Akua Bonsu

When people go on a personal vendetta without regard to the consequencesof their actions, we must all step back and rethink their prominence andwhether they deserve the relevance accorded them. These after all are peoplewho undeservedly rose to national prominence on pure lies and deception. They requireall others to do one thing and then do the exact opposite with regards to howthey live their lives.

Kwesi Pratt and Raymond Archer have built an ingloriousprofession spewing garbage into our national discourse without making an iotaof tangible contribution to our nation building. Rather, they sit back anddestroy what others have toiled to build. These are socialists in public butpure capitalists in their private lives. And when they see that others are doingbetter than they are, they jump into a pull-him-down (PHD) mode.

For people who preach about everything for the government orfor all of us, why do they live in mansions – especially for contributingnothing? Why do they own a fleet of SUVs in a country where people line up andcram into tro-tros? I have not seen these socialist, national interest-minded talkingheads once pull over at a tro-tro station and offer rides to members of thestruggling masses whose interest they profess to champion.

Their lies attract so much attention that they distract fromwhat they are doing in secret. Kwesi Pratt is the managing editor for theInsight newspaper that is lucky to sell 100 copies a day. Raymond Archer is notfaring any better with his Enquirer, which is like a needle in a haystack ofnewspapers. With these two characters not known to have any other source ofincome, how do they finance their lavish lifestyles?

Pratt allegedly receives as much as $35,000 a month from thegovernment to see no wrong with anything the latter does. In fact he promotespolicies by this NDC government that he is on record to have opposed in thepast. Archer, on his end, would do anything that the radical wing of the NDCparty tells him to do in return for financial support from the millionaire socialist.

Even when cooler heads in the NDC government (and there isan increasing number of them) go out on the limb to do what is right for thenation, Pratt and Archer, or shall I say Beeves and Butthead, would quicklybundle a pack of lies and put it out. Their mode of communication is the radiosince their respective newspapers would not reach the masses.

It is time these two nation-wreckers are put in their properplaces. They have nothing to offer Ghana. If the Insight newspaper wasdoing well, how would Kwesi Pratt, as managing editor, spend so much time onthe radio? If the Enquirer was doing well and meant well for the nation, whywould Archer resort to placing fabrications on his front page at a time wheneveryone else is talking about flood victims, the purchase of five airplanes,and the invasion of homosexuality in our society?

Ghanadeserves better. If we are serious about transitioning to middle income status,the prominent voices in the media should not belong to those who destroy ratherthan build. Those who lie to the public must not only be called to order – theymust face the consequences of the damage they are causing. In the absence ofFreedom of Information law, people rely on statements in the media,particularly the radio, to form their opinions and participate in our nationaldiscourse accordingly. When the pieces of information they believe they arereceiving are nothing but lies and fabrications, those peddling such are doingmore harm to the nation than we all realize. Pratt and Archer must come cleanas to how they really earn their living. Thereafter, it would all make sensewhy they lie the way they do.