Government Must Refute And Dispel All False Media Stories About Former President Mahama To Do With The State Machinery

''Whipping and abuse are like laudanum; you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline."
             - Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)

One hopes that we are not seeing what appears to be the beginnings of a conspiracy that might eventually evolve into a media campaign of misinformation designed to denigrate and vilify former President Mahama.

That would be most unfortunate. Now that the election campaign is over and a new president sworn into office, the serious business of governing Ghana ought to be the focus of the media, not the fabrication of stories about members of the previous regime.

One's humble advice to our new leaders is that if their communications team  has absolutely nothing to do with it, then they must ensure that their administration is distanced immediately from any such strategy - if indeed such a strategy of misinformation has been put together by sections of the Ghanaian media that support the New Patriotic Party (NPP), that is.

For its own good, perhaps it ought to be pointed out to the government's communications team that if indeed such a strategy has been adopted by sections of the pro-government media, it could eventually rebound on the new administration itself - and distract it from focusing on the very important work that lies ahead of President Akufo-Addo's regime.

Former President Mahama must be accorded the full respect he deserves as a former president of our country, at all material times. If for nothing at all, he kept our country relatively peaceful and maintained its stability, throughout his tenure as president. That counts for something in any democracy.

With respect, President Akufo-Addo must quickly step into this matter personally - and tell all those in his inner circle seeking to eject former President Mahama from his home, to be more respectful to Ghana's former leader. That is the decent thing for the current President to do under the circumstances.

In the long run, the government will find that such a policy of fairness towards former President Mahama will redound to its own benefit, in terms of its image and reputation globally.

Fair treatment of former President Mahama, and according him full respect as a former leader of our country, further enhances Ghana's global reputation as a model  African democracy - and above all burnishes President Akufo Addo's own image and reputation as a Ghanaian statesman yet further.

On no account should former President Mahama be inconvenienced and disrespected in such a shabby manner. What is going on is totally unacceptable. It is mean-spirited, unspeakable and abominable.

It is particularly disgraceful for anyone associated with the new government to suggest that Vice President Bawumia is unable to find official accommodation when that is patently false - and worse still, somehow link that to former President Mahama's continued stay in the government property that has been his home for the last six or so years: and which he requested should be allocated to him to serve as his retirement home, as he is entitled to by convention, if not by law.

For as long as no evidence of his personal involvement in any acts of corruption emerge, it would be wise  for the new administration to have a policy of distancing itself from all inacurate and false stories in the pro- governnent media about former President Mahama  that have to do with the state machinery - by immediately refuting and dispelling them: once the allegations are investigated and the truth absolving former President Mahama from any wrong-doing is established beyond doubt. That is what must be done if ethical behaviour means anything to those who now govern our homeland Ghana. Period.

(POST SCRIPT: Finally, as some people in the new regime start throwing their weight about, let them all remember that no condition really is permanent. In case they forget, their immediate predecessors learnt the wisdom in that saying the hard way, when they eventually lost power on 7th December, 2016, much to their surprise. So out of touch with the real mood of the country, had they become, alas. The disrespect being shown to former President Mahama now, is exactly how some of his own party's extremists too started out in the beginning - and finally ended up as the corrupt  arrowhead-cabal of a  hard-of-hearing regime alienated from most ordinary Ghanaians. Food for thought for some of our new leaders, perchance? Hmm, Ghana - eyeasem o.)