Opinions of Monday, 24 December 2007

Columnist: Bannerman, Fiifi

Chronicle vs Alan Kyeremanten

CHRONICLE VIRSUS ALAN KYEREMATEN THE CASE OF ABIREKYIEBA

Chronicle’s editorial is reminiscence to Ampadu’s song relating the saga of the Abirekyireba (kid) and ‘Osebo’ (the leopard). ‘Osebo met Abirekyireba on one of his outings. Osebo accused Abirekyireba of insulting him some years back. The essence of the accusation was to punish Abirekyireba if it were true that he did in fact insulted the almighty leopard. What punishment did the leopard had in mind other than eating the poor kid?

The kid responded by saying that he could not have insulted the mighty leopard some years back as alleged since he was born just about some three days ago. Unrelenting the leopard said, “Well if it wasn’t you that insulted me, it must have been your mother,” That implicitly meant that the kid be punished all the same. I need not bore you folks with this anansesem; however I’m trying to draw the moral of the story vis-à-vis Chronicle’s effort in nailing Alan at all cost.

The initial story was about how Alan had used the presidential jet and how it was unfair to the other aspirants; and how that goes to show that Alan was in fact the president’s darling boy; blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! Now the real story comes out: the plane wasn’t a presidential jet after all; it was an Air Force plane G520, and that Alan hired it! Suddenly, Chronicle shifts the goal post: “ So the questions where did they get this money?” Why didn’t we get all this questions and machinations when Chronicle “broke” the news so to speak? What the paper failed to investigate, as any responsible and professional media house worth the name would have done, was the fact that Alan might have carefully nursed this ambition over a long period of time, and thus might have built his war chest toward this moment. If a presidential candidate could not solicit and raise funds for his or her campaign then that person is not worth to be a president to begin with.

“Contrary to what Alan and his group would like the world to believe, The Chronicle is not against him.” Well Mr. Chronicle, when it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, chances are it is a duck. You coined the phrase,” Alan Cash” hoping that it would tarnish Alan’s image: It turned out to be an asset instead. That phrase unwittingly helped Alan to convey his message of hope and prosperity to the delegates, for he who God has blessed weakens the hand of the devil.

“Never in the history of this country have we heard that a presidential candidate, who is not a member of government, has hired a plane for his presidential-aspirations campaign.” Well, Mr. Chronicle you must as well say that never in the history of this country have we heard of women’s right. Now we have laws that guarantees women’s right. This goes to show how stuck up your entire editorial staff is to the dictates of the past. Your state of thinking is what my age group were used to call “COLO.” Like it or not the fact remains that Alan has elevated how politics should and ought to be done. Review every aspect of his campaign and you’ll see why his message is resonating with the masses. The guy is ahead of his time! Ghana needs Alan to get us out of mediocrity unto higher ground.

Chronicle would do a good service to the nation if it would investigate stories well, again just as any responsible media house would do, before reporting. Salivating like a heated dog over raw stories is what constitutes “Y-E-L-L-O-W JOURNALISM in my books.

Fiifi Bannerman is a Bean Counter in Toronto,Canada

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.