Opinions of Thursday, 12 January 2012

Columnist: Dakurah, Collins

Na Who Cause Am: A Sleeping Attorney General Or Media?

I would very much have wished to get into the merits of the Woyome Judgment Debt saga nonetheless, I am not so up to date on the matter and ‘would not want to embarrass anybody’. But of course that is not the focus anymore right? The highest office in the land says we should look to those who caused it in the first place. Now, that is very simple. Curiously, it is the media that is doing the looking, and the party I would want to in furtherance of the presidents suggestions lay the blame on. It appears the matter of the judgment debt started well over a year ago in 2010. What surprises me is that the matter did not fall within the radar of the media, and or that if anyone knew they considered it not news worthy.

I am overwhelmed by the knowledge of common sense law even lay Ghanaians have proffered on this matter. Simple questions the Attorney General’s office could have and indeed should have asked, but which seemingly did not occur to it. Today, there is enough logical reasoning available to cause Betty Mould to believe she could win this case hands down if given a second chance: that is if her initial inadequacies are genuine. This enlightenment has been made possible because the matter has been made public and elicited comments from many thousands of Ghanaians. My question then is, had Woyome’s suit against GoG been made public from the onset would it not have been difficult for the Attorney General to play easy to get in the matter which gave Woyome a default ruling not based on the merit of his application? Would the Attorney General and Finance Minister be bold to authorize payments beyond that ordered by the court?

The knowledge that many of our journalists are half baked people seeking to be caught in the spotlight of politics and fame is not uncommon, but I am gravely disappointed in the few media houses which until now have been a glowing example.

It is my observation that these days instead of going out for unfolding stories in the political backstage, many media houses prefer to comfortably read out press statements from adhoc groups and movements which are mainly interested in sensational politics. I am challenging members of the media to sit back and see how they could have easily saved Ghana all the money paid to Woyome and possibly some others.

Collins Dakurah

cdakurah@hotmail.com