Why Cecilia Dapaah fumed at a female intern who called her for an interview in 2019

Beyond the obvious, that Cecilia Dapaah is the biggest name in the news in many respects all around Ghana now, there are two major aspects of this 2019 story, also about her, that will interest you.

It all started when news broke, accompanied by an audio from the Multimedia Group, of an intern who had received the shock of her life when she placed a call to the minister to grant her an interview.

In the audio, which became very popular online, the then Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah, was heard fuming at the intern on the basis that whoever instructed her did not respect her, or her office enough, to have allowed such a thing.

And what was that thing she spoke about? Read her exact words below:

“You are an intern? And who gave you the permission to call me and speak with me direct like that? You don’t respect,” she said in Twi and then dropped the line.

The editor of this intern had to eventually call the minister and, in her response, again reiterated what she said about the disrespect she had received because of that phone call.

“You don’t let an intern call a minister; an elderly woman like me… please respect the office. If you don’t even respect me as a human being, respect the office. How do you allow an intern to call your minister? Ah,” she added.

Now, that’s the first bit of this article, but the second bit will interest readers even more.

And this was what followed after there was public uproar about the contents of this interview.

In a response from the ministry, they explained their side of things, and what they say was the reason the minister, Cecilia Dapaah, did not show interest in the interview.

The statement, issued by the PR Unit of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, said the editor of the station should have prompted her ahead of the interview.

They added that the minister recognises the role of the media as a key partner in the scheme of national affairs and would therefore not intimidate or show rudeness to any media personnel.

"For the purposes of the records, it should be stated that the Minister was at a meeting when she received the call and was, therefore, requesting that the reporter should call later.

"She was also of the view that the news editor should have prompted her earlier for the interview. The sector minister did not ignore the reporter on the basis that she was an intern.

"We are however of the view that looking at the issues for discussion, it would have been ideal for a senior reporter to have conducted the interview with the minister, since the senior reporter would have been in a better position to appreciate the issues more clearly from the technical point of view," the rejoinder added.

The intern at the center of this matter, Rahinatu Abdul Bach (a student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism at the time), said in an opinion titled: "Sanitation Minister nearly shattered my dreams – The story of a young female journalist," detailed how she felt demeaned during that interview with Cecilia Dapaah.

As it stands now, there are many calls for the former minister to be investigated with respect to the huge sums of monies that were reportedly stolen from her house, a matter which is also currently before an Accra Circuit Court.



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