Ebenezer ``Baby`` Ato `` Ansaba`` Sam – ``Ayikooo!!!!!!!

Before God and man, this writer was not surprised the least to hear Mr. Ebenezer Ato Sam, a former intern at the Ghana News Agency; a former senior reporter/deputy editor/editor of the currently less effective “Free Press” newspaper; the Deputy Editor of the “Daily Guide” newspaper; the editor of the defunct “New Punch” newspaper and a regular attendant at the “Peace FM” Morning Show making such “confessions”.

I am not surprised about his conduct and believe you I am not the only person who think so because many people may know him both from far and near. I know him from his “Free Press” days in the 1990s and my brief encounter with him at the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment.

The born again “journalist” should tell Ghanaians what led to his exit from the “Free Press” – a situation that compelled him to adopt that name “Baby” with the view to hibernating himself and his real name from the system. The late Tommy Thompson set up a committee that recommended his dismissal from the “Free Press” as Editor. This was the man who was caught red-handed collecting bribe from someone with the view to “killing” a story. Indeed he was photographed in the act. Am sure the security apparatus may have copies of these photographs.

Following from his successfully orchestrated confusion between the late Tommy Thompson and Mr. Eben Quarcoo, the former Editor of the “Free Press” who was his immediate boss, Ebenezer “Baby” Ato “Ansaba” Sam was elevated from the deputy editor to editor. So sordid was the situation that when Mr. Eben Quarcoo wanted to reconcile with Tommy Thompson, the latter insisted on dismissing the former as the editor of the “Free Press”, a situation that shot up Baby Ansaba to become the editor of the “Free Press”.

As a deputy editor, he undermined Mr. Eben Quarcoo to the level that the late Tommy Thompson began to trust him more than the editor himself. It got to a point when he was essentially in charge of the paper instead of the editor. In one particular issue of the Free Press, Ato Sam devoted 3 pages of “good stories” for a certain renowned Rev. Minister in this country who was at that time struggling with his entire church and members over alleged series of scandals. In fact this Rev. Minister finally had to leave the church to form one of his own.

Mr. Eben Quacoo, realizing that the Public Relations (PR) gimmick for this Rev. Minister posed a threat to the credibility of the Free Press, came out with a disclaimer denouncing the 3-page stories that were devoted to that Rev. Minister. That was the climax of the fracas between Tommy Thompson and Ato Sam on one hand and Eben Quarcoo on the other hand. Finally Eben Quarcoo had to leave Free Press for good.

Mr. Ato Sam should tell Ghanaians where his very first car came from. The initial belief at the Free Press was that the reward for the PR job for that Rev. Minister was that car. And it was subsequently proven to be true following from the committee set up by Thommy Thompson to probe him, leading to his exit from the Free Press. Indeed the committee recommended his dismissal. Another issue that came to light was that the late Kwaku Adofo Addai, was the “chief negotiator” for that PR contract for that Rev. Minister.

With reference to my brief encounter with him at the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment, I once complained about his unprofessional conduct on Peace FM Morning Show when he was the deputy editor of the “Daily Guide”. The substance of my wrath was that Ebenezer “Baby” Ato “Ansaba” Sam, came to make enquiries about an issue that was being handled at the time by the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment and went back to talk about something private that was mentioned during the encounter, on air.

In 2004, he came to the ministry one afternoon to make certain enquiries. Present at the meeting was the sector Minister, Hon. Yaw Barimah, myself as the Special Assistant and Ebenezer Ato Sam himself. After exhausting his questions, came general matters and normal conversation.

The Minister shared his experience at his former ministry with him, an issue that had nothing to do with the reasons for which he came to the ministry.

The next morning, he was on air on Peace FM talking about the issue that the minister privately shared with him, claiming that his investigations had revealed those things to him. In fact I phoned the “Daily Guide” office and complained about his conduct. The initial response from his employers was that he goes to the radio station in his own capacity. When I drew his employers' attention to the fact that he was always introduced on air as “Baby Ansaba of the 'Daily Guide'” his employers' saw the correctness of my point and apologised.

What he has just done is the exact replica of what Mr. Ebenezer Josiah, a former Editor of the “National Democrat” newspaper did in 2005 when he came out publicly in a press release that all the things that he purportedly wrote about former President Kufuor and other NPP functionaries were mere machinations by some individuals in the NDC. He claimed that beside his by-lines, he knew nothing about most of such malicious stories that were composed and published in the newspaper that he was editing. He also claimed that such stories were, without basis, cooked and planted in the paper.

As usual, he too apologised to President Kufuor, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, Mrs. Gladys Asmah and others. The next time I heard of him was in the UK pursuing further studies under a scholarship scheme apparently as a reward for his “confessions”. Will Ebenezer “Baby” Ato “Ansaba” Sam also get something from this confession? We live to see. Incidentally, the two have Ebenezer as their first names.

Gradually, a dangerous perception that the average journalist in Ghana is a mere stooge of political leaders is gaining grounds in this country. Somewhere in November 2008, Dr Kwabena Adjei quipped in a radio interview whether journalists in Ghana were merely executing “garbage in, garbage out journalism”.

If Mr. Ato Sam were with scruples, he would not have come out with this statement. This is because, any journalist worth his sought who understands his profession well would not countenance a situation whereby stories that are without basis are cooked and planted in their names.

What he did not tell Ghanaians was whether he did not take money before he did those things he claimed he did – assuming what he said was true.

Indeed, I now understand why of all the numerous names under the universe, he chose “Baby” to replace his real name. His recent conduct is an indicative that he is indeed a “baby”. I pity him for what he has done and I am entreating Ghanaians to treat Ebenezer Ato Sam aka Baby Ansaba with the highest contempt that he deserves. I recognize him as a hungry man who cannot withstand hardships in life. I think Ghana has more stomach Journalists than stomach politicians.

Ghanaians, particularly, the NDC should disregard him because he cannot be relied upon for any serious engagement.

On the website of “ModernGhana.Com” is a picture of Ebenezer Ato Sam with an NPP scarf around his neck. At that moment, he was being more Catholic than the Pope. This picture goes with a report that an “honour” has been bestowed on him by the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA). It serves him great.

While he apologises to H.E. President John Evans {Atta} Mills, he should apologise to Ghanaians as well. He made us to believe that the then opposition leader, Prof. John Evans {Atta} Mills was not a healthy man. Whether what he said was the truth or not is history.

However, what happened on the day of the swearing in of H.E. President John Evans {Atta} Mills and subsequently in Parliament during the presentation of the State of the Nation address, have yet to erase from the minds of Ghanaians. The 6th March 2009 “one word-one sheet” speech for the President that was highlighted by GTV is there for posterity to judge Baby Ansaba with his claims.

At least, I listened to Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr. on Peace FM about the health problems of H.E President John Evans {Atta} Mills. In commenting about the various media reports on the president's health condition on “Peace FM”, he said “the president embarked upon the 2008 electioneering campaign against his doctor's advice not to walk too much in the sun hence the president was having difficulty reading”. When the host of the programme asked “with or without glasses”, he (Mr. Pratt) emphatically responded “yes” stressing that at a time when too much noise was being made on the promulgation of the disability bill, Ghanaians dared not to be seen to be hypocrites and behave as if people with certain disabilities should be de-motivated to share their talents and good qualities with Ghanaians. And also to remind Baby, the NDC reportedly came out to comment on the ill-health situation of the President. The party never denied those reports.