By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Garden City, New York
E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net

I know where this Affail Monney guy is coming from. But for a President of the Ghana Journaists' Association (GJA), his reported reaction to the tragic motor accident that cost the life of Ghanaian Times reporter Mr. Samuel Nuamah, 37, is inexcusabe. It is aso unethical and inescapably unprofessional for the GJA President to presume to play police investigator and judge to the case (See "Editors Flay GJA Boss Over Presidential Reporters' Crash Comment" MyJoyOnline.com / Ghanaweb.com 8/27/15).

If he really wanted to play a constructive part in finding a solution to this apparently chronic problem pertaining to the short-shrift treatment of journaists assigned to cover events at the Flagstaff House, the first step in the process ought to have been for Mr. Monney to have contacted and spoken to the injured journalists themseves. And then the second step would have been to speak to police investigators for their expert opinions, before putting in a call through to the Presidential Chief-of-Staff, Mr. Julius Debrah.

With the latter, any conversation related to the tragic accident ought to have focused on the general treatment of Flagstaff House reporters and correspondents, as widely reported by present and former Flagstaff House media operatives. And the objective here ought to have been to negotiate for the remarkable improvement in the treatment of these so-called Presidential Reporters and, to be certain, the treatment of reporters by government officials across the country in general.

For example, Mr. Monney could have made it crystal clear to Mr. Debrah that if President John Dramani Mahama was not prepared to earmark two or three mini-vans or buses for the permanent and exclusive use of Flagstaff House reporters and correspondents, then the entire idea of stationing any media operatives at the Flagstaff House around the clock would have to be promptly and seriously reconsidered by the executive membership of the Ghana Journalists Association.

You see, I am a trained journalist myself. And the reason for my decision to become a professor, rather than pursue that line of work, came to me very early on, when I came to the sobering realization that the accolade of "Fourth Estate," routinely associated with media operatives, was all a sham, except for a top-notch few on the staff of such flagship media establishments as the New York Time, the Washington Post and big television networks like CBS, NBC, FOX and ABC, the existence of a journalist in mainstream American society was decidedly miserable and marginal.

What makes the case of the category of journalists under discussion here very different, if not quite unique, is the fact that professionally speaking, a Presidential Journalist ranks at the top of the pack. In an effectively functioning democracy, this would be the journalistic creme-de-la-creme, the most respected and the best taken-care-of. But, alas, in this particular instance, it well appears that the Presidential Journalist on the Ghanaian political landscape is barely any more significant in the proverbial "pecking order" than the janitor or cleaning man at the Flagstaff House.

To be certain, if our democracy were as functional as it ought to be, the janitorial and culinary workers at the Flagstaff House would be considered among the most important members of the Flagstaff House. Alas, in our part of the world and our kind of political culture, we have our priorities curiously reversed, for the most part. At the beginning of this article, I noted the fact that I knew where the GJA President was coming from. And this fact, of course, is quite obvious; and it is that when you work for a public media establishment such as the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), your hand is literally stuck in the mouths of highly positioned political appointees like Mr. Debrah.

In other words, when Mr. Monney decided to jaw-jaw it with the President's Chief-of-Staff over the tragic accident that took the life of Mr. Nuamah, the point of it all was to protect both the job of Mr. Monney and the image and reputation of the Presidency. Which is why the GJA President convenienty evaded the most significant question on the subject, to wit, the condition or road worthiness of the rented vehicle which was used for the return trip of the presidential reporters. I mean, in what way does saying that the vehicle was rented from a responsible company, answer the question of the condition of the vehicle and the professional credentials or work experience of the designated driver of the vehicle?

And just why hadn't Mr. Debrah's Transport Officer rented a vehicle for a roundtrip, rather than a half-trip or one a one-way trip? Was this a pre-meditated accident aimed at punishing any members of the Presidential Press Corps, for whatever offense may be deemed to have been committed? To be frank with the reader, this whole episode smells like a trap or a conspiracy. At best, it vindicates the bitter arguments of those Presidential Reporters - both past and present - who claim that reporters assigned to the Flagstaff House are invariably treated as expendable commodities or pure garbage!

But what even stunned me more than anything else, was for me to learn that Mr. Monney was using a narrative account of the accident provided by one Mr. Wisdom Awuku, a Presidential Staffer, who was not even on the bus involved in the accident, to contradict a first-hand account provided by Mr. Napoleon Atokitoe, a reporter who was seated on that fateful bus but had reportedly been napping at the time of the left-rear tire explosion, which caused the evidently woefully inexperienced driver to slam the brake(s), thus causing the vehicle to somersault and end up in a muddy ravine.
With this caliber of GJA President, who really needs the GJA? And does it surprise anyone that the general quaity of Ghanaian journalism is so pathetic?

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