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General News of Wednesday, 8 April 2015

Source: Adeola Babatunde

True journalists must "quit" before entering politics - Ampofo Ankrah

Ace Sports Journalist and President of the Ghana Beach Soccer Association, Yaw Ampofo Ankrah has called on journalists with political ambitions to resign their positions as journalists before joining any political train in order not to put the image of the profession into disrepute.

Speaking on the Delay Show of Friday 3rd April 2015, Ampofo Ankrah said, "I have absolutely no regrets about campaigning for the NDC Presidential candidate in 2012. I will not change anything I did back then. I was not made any promises. I was not paid or rewarded materially which I am proud to say".

"There is nothing wrong with campaigning for a political candidate but the neutrality of our profession means that unless the platform is specifically representative of one party, a candidate or an ideology, we must be prepared to shed that cloak of immunity via neutrality".

Yaw Ampofo Ankrah was loved and loathed in equal measure for his bold move to form the powerful youth group Movement for Mahama in 2012. The movement employed unorthodox campaign strategies and aggressively used social media to criss-cross communities, cities and campuses in different regions to campaign for Presidential candidate Mahama.

Asked whether he will campaign for the party again in the impending 2016 election, the ace sports journalist said, "I am in a different situation now because I work for an international media organisation Supersport. Even if I wish to campaign again, I would have to resign just as I did with TV3".

He ended by saying, "I support President Mahama and I believe he is working hard with his team to turn things around for a better Ghana. Lets wait and see what happens on 2016".