That’s a threat, Mrs Sellasie Ibrahim
To the extent that the news filtering out of Parliament early in the week seemed to suggest that there was something shady in Smarttys Limited’s dealings with China Hunan
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Construction Engineering Group in the $98 million Rural Electrification Project, the violent reaction of the Ghanaian company was understandable.
Coming hard on the heels of the bus rebranding scandal, the company may have felt that something ought to be done quickly to remove its CEO, Sellasie Ibrahim, artist, entrepreneur, TV presenter and producer, from the line of fire from an angry population, hence the press statement by its lawyers.
In the sense that it sought to put out facts about the relationship between the two companies – one of offering public relations consultancy to the Chinese company – the press statement was timely. I put myself in the Chinese company’s shoes and ask: which foreign company seeking a good image would fail to notice the strategic positioning of Smarttys, a company whose reputation was in every Ghanaian’s home, with must-view episodes of ‘Smart People’?
I tell myself: a company whose CEO is not only seen in the company of the high and mighty but comes out as enjoying the confidence and trust of these personalities, must be a company worthy of being entrusted with the protection of my reputation, especially a foreign firm whose checks have confirmed the prevailing Ghanaian philosophy of “whom you know”.
I am certain that if Smarttys had allowed itself to pipe down and had placed a call to Allotey Pappoe, Nabanyin Pratt, Kojo Yankah or Elaine Sam, to name only four of Ghana’s PR gurus, the company would have benefited from (in my humble opinion) wiser counsel to not allow its anger to show in that press statement. A simple explanation of what relationship exists between the Chinese and the Ghanaian firms would have sufficed, I think.
To have done what they did – threatening media houses with law suits – was, for me, like killing an ant with a miner’s boots.
Let’s face it. Are Ghanaians totally to blame? In other words, were Ghanaians wrong in suspecting foul play? In Ghanaians’ angry reaction, I quote an echo of the Mfantse saying that a person with a bad body odour never escapes suspicion when someone quietly fouls the air.
Don’t forget, we are dealing with a people who have, over 59 years, been acquainted with poverty, a condition of life not unassociated with the greed of elected leaders and their P.As, fronts, aliases and agents who have mastered the art of removing a bar of gold from under the very noses of the most fierce-looking armed security.
Ghanaians were, justifiably, reacting to news about a company that has only recently walked through mud and been ordered by the Chief of Staff at the Presidency to refund part of the money it made from the bus rebranding scandal.
The threat of court action against media houses that engage in further discussion of the Smarttys-Hunan relationship amounted to an attempt to gag the press.
I can advise Smarttys lawyers that the majority of Ghanaian editors have been through the wars. They have been sued, dragged before dreaded judges, and have dealt with lawyers whose very knowledge of the Law is intimidating. In the process, they have been toughened to the point where mere threats of suits cannot be the reason why they would either choose to go after suspected public enemies or call off the dogs. Ghanaian Editors will ask themselves only one question: Is this a FAIR comment on a matter of public interest?
Very few of present day editors have forgotten Kofi Kumado’s notes in Media Law that assure journalists that they can go to sleep if the report is privileged, absolute or qualified. Of course, if the complainant can prove malice, that takes the matter to another level.
What Smarttys lawyers did was an attempt at gagging the press, and I know that the threat has not cowed and will not cow the likes of Kwesi Pratt, Ebo Quansah, Kofi Coomson, Kweku Baako, , Gina Blay, Ransford Tetteh, Dave Agbenu, Titi Anepe, Richard Sky, Dzifa Bampoe, Evans Mensah...
The press is the conscience of the nation and the practitioners will continue to ask questions? If they choose to ask what type of public relations the Smarttys consultancy entails, it will be legitimate.
Are we not in a world where parliamentarians (even in the UK) have taken bribes from multi-nationals to ask questions or raise issues for them on the floor of the House? In Ghana, we have the history of barefaced corruption and the business culture in which contracts have been manipulated from within by people in a position to know the bids of other competitors.
Journalists did not coin the expression ‘Insider Trading’!
Although I will not say that this has been the case of the Smarttys-Hunan relations, I have lived long enough in this country to know that the very knowledge that A or B is associated with a bid has swayed judgement in favour of some contractors.
This explains why late last year, I advocated that no person(s) either seen around the president, walking the corridors of power or is a known party card bearer who mounts rally platforms should be allowed to take part in any bidding process in Ghana. I know that even this can be abused in a culture like ours where greedy people with connections will sit back and tip off their children or relatives to put in the bid.
It doesn’t take a degree in History to list the pain inflicted on this country’s economy by greedy, self-seeking politicians and their assigns.