As Gov’t Reels Under Pressure Over Prez. Jet Saga…

…Holds Secret Media Strategy Meeting With Select Journalists

The Weekly Standard can today reveal that following public expression of outrage and angst against the decision of the NPP government to use over a hundred million dollars to purchase two ultra-luxury presidential jets, Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor held a secret meeting with some senior journalists and implored them to use their various media to do damage control for his government and party.

The over three-hour long meeting, which was attended by a number of senior journalists identified as being pro-NPP or pro-government, discussed how the media persons would use their various media platforms to fight any negative fallout against the government and the ruling party.

Sources close to the said meeting said Mr. Kufuor was not happy at all that the NPP propaganda machinery has not been able to counter the arguments being raised against the purchase of the presidential jets.

According to one such source, “President Kufuor could not understand why the NPP machinery has allowed the NDC to lead the discussion on the purchase of the presidential jets, especially when the NPP could have pointed to the difference between the purchase of these aircrafts and the purchase of the Gulfstream III presidential jet by the NDC.”

The President, our sources revealed, particularly appealed to morning show hosts on two particular Twi-speaking programmes to do everything in their power to bury any critical issue that would be raised about the purchase of the presidential jets in any of the papers considered to be anti-NPP.

The newspapers targeted for the “silent treatment” are Kwesi Pratt’s Insight newspaper, the Enquirer, The Ghanaian Lens, Ghana Palaver, Weekly Standard, among others.

The President, according to our sources, virtually ordered the media personnel to use their platforms to promote the misimpression that since the presidential jets would be part of the Airforce fleet of aircrafts, they for the military and therefore would be used for military purposes.

“The president left me in no doubt that he is relying on those of us present to make sure that we do everything we can to minimise the negative fallout from the purchase of the presidential jets,” one

The president’s secret meeting with the selected media personnel to strategise on doing damage control for the government is a clear indication that the president is very much aware of the sentiments