PC Appiah-Ofori apologises

... and pleads for privacy to settle family matters

MP for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, P C Appiah-Ofori issued a public apology yesterday for his decision to disclose details of his troubled 37-year marriage to The Statesman.

In an exclusive interview with The Statesman yesterday, P C Appiah-Ofori called the interview an "unfortunate” reaction to his estranged wife's decision to give an interview to the Daily Graphic, which was itself some sort of a reaction to a seemingly innocent publication.

Speaking to our Editor-in-Chief yesterday, who had called the MP to personally apologise for this paper's decision to publish an email it received about the private relationship, PC Appiah-Ofori also expressed regret for the turn of event.

The New Patriotic Party MP stated, “If what I said has offended the sensibilities of the public and made people unhappy, then I sincerely regret that.”

He said it was never his intention to go public about the private matter. He, however, conceded that in highly sensitive matters of the heart like this, emotions can sometimes get the better of the parties involved. The MP said his goal at this point is to bring matters to the best conclusion under the circumstances.

The MP requested the public, “grant myself, family members and parties involved in this, the privacy and space to find an amicable solution to this domestic issue.”

In keeping with the MP’s request for privacy and out of respect for the renowned anti-corruption crusader, The Statesman is apologising and retracting yesterday’s lead story. See Editorial.

Editorial (Wednesday) The Appiah-Oforis deserve their privacy back

In our editorial of yesterday, we argued that organisations like The Enquirer were very right to award the MP for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa for his principled anti-corruption crusade.

We added that several NPP sympathisers, including The Statesman, have over the years admired PC Appiah-Ofori's seemingly principled stance of not discriminating on which side the gavel may fall in his fight to improve the integrity of governance in Ghana. Appiah-Ofori is of a rare species of a parliamentarian of a ruling party who has made it his duty to expose corruption in the government and take the government on in the national interest.

So, it was with great sadness that we greeted details or alleged details of his private life being volunteered by him and his estranged wife into the public domain.

We therefore argued that in our view, he woefully overreacted by 'revealing' details of his broken down marriage in the public. Even if the wife overreacted by going to the press, the onus on a public figure to maintain his cool was far greater.

We, at The Statesman, are of the view that the private lives of public officers are not the business of the public unless and until it can be shown to have directly and negatively impacted in the performance of their duties and responsibilities to the public.

We stand by our earlier view that there has been too much of unnecessary and unhelpful overreaction in this matter, except of course matters to do with the heart are not necessarily driven by rationale and cool-headedness.

The Statesman, regrettably but somehow understandably, went against its own in-house policy of not reporting or commenting on the private lives of public officials by making public some information passed on to us by the son of the MP. We had the information in our possession for close to two weeks and had not intended to make it public, but when circumstances took a dramatic turn and the main actors themselves decided to make the mass media their Laundromat, we painfully decided on going public with what we were privy to.

We are, however, very pleased with the maturity since shown by P C Appiah-Ofori. His open apology to the public for having offended sensibilities by merely making public details or alleged details of his family life is indeed an honourable thing.

In the same spirit, we also apologise and retract our decision in yesterday’s edition to make public the correspondence sent to us by his son. To restate our view yesterday, we do not think this should be the end of his reputation as a man of integrity, where the anti-corruption crusade is concerned.

We wrote yesterday: "But for the MP of Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa to be taken seriously again he must take active measures to redeem himself. We advise him accordingly to: (i) apologise to his estranged wife and children for the embarrassment he has caused them (ii) apologise to Ghanaians for the disappointment (iii) act swiftly but sensitively and properly to bring his empty shell marriage to Rebecca to an end and come to a settlement that is fair and agreeable."

Today’s public apology is certainly in the right direction. We believe it is as far as the public deserve to know any more about the family situation. We should give them the space and peace to sort the rest out by themselves. We therefore add our voices to the MP’s public request for the family to be henceforth granted the privacy and space to sort their own issues.

Yesterday, we wrote: "The country needs men like him who can stand up and be counted even if it means making people close to you, like your party members, unhappy. But, he should know when something is in the public interest and when some things are better left unsaid and made to remain private."

Today, we believe it is safe to conclude that the anti-corruption crusader is now fully conscious of what should remain private. It is now up to the general public, especially the mass media, to assist him and the family to keep their affairs and issues private. Let’s stay off, please.

Editorial: PC Appia-Ofori, a personal case of self-shaming

Organisations like The Enquirer, in our view, were very right to award him for his whip-free anti-corruption crusade. The MP for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa's brave penchant to take his government and party on brought him a lot of admirers and has done a lot for the growth of our parliamentary democracy. Some party loyalists have accused him of betrayal, disloyalty and described him as an embarrassment. It was difficult to support such views.

Several NPP sympathisers, including The Statesman, could not help but admire PC Appiah-Ofori's seemingly principled stance of not discriminating on which side the gavel may fall.

His was refreshing. A parliamentarian of a ruling party who had made it his duty to expose corruption in the government and take the government on in the national interest.

So, it is with great sadness we greet revelations of the past few days. It all happened when a newspaper carried a picture of the MP receiving an award for his anti-corruption crusade with a woman at his side which the paper described as his wife.

This got his wife of 37 years, but separated, to say she was still the official wife. Instead of the MP just giving a cultured, cautious, calm and calculated response that concisely dealt with the issue raised by the estranged wife, he went overdrive to discredit the mother of his three adult children - a pharmacist, lawyer and doctor.

The decent thing, under the circumstances, that the MP should have done would have been to admit that they are still legally married (if that indeed is the case) but go on to explain that they’d been effectively separated for 11 years. It is quite normal and legally acceptable for a separated couple to share a roof. He could have even gone ahead to say he has since taken a mistress. In our view, he woefully overreacted by alleging in full public hearing that his wife had infected him with a sexually transmitted disease after an alleged adultery. The public had no business hearing other allegations such as "it was an arranged marriage; I did not know her before we married; I was later warned about her infidelity; when I was being detained by the PNDC she was menstruating but when I came out, she was pregnant, so I got her to abort the foetus; she came into the marriage with a seven-year-old child, etc."

Which man goes out of his way to embarrass the mother of his children in this manner? PC Appiah-Ofori by this outrageous public exhibition has deeply disappointed his estimated millions of admirers.

It is very sad when a man who has symbolised the rare but necessary character of an MP in this very polarised whip-worshipping democracy to seek to undo his good works by such an outlandish display of indecency and puerility.

Indeed, we are even tempted to suggest, like our famous cartoon character, Osonoba, on page 2, that PC Appiah-Ofori’s anti-corruption crusade is motivated more by an inveterate neurosis and incurable fetish for embarrassing his loved ones. A mania for shaming his family – be it his political or domestic family.

However, we do not think this should be the end of his reputation as a man of integrity, where the anti-corruption crusade is concerned. But for the MP of Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa to be taken seriously again he must take active measures to redeem himself.

We advise him accordingly to: (i) apologise to his estranged wife and children for the embarrassment he has caused them (ii) apologise to Ghanaians for the disappointment (iii) act swiftly but sensitively and properly to bring his empty shell marriage to Rebecca to an end and come to a settlement that is fair and agreeable.

The country needs men like him who can stand up and be counted even if it means making people close to you, like your party members, unhappy. But, he should know when something is in the public interest and when some things are better left unsaid and made to remain private.

Some have already started reading negatively into his anti-corruption crusade, suggesting that the fact that he is often only heard when he has something bad to say about his party suggests that his motivation can not be honourable. But, we are prepared for him to prove his doubters wrong. Society will certainly give him another chance. It’s up to him to take it.