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General News of Tuesday, 19 February 2002

Source: Accra Mail

Golden Share: Media accused of taking bribes to kill stories

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The debate on Ghana Government's Golden Share in AGC has been raging for sometime now. One of the strongest supporters of the Golden Share is Mr. Kwaku Amoo-Asante, a Ghanaian living in the US. He has written many critiques, a lot of which he has copied sections of the Ghanaian media, including The Accra Daily Mail.

His campaign has now taken a dramatic turn. He has joined the Ghanaian media as accomplices in what he sees as AGC's plans to compel the Government of Ghana to relinquish the Golden Share in favour of Lonmin Plc. He makes direct accusation of bribes having been offered to sway aspects of the Ghanaian media onto the side of AGC and Lonmin. The issues at stake are serious and so in the public interest, we wish to devote our lead story today to his indictment.

The state of the Ghanaian media

Dear Publishers and Journalists of Ghana:


In recent months certain troubling developments have frightened several Ghanaians. Ghana has become a very corrupt country due to the wholesale corruption allowed under the NDC administration. We did not believe in the judiciary and we did not believe in our elected leadership. It is partly because of this that we put our lives and our careers to fight for a change. And we did this with the able support of certain members of your profession. Since then, there has been serious negative developments that will cause a peace-loving Ghanaian to worry. Specifically, the corrupting of certain personalities of the media, in particular, the certain members of the print media.

I am sure some of you will jump and say show us the evidence. Since these bribes are made to you in private rooms on one on one basis and no one is there to catch you. I raised this issue with the President's Chief of staff Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, who expressed the sentiments that unless there is evidence there is not much the government can do. I disagree. I expect certain level of respect and code of professional ethics from you. This is so basic to your holding yourself as a professional organization. To hide behind the cloak of evidence when you all know the corruption is going on is not acceptable. After all we are not aware of any judges being arrested and jailed in the previous administration but we all knew how corrupt the judiciary was and is. So please spare us Ghanaians and put your house in order.

It is your responsibility to publish anything you desire to publish and ignore anything you do not want to publish subject to laws of libel and other relevant rules of conduct or legislation. However, it is very unethical and indeed criminal for money to be obtained not as an investment in your enterprise but as a bribe to persuade you to either publish positive articles about certain individuals or certain events, publish negative articles about adversaries of certain individuals or not publish negative articles about certain individuals. This new and fledging democracy depends on the press as much it depends on the Judicial systems, the legislature and the President.

As you criticize people for corruption you must remember the famous statements made by the Israeli Ambassador to the UN during the debate on the Entebbe raid. He said to the effect that if anything is wrong, it is wrong, it is wrong for whoever does it, it is wrong on whomever it is done and it is wrong wherever it is wrong. Thus, I am pleading with you all to stop this practice and exercise objectivity expected from the Public. If you fail in this then it is incumbent on the government to show its might, its promise of zero tolerance and its belief in positive change. The educated people of Ghana know those who are doing this and they are talking about it every day. They appear incapable of doing much now. Of course such events build momentum and sooner or later the ship of journalistic corruption will sink asunder.

In the debate about the hedging speculation in AGC, the golden shares, the restructuring of AGC's financial position as a result of the hedging debacle, the merger and consolidation ideas of AGC some of you have deliberately been silent because of money received from certain individuals. Others have tended to ridicule me by twisting my arguments and facts. For standing up to the incestuous relationship between Lonmin plc and Sam Jonah, (designed to defraud Ghana) the conflict of interests, the corruption and other horrible stuff going on in AGC, I am seen as a fool or an unstable person. That is fine but I can assure you that I am not deterred by these actions and I am fully supported by many people including whites, women and Ghanaians all over the world who have taken time to write to thank me and wish me the best for doing the right thing. It is very gratifying to read the many letters of some of these people who can barely construct sentences. It is gratifying to hear from people in Australia, South Africa, Ghana, Belgium, England and many other places thanking me; people I do not know and will never know.

I am taking this opportunity to thank those of you who stood up notwithstanding the pressures of Ghana. In particular, Kwesi Pratt, kwaku Sintim Misa (KSM), Joy FM and others.

I am asking you all to stand up and be counted. Let us lead the poor to the promised land. Ghana can be made better if we all decide to stop our wicked ways, stop stealing from the poor and do the right thing. As I drove on the good roads of Baltimore yesterday , I told a young man who has recently moved from Ghana to the United States, "We can do this in Ghana if we stop stealing, work hard and optimize our potential." He did not believe it because he knows better. No one really wants to sacrifice and do it well anymore. Let us all put our hands in the cookie jar and take as much as we can and then run - The ENRON way. Is that what you want?

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