Attorney-General reports Multimedia Group to NMC
The controversies generated by the transfer of the two Guantanamo detainees to Ghana appears not to have an end in sight soon as the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong, drags the host of Joy FM Super Morning Show and Multimedia Group Limited to the National Media Commission (NMC).
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The A-G is seeking an apology and the retraction of comments allegedly made by Mr Kojo Yankson, the host of the station’s breakfast show, that she (the A-G) had said she was not involved in the arrangements relating to the two detainees, as published by Mr Yankson and Multimedia.
“The statement broadcasted by Kojo Yankson and Multimedia Group Limited has caused me considerable embarrassment.”
“I am, therefore, humbly requesting the National Media Commission to direct Kojo Yankson and the Multimedia Group Limited to apologise and retract the false statements they have made and give an undertaking not to repeat the words complained of,” the A-G said in a complaint filed with the NMC.
The A-G accused the breakfast show host and Multimedia Group of broadcasting and publishing an untrue statement calculated to mislead the public and also broadcasting and publishing defamatory words.
Mr Yankson’s response
When contacted, Mr Yankson said the commission had not written to him on the issue but gave an assurance that he would respond to the matter, if the commission wrote to him.
Details
Stating events leading to her complaint, Mrs Appiah-Opong said on January 12, 2016 this year, after President John Dramani Mahama’s press conference which addressed a number of issues of national concern, “a gentleman walked up to me and asked me about the specific law under which the Government of Ghana was keeping the two detainees of the US government from the Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba”.
According to the A-G, her response was that he should “speak to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration on the matter”.
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She said the person neither introduced himself, nor did he indicate that he was an employee of Multimedia Group or state that he was conducting an interview, but
subsequent events pointed to the fact that the gentleman in question was Mr Yankson, the host of the Super Morning Show.
She said during the January 13, 2016, edition of the Joy Super Morning Show programme, Kojo Yankson and Multimedia Group broadcasted and published words which were misleading and calculated to mislead the public.
He is alleged to have said, “I just want to share a piece of information from yesterday. Actually, I have been thinking about whether to share but I think I should because it wasn’t given to me in confidence. I walked up to the Attorney-General and asked her this same question: Under what law can we stop these two individuals if they decide that at any point they want to live elsewhere and are leaving before the two years is up?
“She told me that she was not involved in these arrangements and that if I wanted to know, I ought to speak to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that dealt with this matter.”
“She, the Attorney-General, the lawyer of government, was not involved in the arrangements. I mean I wasn’t speaking to her off record, so I feel absolutely fine sharing that the A-G of Ghana was not involved,” the A-G quoted Mr Yankson as saying on the show.
Mrs Appiah-Opong said when her attention was drawn to the broadcast and publication by Mr Yankson and the Multimedia Group, she quickly informed the Minister of Communications, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, who was contributing to the discussion on Joy FM Super Morning Show by mobile phone, that she never told Mr Yankson that she was not involved in arrangements relating to the two Guantanamo detainees.
She said when the message was communicated to Mr Yankson, he responded by saying: “I have got to state that it is important from what you said that the Attorney-General apparently is denying having spoken to me and told me that she wasn’t involved in the decision.”
“I cannot and have not denied that Kojo Yankson spoke to me after the press conference. However, I never said to him that I was not involved in the arrangement relating to the two detainees, as broadcasted by him and Multimedia Group Limited,” the A-G said.