Cecilia Abena Dapaah in a group photograph with the Multimedia Group at her office
The Multimedia Group including Adom FM have offered an unqualified apology to the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah for unnecessarily dragging her name in mud in the media over an issue that ideally should not be discussed in the media space.
A delegation from the group led by A.C Ohene, the senior editor of Adom FM, visited the Minister on Wednesday, July 24, 2019, to formally render their profound apology.
A recent seeming ’emotionally-charged’ publication from Adom FM attracted a lot of negative publicity for the Minister.
Mr. A.C. Ohene stated that the incident was quite unfortunate and an error on the part of Multimedia and Adom FM and assured the Minister that utmost diligence and care would be observed to forestall any such occurrences in future.
There were backlash from Ghanaians against the Minister, for reportedly questioning the propriety of an intern to interview her, insisting that it was “disrespectful” to her office.
“You don’t respect…please go off’ she spoke in Twi before dropping the line,” the Minister is reported to have told Rahinatu Abdul Bach who is a student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism.
But the Acting Chief Director of the Sanitation Ministry, Joseph Obeng-Poku, explained that at the time that the Minister received the call, he was with her in a meeting and that the Minister sounded cool and collected.
He expressed surprise that it would be reported that the Minister allegedly showed disrespect.
The issue, according to the Acting Chief Director, was not about the lady being an intern, but rather about the due protocols being followed.
On her part, the Minister accepted the apology in good faith and indicated her preparedness to continue to work with journalists for the good of mother Ghana.
Cecilia Abena Dapaah (R) with Rahinatu Abdul Bach
The Senior Editor, A. C. Ohene reiterated that the Multimedia Group has learnt a lot of lessons from the unfortunate incident and would work hard to ensure a strict adherence to their time tested protocols.
He indicated that an apology had already been placed on their websites, Adom FM online and Joy FM online.
The intern, Rahinatu Abdul Bach said she regretted the incident, and accordingly rendered an unqualified apology to the Minister who in return offered madam Rahinatu a box of chocolate.
The multi media delegation included; A.C. Ohene, Senior Editor, Nii Dowuona News editor and Rahinatu Abdul Bach, an intern.
BY Melvin Tarlue