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NewsTranscript
00:00 Well time now for us to get into the papers with former president of the Ghana
00:05 Journalist Association Afey Omone. But before we do so, this segment is always
00:10 brought to you by Endpoint Homeopathic Clinic and they are offering, if you're a
00:14 man, prostate screening for free. If you're a woman, fertility screening for
00:18 free. Here's where you can locate them. Here in Accra at Spintex opposite Shell
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00:25 Educational Complex. There's Takra De Anaji Estate coming back into the Greater
00:29 Accra region. They are in Tema Community 22. They are in Techiman, Hounsou-En-Esiamanzama.
00:34 Their call lines 0244 867 068 or 0274 234 321. Endpoint Homeopathic Clinic.
00:46 The end to chronic disease. Just the start though of the news review. Let me
00:51 say a very good morning to Afey Omone. Good morning sir. Good morning Chief.
00:58 It's good to have you. It's been a while. It's a pleasure to be here. Great, great. Thank you so much
01:05 for joining us this morning. I'd just like to, you know, to set the foundation or lay
01:10 the foundation for the conversation we're about to have. Yes, we'll get into
01:13 the papers but it's not always we get to interact with you. So I'd like to find
01:17 out from you. When you look at journalistic practice in Ghana today,
01:22 when you look at the practice of it, when you look at remuneration, when you look
01:28 at the attractiveness of the sector, what would you say? And again, you have been
01:35 there, done that as president. How do you see the Ghana Journalists Association
01:40 faring today? I've thrown quite a hot potato at you but I just want to...
01:51 Journalism in the past and what we are witnessing now and my special focus
01:57 will be on remuneration. It is said that journalism is not a cash-rich
02:04 profession but a risk-prone profession. This means that journalism is a quality
02:11 and once you are called irrespective of the conditions, irrespective of the adverse
02:18 conditions in which you find yourself, you deliver. Our working hours are endless.
02:27 Our environment is brusque. Our deadlines are incessant and even in the face of
02:36 deep set fatigue, we are obliged to deliver peak performance. So it's an
02:44 insult for journalists to endure all these stresses only to be paid a pittance.
02:52 In some worst-case scenarios, journalists are not paid at all. And as the local
02:58 parlance hopes, man must eat or man must survive. And the survivor instinct is what
03:05 pushes certain journalists to go to the criminal heights, to duel, to blackmail
03:11 and to do everything possible to survive. That's not to justify the criminality
03:18 perpetrated by certain class of journalists but to amplify the need to
03:24 take a hard and long look at the conditions of civil journalism in order to fix
03:32 this critical issue. So I was overjoyed when I heard the Speaker of Parliament
03:37 yesterday underlining the need for a better salary structure for journalists.
03:45 This is not to blow my own horn but to have the freedom to do so. We started a process
03:56 during my presidency to unionize the Journalists' Association. So as you speak, DJ is
04:03 in unison, meaning we have the power to intervene in situations of unfairness in
04:14 terms of remuneration and other issues. But the fact is that we don't have the
04:19 bargaining power. So what we need to do as an addition to the unionization is to
04:26 articulate our unionized status to one with the bargaining power like Ghana
04:35 or some medical association like NASA, like BACAT, so that we demand adequate
04:44 compensation for the work put in by journalists. On the other question of how
04:51 the DJ is faring, they have been in office for one year now. So I believe journalists
04:57 are the best judges of how the association is run. But I would say that it's early days yet.
05:06 We need less competitive people alive who push for a higher pedestal in terms of
05:13 serving the needs of our members. Interesting reactions to these
05:19 questions. I beg of you, just indulge me further, just briefly on this point and
05:25 then we shall get into the papers. I'd like to find out then what is your
05:28 reaction because it is clear that our newspapers, for example, you can almost
05:33 determine that if I pick X paper on the same story, on the same political issue,
05:39 if I pick X paper, the rhetoric is going to be X and if I pick Y paper, the
05:46 rhetoric is going to be Y, rather than a reflection of the hard truth. And it is
05:52 same with the radio and television, the broadcast media as well. And
06:00 especially in recent years, we have had people say, "Asimisi, X or Y person is
06:06 simply oblivious to the facts, the reality on the ground." I don't want to
06:10 mention names, of course, out of respect, but this person is on your television
06:14 screen and this person is spewing a lot of hogwash, a lot of horse feathers,
06:20 because the reality versus what this person is saying are diametrically
06:26 opposed. In other words, when you look at those who, the platforms we have are
06:33 supposed to be used to inform, to educate, yet it appears in some quarters it is
06:41 misinformation, intentional misinformation. How do we tackle that?
