Ken “Opete” Kuranchie

Naked
In Attempt To Perpetrate Another Journalistic
Fraud With Okudzeto As Target Of Destruction
News Desk Report
Known for his unprofessional conduct, Mr. Ken Kuranchie, Managing Editor of the discredited Daily Searchlight newspaper, was caught naked, as he tries to unwisely do the bidding of his political paymasters.
Blessed with an award of the “Star of the Vulture” (opete), Mr. Ken Kuranchie, characteristics of him has decided to twist a conversation that his reporter, one Deborah Esi Acquah had with the Honourable Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa via the telephone.
With a screaming banner headline, “Obama Can Go To Hell”, Ken Kuranchie and his Daily Searchlight, yesterday 8th December 2011, forced on Ghanaians deception that Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa has called the bluff of the President of the United State of America, Barack Obama, in a reaction to news from Washington DC that his administration will tie gay rights as conditionality to aid.

According to the Honourable Deputy Minister, at about 11:13am on Tuesday, 7th December 2011, one of Ken Kuranchie’s reporters, who introduced herself as Deborah Esi Acquah called to find out his position on some comments made by the US President as regards the rights of homosexuals and the dire consequences it will have on countries who are not in support, in terms of foreign aids.
“My exact and only words in response to your reporter’s enquiry were that “President Mills has already stated the position of the Ghanaian Government and so it will be useful for The Daily Searchlight to refer to the statement made by President Mills.”, Samuel Okudzeto stated.
“I cannot fathom how this response could be interpreted by the widest stretch of imagination to mean that I have asked President Obama to go to Hell. To falsely attribute these words to me and put same in quotation marks as a screaming banner headline is most mischievous, unethical and unfair”, the Deputy minister pointed out.
“The agenda of The Daily Searchlight becomes even more apparent when you write in your opening paragraph that “Fresh from telling off UK Prime Minister David Cameron to take a hike, Deputy Minister of Information, Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa, is at it again. This time his target is US President Barack Obama.”
“Again, factual records will show that I have never told Prime Minister Cameron to go take a hike neither have I “targeted” President Barack Obama; but for your reporter’s call to me I would not have been speaking to The Daily Searchlight”, he added
“I would have ignored this dangerous publication as I have done on many occasions, but since it has become obvious that Ken Kuranchie and his paper have been consistent on this path, I have decided to correct the false impression this publication and previous ones have created considering that they have the tendency to create needless tensions between Ghana and other nations”, the Deputy Minister further added.
According to him, he has always been conscious of his diction and choice of expressions, especially, in the sensitive arena of international diplomacy, and find this agenda by The Daily Searchlight as very distasteful, to say the least.
My reaction to this publication is without prejudice to our Government’s stance on the issue of gay rights and aid. It is possible, and has always been possible for us to maintain a principled position on such issues in a decorous manner without asking other heads of state to “go to hell” or “take a hike, he told this paper in an exclusive telephone conversation.
According to Mr. Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, he hope the newspaper will do what is required of the practice to retract and apologise by giving the reaction the same prominence as the earlier publication

“I remain proud of what the media has achieved in Ghana and how it has helped shape our democracy, as he called on journalists to be circumspect in their reportage”, he conclude.
The Editors Note
Those of us at The Informer are not in the least surprised at all about the conduct of Mr. Ken Kuranchie and his Daily Searchlight newspaper, since they have carved a niche for practising unprofessional journalism in this country.
What is worrying is that whether, Deborah Esi Acquah and her colleagues will also want to be remembered for practising “vulture” journalism like their boss, if not, they should all wake up and do what is expected of them as they go about their practice as journalists.