Opinions of Friday, 3 February 2023

Columnist: Fadi Dabbousi

Multimedia: Demagogue or 'Gog and Magog'? – Part 1

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Since politics in Ghana became entangled with the disastrous belches of loudmouthed miscreants and jaundiced characters, both educated and uneducated, sharp teeth and all, I have not watched a balanced discussion on Joy News yet. The banter is almost always tipped in favour of the NDC, a party that the presenter is said to be a member of.

In Ghana, it is uncommon to listen to screeching lies and insinuations from the buccal cavities of people, both sexes implied, who will have a cheap go at anything that will direct the cameras at them, be it fake news, propaganda, issues of self-aggrandisement, and so on!

The latter is a trait that many at Multimedia suffer from, and truly, it cannot be said that they are of normal disposition given the wrong timing of issues, especially those that put a blight on the whole nation when aired to the detriment of the ordinary Ghanaian!

For example, TV3’s Eva, a supposed Al-Jazeera correspondent, invited a gang of two from Nigeria to film a mischievous documentary that shocked the cocoa industry in Ghana, resulting in an immediate denial from the betrayed people of the village where it was allegedly shot. The intentional attempt to mar the cocoa industry to suit the international syndicate whose agenda she knowingly or unknowingly carried on her back like a cross made her the betrayer of the Ghanaian nation to which she belongs.

All must know that the cocoa industry in Ghana is about the nation, the whole nation, and not political parties that some of these presenters and anchors seek to please!

Multimedia helped carry that same cross by publicising the matter. However, prior to that, this same multimedia led the way, last year, by releasing an unpatriotic documentary about child slavery where children were, allegedly, sold to work on cocoa farms, making it seem as if this is a norm in Ghana.

Yes, there are isolated incidents where such a thing occurs, but to portray a remote incident in a documentary to make it seem as if it is general practice makes Multimedia a charlatan organisation bereft of all the ingredients of a true patriot loyal to the motherland.

They know all too well the repercussions of their false reportage. The international buyers seek to push European and American legislators to ban Cocoa from Ghana, and when such unfortunate documentaries are aired internationally, their case is given a boost, prompting pressure groups to come on board to discourage Ghana cocoa.

All these maneuverings mean that no one will buy Ghana’s cocoa, which if left in the silos will rot and become unwholesome. Therefore, Cocobod would have to sell at whatever price offered even if it meant for a pittance. Who loses in this instance? You, I, Eva, Multimedia, Government, and every single person under the Ghanaian sky.

Of course, I shall discuss Eva’s documentary and the intentional setup to discredit Ghana’s cocoa in another article, but what one must know is that her mischievous and negative documentary was filmed on a Sunday when most people were at church, hence her ability to influence the naïve villagers who were overwhelmed with the cameras and an opportunity to be ridiculed across the globe by people seeking to impoverish Africa and Africans, prancing at the least opportunity to kill the African Dream!

Shame on Multimedia for such untoward behaviour! So, does the management of this shithole think that child slavery in Ghana is rampant? How many of the folks manning this media company and sanctioning the dissemination of fake stories have underaged relatives working for them as servants?

It is a norm that in villages, children often help their families on farms over the weekends and on holidays. Some even do same early in the morning before going to school. There are those who fetch water for their household before going to school, is that, also, slavery? Or are Multimedia employees from outer space that do not know that these are simple traditions we follow in Ghana?

I used to help my father on his poultry farm as a child, carrying loads of chicken feed on my head and back; did that make me a child slave? I did it for as far as my memory can go back in time with eagerness and glee.

Sometimes, he would fetch me from school and proceed directly to the farm to help out.

Everyone belonging to the knit and fabric of Ghanaian society has done some form of work on farms or other places for their parents at one time or the other, but demagogues at multimedia seem to adopt the strategy of Gog and Magog who just spread hatred and tension all over!

Shame on Joy News and their mother of all evil institutions, Multimedia, for raising rubble and filth where the environment is a healthy and clean one!