06:50 Journalism, our journalists are educated to Elkhorn Watson, who is a Pulitzer
06:56 winner, and at the time he made this statement about 300 years ago, the practice,
07:04 it was customary, it was fashionable, so to speak, it was fashionable to train
07:12 journalists by osmosis, not to train on the job. The number of well-structured
07:18 institutions, as we have now, is miniscule as compared to the present
07:24 situation. So when Joseph Pulitzer made his statement, he was pelted with
07:30 Elkhorn Watson for igniting a huge flurry, but now he's been proved right. The
07:37 complexities, the challenges, the expectations of consumers of
07:43 media content are such that we have no choice than to deliver. But it is sad
07:52 that journalism is a profession unlike medicine where you have to pass your medical
07:59 examination before you practice medicine, unlike power, where you can only practice
08:04 when you are passed your medical exam as a lawyer. But journalism is
08:11 sad that everybody knows the law, our laws do not frown on who does not qualify or who
08:19 qualifies as a pathogen. And our own constitution articles, which means one and
08:24 else, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, they all state that
08:29 everybody has the right to receive and disseminate information. So as a result, we
08:34 have all manner of people, whether educated or not educated, whether
08:38 illiterate or literate, people with all kinds of agendas, some righteous and some
08:43 evil, invading the media space to pursue their own agendas. And as a result,
08:53 orientations differ, but I have said it and I will repeat it, that journalists
09:01 should never take readers and viewers and listeners for granted. Many are more educated than we are.
09:10 Many are more discerning than we are. And many are more intelligent than we are
09:16 as journalists. And many listeners, viewers, and readers have developed
09:31 psychological resistance to what is shared by certain people because they know what to say on
09:39 every issue. Their mind is so made up, they are so one-sided in the analysis, so
09:45 one-sided in whatever they say, to the extent that some will only conclude, some
09:53 viewers, some listeners, some readers will conclude before they even set eyes or
09:59 listen to what certain journalists say. So unsurprisingly, many media houses,
10:07 all media houses have their orientations. Right.
10:10 Most of them have their orientation. GBC has its orientation, state media has its orientation,
10:16 GBC has its orientation. And because of the rapid invasion of the media space,
10:21 many of them are doing politics. And let me say without any fear of contradiction,
10:27 that majority of stories on the front pages are planted. And they are planted for propaganda purposes.
10:37 And let me recall what American journalist once said that he said he took that his
10:43 director is staying in Ghana. He realized that newspapers in Ghana do not reflect reality.
10:53 In other words, our newspapers are not a mirror of reality. They skew certain stories
11:01 to achieve certain purposes. And thus, unlike a few media houses, which are
11:10 symbols of aggressive neutrality, like multimedia, like city and others, many of them
11:18 draw certain lines, either for pecuniary or for partisan reasons.
11:27 Well, it's quite a situation, but we'll have to find a way of resolving it moving forward.
11:35 Thank you for those initial reflections. But let's get into the newspapers now.
11:40 And I'll start with the Daily Graphic newspaper. It says, "BEC takes off smoothly.
11:47 57 prisoners, juvenile inmates sit exam. There's also 2022, 2023 scholarships.
11:54 GetFund gives to more local students. Researchers develop model for chronic pain management."
12:01 And there are lots of people suffering different kinds of chronic pain.
12:04 It's a story I want to get into on page 13. But then in other stories in the Daily Graphic newspaper this morning,
12:11 "Inside Africa, Niger-Janta closes airspace, refuses to reinstate president."
