of some of those in his inner circle, by reaching out to Adakabre Frimpong Manso, and Kwame Nkrumah Tikesie, and asking them to let bygones be bygones - so they can all start a new relationship based on mutual respect for each other.

The public humiliation of the two broadcast journalists, resulting from an illiberal conspiracy to silence them, was totally unnecessary - and damaging for Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo's image as a politician. Nothing the two did can justify their public humiliation.  It is time Ghanaian media professionals spoke up for them.