NMC Complains Against Concord Editorial

The National Media Commission (NMC) has protested over an editorial carried in the National Concord on Monday, September 9, claiming that the newspaper was unfair to it i its editorial.

The said editorial centred on the dismissal of Mr. Seth Ago Adjetey, former Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). Below is the full unedited reaction of the NMC.

The attention of the National Media Commission has been drawn to your Editorial Comments of Monday September 9, 2002 ? Tuesday September 11, 2002 edition of your paper in which you suggested that both the Chairman and Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission have stated that the Commission does not owe any Ghanaian an explanation for the termination of the appointment of Mr. Seth Ago Adjetey as Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. It is unfortunate that although you found it necessary to write an Editorial on the matter, you did not publish the statement issued by the Commission in response to media discussions and allegations of tribalism and victimisation about the decision.

Indeed, at no point in time has any member or staff of the Commission said they owed no explanation to the people of Ghana. If that is what is the practice, then it can never be said that NMC has acted with impunity in observing a globally cherished value and principle in contract of employment. The Commission is not averse to anyone who would argue that it should not have resorted to termination and that it should have gone the full hog of the process for dismissal. But then, no one should discount termination as a viable alternative in the employment sector.

More importantly, your challenge to the Executive Secretary to conjecture what might be going through the minds of Elvis Aryeh, Nanabanyin Dadson and the rest of them is very uninformed. The Commission has nothing to do with the appointment of Editors of newspapers.

Even with the Chief Executives, you must never equate a universal concept with arbitrariness. To suggest that they would be panicking is to state that the Commission was reckless and arbitrary in the process of terminating the appointment of Mr. Adjetey.

Again, if your understanding of security of tenure is that, that must be done at the expense of the terms of employment contract then you do not appreciate the essence of a contract, since both parties have avenues to abrogate the contract within the terms provided in the contract itself.

It is unfortunate that you describe the action of the Commission as ?NMC firing and arrogantly refusing to offer reasons on the basis of technicality?.

It would be very unprincipled for the Commission after terminating the appointment of Mr. Adjetey to now turn round to list a litany of allegations, which has not offered the chance to disagree and put them in the public domain. Meanwhile, even as you consider the action of the Commission capricious, arrogant and arbitrary, Mr. Adjetey himself has not challenged the decision.

That is why in the expression of opinion, there must be an informed discussion. Finally, you concluded that Mr. Adjetey might have had his appointment terminated because of alleged interference with a news item. Let it be stated that the Commission knows too well that the Director-General does not have anything to do with the editorial content of news and the Commission would never have gone to that extremist position of holding the Director-General responsible for the Editorial content of news. Whereas the National Concord admits what is the normal corporate practice about terminations, it nevertheless wants the Commission to do the absurd and untoward, by stating: ?The National Concord wishes to repeat for the avoidance of doubt that it is in the interest of the National Media Commission to give reasons whenever it finds it necessary to terminate appointments. Otherwise as stated above, it forfeits its own legitimacy?.

Indeed, what the National Concord could have legitimately suggested was that the Commission must in future not resort to terminations, but must go the full hog in the process such that if any employee needed to be dismissed, the person could be dismissed with the full details.

Otherwise, if the Commission were to provide reasons with terminations, that will subvert an established principle. That rather will be illegitimate.

YAW BOADU-AYEBOAFO,
Executive Secretary, NMC.