12:17 The time has elapsed when President Mohamedou Buhari had threatened martial or military action.
12:24 Of course, that was jettisoned by the Senate in Nigeria.
12:28 There's also "Danger looms. College and community appeals for toilet facility."
12:33 And there is the fear of the outbreak of an epidemic there on the back of open defecation in that community
12:41 in the Yilu-Kobo municipality in the eastern region.
12:47 "Empowering parents to give better care to children with autism."
12:50 That story is on page 11. And some of these issues we pay scanty, very little attention to as a people.
12:56 And it is worrying. "Japan raises concerns about Iran's nuclear enrichment."
13:02 And there is "Public cautioned against skin bleaching."
13:06 For the life of me, I cannot get it.
13:09 I think that colonial mindset of light-skinned is better is still with us.
13:17 And, you know, the other day, many months ago, I saw a picture of certain prominent people from back when they were in school.
13:26 And it was only the gentleman who had retained his skin color.
13:29 All the ladies in that picture, there was one gentleman and a number of ladies, about four or five of them.
13:36 All of them somehow had transmogrified into very light-skinned people.
13:41 When in fact, if you look at their skin tone back then, it was very dark.
13:46 And some would say, oh, we are toning. But the hydroquinone, I'm sure that is it.
13:51 And all these other chemicals that I use, do you know what they do to your skin?
13:59 Anyway, just me getting off on that.
14:03 I see you want to say something. Go ahead. Before we get into that first story.
14:07 We always say that a black people and born in a superlative,
14:14 has given each and every person the skin he or she deserves.
14:20 The skin which best suits his or her personality.
14:25 But it's sad that even educated people take delight in bleaching.
14:37 And let me say again, I need to wrap this up.
14:44 Let me say that even journalists are not whiter than white or purer than pure.
14:53 When it comes to maintaining their original complexion.
14:59 I agree.
14:59 And it seems many of our ladies who appear on television screen,
15:07 who prefer to look whiter or brighter than the original color God who created them, gave them.
15:20 It is so sad. Sometimes you see a mismatch between the complexion of their faces and their fingers.
15:29 And the other day I saw a lady, the original color of lady, who I had perceived to be a brownie, only to discover.
15:38 That's all this why that lady was bleaching to the extreme.
15:44 So our job is not only to inform, but also to educate.
15:50 Right.
15:52 We occupy a higher moral ground.
15:55 We should model the way for others to emulate in terms of not only speaking,
16:03 but in terms of leading lives so that others see us and give glory to our maker.
16:11 So this is also a female counterpart.
16:15 Please, we know you are beautiful.
16:18 There's no question about that.
16:20 And it hasn't been proven that white is more beautiful than black.
16:28 It's like, no, it's your own perception.
16:34 No, it's your own view.
16:37 So please, we should do the right thing.
16:40 Right.
16:41 For our viewers to emulate.
16:46 Well, let's get into some other stories.
16:48 2022-23 scholarships Get Fund gives to more local students.
16:53 Let me just take a quick look at that story.
16:56 And the Ghana Education Trust Fund has awarded new scholarships to 4,279 students of various universities and colleges in the country.
17:04 This time, more scholarships were awarded to applicants studying in local universities and colleges.
17:09 A major shift from previous years when Get Fund scholarships were awarded in favor of Ghanaian students studying abroad.
17:17 The number of successful applicants this year is 63 percent higher than the 2,704 recipients for the last year.
17:28 Last Tuesday, the fund paid 25.3 million Ghana CEDs of the annual fees on behalf of the awardees enrolled in undergraduate,
17:37 graduate and postgraduate programs of various universities.
17:42 Definitely a positive step.
17:44 But let me add a few stories and let you respond to them, Afil Mone.
17:50 So let's go to, I think that story on page 13.
17:55 If not, before I go to pages 28 and 29, let me just turn to page 13.
18:03 Now, where are you?
18:04 Where are you?
18:05 Where are you?
18:06 So let's get there.
18:08 And of course, BEC takes off smoothly.
