The media in the Fourth Republic, incidentally referred to as the Fourth Estate of the Realm, is letting the people down.
The journalists are failing to discharge their mandate as imposed on them by the constitution to among other issues “… uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people of Ghana.” And when we talk about Government here, we mean the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.
The Legislature includes the opposition bench or the Minority, and the constitution requires that members of the Minority discharge their duties in a responsible manner but not to be reckless and deceitful.
To a large extent, the Minority in Parliament has plied its roles for self-gain instead of the national interest.
When issues come up in the public space, many of our compatriots, especially the NDC and those aligned to it, allow their emotions rather than logic to take centre stage. In the specific case of the sale of the SSNIT hotels, the commentators, including NDC leaders have allowed emotions to cloud their judgment. They have ignored the economic arguments that support the decision of SSNIT to dispose off the loss-making entities.
If our leaders mean well for this country, Ernest Thompson, who once served as head of SSNIT would adopt the principle of silence is golden and not meddle in the sale of the SSNIT hotels. And just because his colleagues in the NDC are opposed to the sale, he thinks he must join the bandwagon.
While Sammy Gyamfi made his lame claims in the matter of the ambulances, the media people that he spoke to just swallowed those claims without referring to those series of letters written by Richard Jakpa to the Attorney General begging for plea bargaining.
The media disappointed Ghanaians by not exposing the hypocrisy of Sammy Gyamfi and the NDC that has promised to hold a press conference to play some audio or video in their possession about the encounter between the Attorney General and Richard Jakpa, the businessman who supplied those “adakato” ambulances.
Sammy Gyamfi are you aware that after the Attorney General rejected Richard Jakpa’s terms, his lawyer wrote back to the Attorney General to state the terms under which the plea bargaining request would be accepted? Again, does it make sense for the Attorney General, a seasoned legal brain to be seeking a “secret” deal with Richard Jakpa in order to get Cassiel Ato Forson incarcerated?
Furthermore, Sammy Gyamfi, Goebbels incarnate can you tell us how many cases you have defended in court and how many you have won, to insinuate that your senior colleague at the Bar is a Minister of “Injustice?” Sammy Gyamfi, you lack professional etiquette, otherwise you won’t describe your senior colleague at the Bar in such derogatory terms, that received loud acclaim from your National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketia.
General Mosquito is an elderly man and he knows that our elders say that when adults refuse to call to order those who consume cobra meat, when the time comes to take a roll call of the consumers, the adults are not left out. If the NDC elders would not call out indisciplined Sammy Gyamfi, pretty soon, the NDC would be exposed as a gang of liars and hypocrites, whose distance from the truth is like what Jesus said about the gulf between Judas and the rich man.
We detest the deceit, hypocrisy and the smear campaign of the NDC.
The NDC would today shout wolf about certain steps they took in the past if the NPP decides to take similar decisions today. The past John Mahama administration decided to look for a strategic investor for SSNIT hotels in 2012, but today the garrulous Okudzeto Ablakwa is leading a campaign to read untoward behaviour in the sale of some shares in the hotel to Rock City Hotel.
The deal, according to Okudzeto Ablakwa, is fishy because Rock City Hotel is owned by Bryan Acheampong, Minister of Agriculture. Okudzeto Ablakwa, are you raising a moral issue or legal matters? Tell us the laws Bryan Acheampong has breached? It is for the same characteristics of a venomous viper that Sammy Gyamfi and his demonic gang, involving Richard Jakpa, are making very crazy allegations against Godfred Yeboah Dame, the celebrated Attorney of our time who unlike others who colluded with some business people to wrongfully claim judgment debts from the state, saved the country millions of dollars in judgment debt.