RE: Might is not right
In the Thursday, January 16, 2025, issue of the Daily Graphic, the immediate past Chairperson of the National Media Commission (NMC), Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, went to town about the legitimacy of the work of the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) preparatory committee.
In his haste to toe a partisan line hardly justifiable in both reasoning and law, he veered into a defamatory zone, attacking the integrity of everyone he found vulnerable to his newfound energy to write.
It is interesting that in the last eight years of the maladministration of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh lost his critical voice and was strictly observing table manners (one does not talk when one is eating).
Less than two weeks into the tenure of a new government, he has returned as a columnist of the State newspaper, the Daily Graphic.
This is a testament to the tolerance of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and President John Dramani Mahama not just to dissenting voices but hypocritical ones that show up to please their 'gods' in the name of media freedom.
In the last eight years that Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh has headed the NMC, he has been championing in the media only the good deeds of the previous government, with fellow praise-singers forming a choir of ostriches who saw nothing wrong with presidential travels on chartered private jets for a sky bath at exorbitant cost to the state; the destruction of property and the sinking of nearly $60 million into a supposed National Cathedral project that remains only a hole currently; the mayhem and maiming of citizens by thugs of the state at Ayawaso West Wuogon during a simple by-election; the killing of citizens at a collation centre by state security during the 2020 general election; the Auditor-General's Report that indicted the government of Akufo-Addo for mismanaging funds received from international sources at the outbreak of COVID-19 to manage the condition; the haircut to bondholders that sent pensioners on demonstration for the first time in Ghana's history, among the many other daily occurrences.
There were a few decent contributors in the media, however, who toed a middle line with conscience, advocating structural reforms, among others, for the development of the country.
Those were the heroes of the eight wasted years that sent the country to its knees.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh might be a lawyer, but there is no evidence of his courtroom experience that will encourage anyone to consider him as brighter than Dr Dominic Ayine, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice designate, who espoused the legitimacy of the work of the ORAL preparatory team at his vetting.
Article 41 of the Constitution, for instance, confers certain obligations on citizens in what is headed "Duties of a citizen".
They include "to co-operate with lawful agencies in the maintenance of law and order".
Similarly, Sections 1, 2 and 3(1)(p) of the Whistleblowers Act, 2006, Act 720 enjoin citizens to provide information to relevant state agencies that will help to check crime and generally protect the interest of the state.
But to think that appointing the committee during the transition process removes its legitimacy is obviously in ignorance of the Presidential (Transitions) Act, 2012. The Act confers certain powers on the incoming President upon which he is able to make appointments and decisions.
But why should there even be controversy over a committee whose work is to receive information about state looting, abuse of power, etc.? Which old lady is irked about a discussion about dry bones?
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh described the Chairman of the committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, as an "embittered man" emotionally charged against supposed fraudsters within the NPP. He argued that Mr Ablakwa would, therefore, not be objective with "critical evaluation" of evidence the team received.
It would have been more responsible to have given the basis for describing Mr Ablakwa as an "embittered man". Yet, here is a man telling the reading public that he is very objective and qualified to tell President John Dramani Mahama who should be on his ORAL committee.
The individuals defamed, unfortunately, in the publication may choose the appropriate action to redeem their reputations, including the choice to ignore the garbage of political laundering.
But the respected newspaper should take steps to prevent these perverts of the political space from ruining its reputation.
Kwaku Kakpe Bagah
P O Box DS 1665
Dansoman