18:11 Fifty seven prisoners, juvenile inmates sit exam.
18:14 But I promise to do this one.
18:16 A team of researchers has developed a new model of care for persons 50 years and above who live with multiple chronic health conditions to help improve their quality of life.
18:26 The chronic conditions include diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, arthritis and respiratory disorders.
18:33 Focused on Africa, the team developed the model theory of change around the findings of a research conducted to identify gaps in primary palliative care for the aging population who are confronted with multiple chronic conditions.
18:48 The research conducted in Ghana, Malawi and Zimbabwe on the topic multi morbid aging primary palliative care was also to find out how to improve on such care in terms of staff workforce capacity and patients as families.
19:03 Finally, I'll go to pages 28 and 29, and that's how I'll cap it off as far as the daily graphic is concerned.
19:15 Public caution against skin bleaching.
19:17 The general public has been cautioned against the use of chemical solutions to peel their skin.
19:23 That is what you actually do when you bleach.
19:24 You're peeling your skin as well as unsafe use of injectable glutathione in a bid to improve skin appearance.
19:32 That practices posed significant risk to users because of their side effects, which included skin cancer, toxic effects on the liver, kidneys and nervous system, as well as other serious skin reactions.
19:47 The medical director of the Rabito Clinic, limited Dr.
19:50 Kumar Stimji, who made the call said most people did not know the side effect of their actions. And it was unfortunate that in their bid to enhance skin appearance for varied, varied reasons, rather ended up paving a paying a heavy price with their health.
20:07 Some people are also not aware. Let me just add this.
20:10 Your largest organ is your skin.
20:13 The largest organ in your body is your skin.
20:15 So imagine if you suffer skin cancer or some skin ailments, what that could do to you.
20:21 And finally, Professor Oduro, free SHS policy, red flags were ignored.
20:27 Professor Oduro is a professor of educational leadership at the University of Cape Coast, and he is saying red flags for free SHS were ignored.
20:35 Over to you. Afi Omoni.
20:39 Let me sprinkle a standard of recommendation on the researchers who have come up with a solution to diabetes and other diseases which are threatening people in the twilight of their lives.
20:59 And diabetes is not restricted to the age agents, which children, you know, contract diabetes at 10 degrees and this impairs their growth,
21:10 this time their growth and this also inhibits their development of advanced genes in various dimensions of life.
21:19 So we commend them most highly.
21:22 We hope that what they've come out to be amplified and the right of social honor them.
21:30 We'll say any society which has heroes is over dying for.
21:36 So we this should be taken up strongly on the issue of Gertrand.
21:43 It is a travesty of fairness that local students who struggle financially to go to education,
21:56 whose parents squeeze water out of stone to see them to higher education, are ignored when it comes to get fund allocations.
22:10 And it's better late than never. And we are happy that this historic wrong has not been righted.
22:18 We are told that the percentage has gone up.
22:23 We we pray that more students who are facing financial difficulties in assessing education will be targeted by the death fund.
22:36 Not to ease this. We've got to go to school and we know how difficult it is to fight poverty.
22:48 What's the reason I'm trying to pass it out? So step has come at the right time and we commend and get funds for this initiative.
23:02 And then go back to the skin bleaching. We we we we we ought to.
23:11 Service evangelists and apostles. Of.
23:17 Maintaining our color and avoiding the risks.
23:21 Which come with skin bleaching.
23:24 Not Professor Della, my friend and brother has been a lone voice in this crusade.
23:34 So the media should take this up with all tenacity.
23:39 And intensity. So that we win the war against skin bleaching.
23:48 And sentence the perpetrators to premature death. As we told, it's an open invitation to cancer.
23:57 And we all know how dangerous cancer is. So we should say no to cancer by saying no to bleaching.
24:07 Interesting. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. I thought you had landed. My apologies. Go ahead.
24:13 On the new year, it's interesting. We've been following with a keen interest.
24:19 What is unfolding in that West Africa state?
24:24 Equal has his image at stake. And to be brutally frank.
