The tale of the village lizard is one I first heard from my late father. It is a story I subsequently heard from many of my Northern folks. People are usually told the story of the village lizard on zinc roofing in the city to teach them humility.
The village lizard mostly finds itself on thatched roofs, which usually make little noise. Being accustomed to thatched roofs in the village, the village lizard finds the noise of the zinc pleasing when it finally finds itself on a zinc roofing in the city. It thus continues to make unnecessary noise and delude itself that it is dishing out a nice tune.
ln Dagbon, people who pretend to be all-knowing through speech and action are referred to as ‘tinkpan bandogu;’ to wit ‘village lizard’. I dare say the folks at Joy FM could aptly be described in like manner.
I need to make a clarification before I proceed. I’ve had few people write to me wondering why I’ve been very hard on the folks at Multimedia recenty. Well, that perception is standing on very wobbly legs because I have nothing against Multimedia. Actually, I love Multimedia. I’m a regular listener to their award-winning show ‘Eko sii sen’ on Asempa FM and few others on Adom TV.
So you see, I have no beef with Multimedia at all. But I do have a bone to pick with the supposed agenda-setting and all-knowing folks at Joy FM. Some of us will continue to expose them until they eschew their ‘evil’ agenda against the Great Elephant.
By the way, have you noticed that they have surreptitiously deleted their false reportage on the Ejura killings? That is a very good first step. But they need to go further and render an unqualified apology for stoking the fire in Ejura. They cannot claim innocence after Nicodemously deleting the false reportage on the Ejura disturbances. That action alone is an admission of guilt.
We are also waiting for another unqualified apology for their recent mischievous story on Free SHS. I still cannot fathom how trained and experienced journalists like Kojo Yankson and his co-host could stoop that low. How could they allude to the use of a chair with a loose screw as ample demonstration that the Free SHS policy was inefficient and ineffective. For sure, anyone with the brain tightly screwed to the head could smell mischief.
Fortunately for all of us, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong has exposed the obese cat hidden in the bag. The Member of Parliament (MP) alleges that all the mischief against the Nana Dee government is because of ‘nokofio’ (something small) they need from government. And since those in government have refused to play ball, they have vowed to spin stories to make the Nana Dee government look bad in the eyes of the electorate. No wonder they gloat by calling themselves ‘regime-changers’!
Mentioning Hon. Ken reminds me of his ‘verbal’ battle with a leading ‘tinkpan bandogu’ at Joy FM. The sanctimonious host threatened to resign the day the MP is empaneled on his show. The no-nonsense MP is not one to allow such buffoonery to go without reply. He told the so-called pious journalist to rather come and clean his shoes for five times what he currently earns from propagating mischief against the Great Elephant.
By the way, who told the egoistic journalist that Hon. Ken needs his show? If he cares to know, other subsidiaries of Multimedia like Asempa do not hesitate to beg the MP for an appearance on their platform anytime they want to improve their audience and viewership.
I still wonder what the egotistic bloke did to win the Journalist of the Year. Yet he shamelessly received the VW car from a government he and his colleagues vehemently detest. If I were him, I would nicely reject the car because it was coming from supposed crooked politicians.
Come to think of it, why will the Nana Dee government burden itself with the responsibilities of another organization? I’ve said this before and will say it again: Government should not worry its head over the request for construction of a new building to serve as the new Ghana International Press Centre and the donation of VW cars to four (4) previous winners of Journalists of the Year, which are pending. Indeed, the cowries for the cars and the so-called new press centre could be put to better use.
But will our politically correct President listen to my cry and that of the masses? Time will definitely answer the question.
In the meantime, let the village lizards be reminded that the city lizard cannot be fooled by the noise of the zinc roofing because it is a familiar sound. As my friend Yaw Koliko will say, “A village copper is a mad dog in town.”
See you next week for another interesting konkonsa Deo volente!