General News of Wednesday, 9 January 2008

Source: a.b. mornah[general secretary]

PNC Protests

Let The Facts Be Published We have observed with extreme inquietude the extent to which some media houses are deciding to define the political equation in Ghana for election 2008. It remains unfortunate that an institution that is most revered for its fairness, has suddenly taken on the cloth of misleading and foisting on people their blocked biased on the entirety of a society that deserves nothing but the best.

In the Tuesday, December 8, 2008 edition of the Daily Guide newspaper, there appears an advert captioned ?GHANA DECIDES 2008? with the pictures of the flag bearers of three political parties CPP, NPP and NDC. Not only is this regrettable but also pitiable that a media house of the stature of the daily guide that is managed by some of Ghana?s most seasoned and experienced journalists would put up a story that by every imaginable stretch can be described as false, unmeritorious and at worst disservice to the profession.

How can it escape the Daily Guide that in the history of politics since the inception of the fourth republic, the PNC has consistently and actively contested all elections to date and has contributed tremendously whilst in opposition to many policies that Ghana has benefited? including the Ghana Education Trust Fund idea that was mooted to address the heat generated by Ghanaian students in their ?Mobrowa struggle?, the proposal for a National health Insurance Scheme to replace the invidious Cash& Carry system, the call for a special ministry to cater for the bestial needs of women and children, the call for a school feeding scheme that initially was bastardized by the NPP but now implementing.

Indeed, it baffles many true Ghanaians that all these policies that suddenly become the livewire of the social economy could warrant no attention from the media. More so, Dr Edward Mahama, the leader and flag bearer of the PNC has being the longest in the contest for president for the leadership of this country amongst the four presidential candidates of the four parties that have already selected their candidates. It is also on record that after the NDC congress that elected Prof J E A Mills, the second political party to elect is national executives and flag bearer is the PNC to contest for election 2008.

It is unacceptable for the media to deliberately distort facts for their own perfidy and ambush our society with nothing but their mindset. The media should be fair to put accurate and scientific information to the people to allow them make their own choices. The choice of a President in 2008 must be the decision of the Ghanaian electorate and not any media house. The media has an unalloyed responsibility to put all flag bearers to the population so that the merits and demerits of each are assessed.

Let me end by stating that the PNC is unhappy with this publication and hope that the management of media houses would ensure that stories published are true to record in form and spirit as opposed to the deliberate deception that may be accepted as true by a gullible society.