24:31 Equal's image has been in taxes. So this is a right opportunity for equal to screw up an image.
24:41 By passing the tests posed by Niger.
24:47 We need to square. The.
24:53 The. Option. To invade Niger.
25:01 With their vanity on the ground. And then relative is that it will not make sense.
25:08 For equal was to invade Niger at this point in time.
25:16 Many analysts have spoken against this option. The recent condemnation of this option has come from ITUC Africa.
25:26 The umbrella body of workers in Africa.
25:31 They came on stridently against the coup in Niger, which were on them.
25:36 Right. But this time they've amplified the voices of recent.
25:43 By saying that the situation in Egypt is so weak.
25:48 It's so problematic. It's so dangerous for a person to even think.
25:54 Of military action in that country.
25:59 We we are an essential member of a conversation that is a key.
26:06 That is going to get Nigeria the drivers of a driver's seat.
26:12 She gets movers of the bus. This is a time for us.
26:18 To extract what she's right. We should view what about decision taking by the.
26:25 In West Africa. With the highest to ingest the highest dose of second special.
26:34 Right. What was intense? What about action? It was intense to take in a year.
26:39 We are told the meeting that we take a. These issues give dialogue another chance.
26:47 The delegation is 10 to Niger or snubbed.
26:50 They were able to meet. But to fit the failure to try.
26:59 I have a feeling is is it's not a sign of weakness.
27:03 OK, but I think that should not be afraid to change.
27:10 Because when confronted, religious. Which contradicts. And those.
27:18 Those realities, those realities, I am sure we will have to own up owing to the passage of time.
27:25 I just want us to get into other stories, but interesting points you're making.
27:29 And those realities will have to deal with because we've seen the effect in Mali, in Guinea,
27:33 in Burkina Faso and whatever endeavors we have tried.
27:37 The Daily Guide, for example, captures how the Nigerian shut its airspace,
27:43 which it has done snubbing or snubbing, if you like, the leadership of ECOWAS as critical deadline expires.
27:53 Basically, Niger is adopting a bit of a stance.
27:57 And they actually the junta held a rally in Niamy and thousands of supporters thronged there.
28:06 The question, though, is where Western and Central Africa are headed.
28:11 Seven coup d'etats between 2020 and now.
28:15 And only God knows what is next.
28:16 But let's let's quickly make tracks from there as we wrap the conversation in some two, three minutes.
28:22 The Daily Guide, other stories here. I am highest ranked NDC member.
28:26 That's according to Bagman. There's Muhammad Javs and then after blowing 200 million on Saglemi Project.
28:31 That's what the Daily Guide says. That's how it couches it.
28:36 But and that has to do with Mohammed criticizing this administration for
28:42 pumping so much money into the National Cathedral Project and abandoning Saglemi.
28:47 And the NDC has had cause to say that if no private investor should take Saglemi up,
28:53 because if you do and should we come to power, we're going to reassess that situation.
28:58 And you could have your fingers burnt.
29:00 But I found the story very interesting.
29:03 I want to get into it.
29:06 ABA, that is the African Bar Association, honors Akufo-Addo.
29:10 I want us to pay attention to why.
29:12 Now, the African Bar Association at its 2023 annual conference in Pretoria,
29:16 South Africa, conferred a Medal of Merit in Leadership Award on President Akufo-Addo.
29:21 President of the association, Hannibal Egbert Uwai Foset, President Akufo-Addo is, quote,
29:27 "a pan-Africanist, anti-corruption crusader, a rare democratic leader in the field of good governance,
29:34 a true African statesman whose legacies present African leaders,
29:39 present African leaders must emulate, and we are minded to say will stand the test of time."
29:45 While no one is all negative and no positive, and while I could give our president his credit on some points,
29:54 I really don't know about rare democratic leader and anti-corruption crusader.
30:00 But this is just me.
30:02 Then there is also the Finder newspaper.
30:05 And you know me, I say it as it is.
30:07 I don't hide my feelings.
30:08 I'm not one of those sycophants who will play this and add that.
30:13 What you see is what you get.
