Disappointment filled the faces of several journalists who had come from the length and breadth of Ashanti Region to get answers to some pertinent issues bothering them and their audience when chairperson of the EC refused to give them audience.
The media practitioners were not the only people disappointed, but some members of the EC were equally surprised about what was seen as the ‘disappearance’ of their boss, Madam Charlotte Osei.
Even though deputy chair-in-charge of Operations and Executive Director of Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, attempted to wash down the absence of her boss, most media personnel were not convinced.
What worsened their quagmire regarding the EC’s boss snub for the media and MFWA was a statement made by one of the Deputy Chairs, Mrs. Ophelia Adu Amankwa.
In her attempt to cover up the ‘arrogant’ posture put up by her boss, she said “as you know there are many court cases and she may be in Accra doing a few things on those issues.”
This answer elicited a chorus of remarks asking whether “she is or may be in Accra,” signified that other members of the Commission were not aware of her departure from Kumasi.
MFWA organised the encounter between the EC and journalists in the region to inform and educate their readers, viewers and listeners on issues concerning the December 7, 2016 elections.
The intercourse followed a similar one held in the Northern Region by MFWA for journalists in the area.
Outgoing Executive Director and now a board member of MFWA, Professor Kwame Karikari, addressing the forum noted that the discourse between the EC and journalists in the various regions was a sign of maturation.
He was however, worried that most politicians who were using the media for their propaganda were fond of making all sorts of unsubstantiated allegations.
“We have a political class that has a penchant for lying,” he said, adding that “it therefore, behoves journalists to ask probing questions than there are today.”
“The two main political parties are giving out chop boxes of magical promises and even though some media houses are doing great analysis on them, more needs to be done. The media in Ghana ought to be more critical than they are now,” the learned professor pointed out.
source: todaygh.com
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