Kufuor Commends Akosua Cartoons

Former President Kufuor has publicly expressed his delight in reading DAILY GUIDE's Akosua cartoons, describing them as very pleasurable.

According to him, he sometimes gets entertainment from the papers, particularly Akosua's cartoon in DAILY GUIDE.

Former President Kufuor made the statement during an interaction with the media to mark the 9th anniversary of the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law under his administration.

He said even though there are numerous newspapers that could currently be found in the country, due to the repeal of the criminal libel law under his tenure, he enjoys reading a select few.

The DAILY GUIDE newspaper, Graphic, Ghanaian Times and the New Crusading Guide are among the few newspapers he mentioned he goes through during working hours. He also named The Mirror as one of the newspapers he reads during the week-ends.

When former President Kufour was asked why he does not read the rest of the newspapers, he explained “such papers are too ideological and I do not appreciate that kind of media”.

He said even though he used to have other sources of getting information, the media really made great input during his term of office.

According to President Kufour, Ghana is still not fully matured in practicing democracy but is no more an influenced society due to the hard work of the media.

“I never believe in absolute freedom as I think freedoms always have to go with responsibility,” he said.

Touching on why NPP government could not pass the Freedom of Information Bill, former President Kufuor said drafting a bill is a bit technical and his party did not want to rush in doing it, even though there were plans for the said passage.

Former President Kufour stressed that it was very surprising that the media failed to highlight positive steps taken by his government.

He said some of the initiatives taken by his government that needed to be stated publicly by the media included the HIPC fund and his decision to stay in his own house without using any state resources.

“There is no single input that the current government had implemented that could be compared to that of the HIPC initiative that was taken by NPP government,” he stressed.

Touching on the country's education system and the support of the media, ex-President Kufuor expressed worry at the hullabaloo of the three-year and four-year senior high school issue, explaining that the policy that was taken by NPP to upgrade 38 teacher-training colleges in the country is the centre piece of the reform. He added that also needs to be discussed, not only the SHS issue. He therefore called on the Media Commission to institute measures to withdraw all licenses given to media houses if they see them abusing the press freedom they enjoy.

By Stella Danso Addai