My journey through Graphic - Edmund Smith-Asante writes (Part 5)

My journey through Graphic - Edmund Smith-Asante writes Part (Part 4)

How was I going to do that, I wondered? 

I had to brace myself for the herculean tasks ahead, which meant that I had to be out working on the weekdays and schooling at the weekends (the option I chose), and that is what I did.

First day at work

My employment letter indicated that I would be reporting for work on September 2, 2013, which was a Monday, for some orientation.

On my first day, I reported to the HR department at Mirror House for some exercises concerning my employment, after which I was taken round the editorial department and introduced by the officer who had been detailed to take me round - Sydney Quartey.

I remember seeing a lot of the people who later became my work colleagues.

But years down the line, some retired and others resigned.

There was, however, one lovely young lady who was all smiles when I was taken to The Mirror.

Seeing her charm and her infectious smile, although we had not met before, I said jokingly that because of her, I would return the next day to start work.

One of the bright spots during my sojourn at Graphic was meeting that lady, who was introduced to me as a secretary with the newspaper – Mrs Elizabeth Okwabi, who has been a very good friend to date.

After the rounds, I was released to go home and prepare to start work the next day.

I must add that journalists who were employed by GCGL at the same time as I was, included Gifty Owusu-Amoah (Graphic Showbiz), Eugenia Asare Tandoh (now Assistant Editor, Junior Graphic), Salomey Appiah and Emelia Ennin Abbey (Daily Graphic), who have both since moved on, and Ama Achiaa Amankwah Baafi (Graphic Business), who has also since left the employment of GCGL.

Newsroom role call

Some great journos I met, apart from Naa Lamiley and Kofi Yeboah, who had a hand in me being at Graphic, were then Deputy Editor, Daily Graphic, Kingsley Kodwo Inkoom; Night Editor, Kofi Akordor; the Deputy News Editor then, Albert Salia; the then News Editor, Nehemia Owusu Achiaw; the Education and Gender Pages Editor, Salome Donkor; the Business Page, as well as Foreign Page Editor, Kate Baaba Hudson; the Political Page Editor who later became Editor, Graphic, Kobby Asmah, and Debrah Fynn (News Desk), who is now late.

Also on the sub desk then were Chief Sub Editor Abigail Bonsu and sub editors, Jojo Sam and Fiifi Mensah, who is now late, Health and later Regional Page Editor Rosemary Ardayfio; Graphic Sports Editor, Felix Abayateye; Graphic Showbiz Editor, Nanabayin Dadson; The Mirror Editor Janet Quartey, who is now late, and then Graphic Business Editor, Lloyd Evans.

I also met Mabel Aku Baneseh, whose reportage on the 2012 election petition had been praised by many, and whom I remember asking for when I got to the newsroom to congratulate her on her sterling performance.

I likewise met Michael Donkor, a fantastic guy who was also reporting from the courts. Michael, after he had written his story, would always insist that I give it a second eye before he submitted it to the news desk.

I further encountered three of my mates from GIJ who were working for the GCGL when I started work.

They were then Features Editor Doreen Hammond, who is now Editor, The Mirror; Vance Azu, who was then the Assistant Mirror Editor and Andy Quao, who was writing for Graphic Sports.

Indeed, time will fail me if I attempt to mention everyone, but then I remember there were crack journalists in the newsroom and one had to justify him or herself if his or her story must be published – and the byline was everything — it was so cherished by reporters that there was a healthy competition to write very good stories so that they will make the cut and be published.   

Work begins

My work as a Staff Writer on the Daily Graphic began in earnest, but my first story was published the following week on Monday, September 9, 2013, and it was on the good news that Ghana had not experienced any cholera deaths that year, although there had been reported cases.

The story, however, said that the country was sitting on a time bomb ready to explode, should action not be taken, as the conditions for an epidemic loomed.

It was as if the warning went unheeded, as Ghana experienced its worst cholera outbreak just the following year, 2014, which claimed over 200 lives out of over 28,000 reported cases.

Not even a feature I wrote on how the country was tackling insanitary conditions that could cause a cholera outbreak, titled “Cholera receiving red carpet treatment in Ghana” or a caution from then UNICEF Ghana’s Chief of WASH, David Duncan, that the country needed to be alert to avert the possibility of an outbreak could prevent the catastrophe the ensuing year.

To be continued My journey through Graphic - Edmund Smith-Asante writes (Part 6)