Gen. Secretaries’ boycott emotionally incompetent — Dr Amoako Baah
The boycott of a current affairs programme on electoral reforms by three general secretaries of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has been heavily criticised by a section of the public.
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The three general secretaries refused to participate in Joy FM’s Newsfile programme last Saturday because according to them, the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, who was also expected on the programme, was going to be absent.
The three, particularly NPP and CPP, considered Mr Asiedu Nketia’s absence as a snub and, therefore, refused to participate in the programme.
Expatiating on the boycott, the General Secretary of PPP, Mr Kofi Asamoah-Siaw, however, conceded in an interview with the Daily Graphic that his party was the loser in the boycott as it lost the opportunity to put the party’s case across.
He said left to the PPP, the programme should have gone ahead, but the decision had already been taken for the programme to be called off.
The Head of the Political Science Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr Richard Amoako Baah, has described the action by the general secretaries as ‘emotionally incompetent.”
The three general secretaries are Mr Kwabena Agyepong of the NPP, Mr Ivor Greenstreet of the CPP and Mr Asamoah Siaw of the PPP.
The failure of the General Secretary of the governing NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, to appear on the Joy FM’s news analysis programme on Saturday, January 23, 2015, caused the cancellation of the programme.
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Mr Asiedu Nketia and the other three general secretaries were invited to discuss proposals for electoral reforms put forward by the country’s election-governing body, the Electoral Commission (EC).
However, it was reported that the chief scribe of the NDC delegated his deputy (who was yet to arrive) to discuss the issues, something the other three general secretaries thought was demeaning and disrespectful.
Although all three drove to the Faanofa Street studios of MultiTV, they returned home upon learning that Mr Asiedu Nketia was not going to show up.
But Dr Amoako Baah, in a telephone chat, said he was not enthused about the turn of events and insisted that the three general secretaries should have taken advantage of that opportunity to speak more for their parties in the absence of the NDC scribe rather than boycotting the programme.
“In my view, these politicians could have taken advantage of that opportunity by telling Ghanaians what they needed to know and their parties’ position on the electoral reforms.’’
Meanwhile, Mr Asiedu Nketia has denied accepting an invitation from Accra- based Joy FM to participate in a radio discussion on electoral reforms last Saturday.
In a reaction, the former Member of Parliament (MP) told Okay FM yesterday that he could not accept blame for the fiasco.
“My colleagues could have confirmed from me if I had accepted to be on the show or had promised to send my deputy to represent me.
“I was just a phone call away and they could have confirmed my participation with me before going out to attack me for not coming to the programme,” he stated.
In his view, the producers of the show must take the blame for the incident.
“Whoever told them that I had confirmed to be there that day lied to them.
“Besides, couldn’t they have proceeded with the discussions without me? Are they saying I’m the only general secretary who matters in Ghana?” Mr Asiedu Nketia asked rhetorically.
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