Opinions of Friday, 29 August 2003

Columnist: Fukuor, J. A.

Letter From The President (XV)

More ink than brains

Countrymen and women, loyalists and opponents,
Last week I was very optimistic that I would be attending the awards ceremony of the Ghana Journalists Association. Am glad to say that I changed my mind on Saturday morning and decided to enjoy a warm cosy evening with Mama Tess in a town somewhere in the Volta Region.

Even though I really wanted to score another first (i.e. becoming the first sitting Head of State with a lot of time to spare in the company of a group of ‘intelligence averse’ journalists) I think I made a quality decision to stay away from a controversial awards programme. Thank God I had someone who gladly offered to read my speech for me. If you remember the contents of my letter last week, I said that journalists can be so intelligence-averse and events just before the awards ceremony proved me right.

First, there was the confusion over the selection of award winners. I guess Mr. Mudor of JOY FM did a very good job by courageously exposing the rot at SSNIT and he deserves to have received his award as journalist of the year with no controversy.