30:15 What I think is what you hear.
30:16 I don't sugarcoat it.
30:17 That's me.
30:18 The Finder newspaper, "Shroud spent 2.1 million Galaxies wrongly.
30:23 Auditor General orders recovery and refund."
30:26 That's the final story I'll look at.
30:28 So the Auditor General has directed the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice
30:32 to recover and refund 2.1 million Ghana cities paid illegally.
30:36 It comprises illegitimate allowance and honorarium, 1.4 million Ghana cities,
30:42 unearned salaries, 21,045 Ghana cities, ineligible housing allowances, over 241,000 cities,
30:49 and ineligible domestic allowances, over 479,000 cities.
30:54 Quick thoughts, and we're gone.
30:56 Afeww Mwone.
30:58 In good rest, what will I undo?
31:02 And I'm fortunate that Shroud has been caught doing something illegal.
31:10 And I'll urge my good friend, Shroud Boss, to do the new thing.
31:17 By rectifying what went wrong.
31:20 This reinforces the point that Shroud is a human institution.
31:29 And like all human institutions, perfection is an impossibility.
31:32 But by virtue of what you do, by virtue of the knowledge and powers there,
31:38 there should always be an above approach.
31:42 That's my synoptic advice to Shroud.
31:47 And another issue is like Mahama and Sagra.
31:54 It remains unacceptable and unacceptable that this project was abandoned for seven years.
32:04 At the time, the housing deficit was so biting.
32:09 At the time, many workers have been forced to dwell in ramshackle structures
32:16 just to lay their heads.
32:19 But this is not to shatter the door to new projects.
32:23 We ought to do what is right by fixing what has gone wrong with cycling,
32:29 quite at the same time.
32:31 Right.
32:32 Establishing more building places for the United of Ghanians.
32:40 Well, thank you so much, Afel Mone, for joining the conversation this morning.
32:47 It's been a true honour, sir.
32:49 Thank you so much and have a wonderful day.
32:51 Thank you so much.
32:53 May we continue to raise the banner of the United of Ghanians.
32:58 Thank you, sir.
32:59 I am grateful.
33:00 And that is Afel Mone, former president of the Ghana Journalists Association.
33:04 Right before we go, at least some of you sent in messages.
33:08 Ayuba Oseini, some of you, when you add the political messages
33:11 to the good morning and the rest, I will not read them,
33:13 whether in favour of this or that side.
33:15 I don't read such messages, unless we're having a political conversation.
33:20 This one says, "Ayuba Oseini, AM show, good morning."
33:22 Well, good morning right back at you.
33:26 "Happy first birthday."
33:27 I didn't see this yesterday, so I'm getting to it today.
33:30 "Belated happy birthday wishes."
33:33 "Happy first birthday to my daughter, Akosia Druwa Jumoh Ajeman."
33:39 Yaminsha, who kindly do this on your show for me, you said,
33:44 "Kwame Jumoh Ajeman, I hope you're well, my brother.
33:46 Happy first birthday to our daughter."
33:48 Let me put it that way.
33:49 "Akosia Druwa Jumoh Ajeman.
33:51 We pray you age fabulously, growing in wisdom,
33:56 in the Lord and with his favour."
33:59 Finally, before we go, Endpoint Homeopathic Clinic
34:01 helping us to bring you this segment.
34:03 They are offering free prostate screening, free fertility screening,
34:07 if you're a woman.
34:08 Locate them here in Accra at Spintex opposite the Shell signboard.
34:11 Kumasi, Kronuma Abuehiang behind the Angela Educational Complex.
34:14 Takradianaji State, Timur Community 22,
34:17 Tichiman Hansuwa, Adesiyama and Zama.
34:18 Their call lines, 0244 867 068 or 0274 234 321.
34:25 Endpoint Homeopathic Clinic, the end to chronic disease.
34:29 If you're looking for more in sports, the sporting world,
34:33 whether you're thinking football or whatever else it is,
34:37 that is going to be served to you right up next
34:40 with Michelle Nabila Abdelahi.
34:41 Do stay.
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