PLEASE JOY FM AND CO., DON’T BE TOO PETTY!!!

On Saturday, May, 19, 2007, one of my favourite and educative talk show programmes- “Newsfile”- was beamed live on JOY Fm. As usual, a host of pertinent issues were discussed on the show and insightful knowledge, I must say, was acquired by those who cared to do so.

Among the issues discussed was the energy crisis, a challenge the country is confronted with. This is not to say however that this challenge we are faced with is a novelty as it has happened before in 1983,84,93,98, and 99 with the worst crisis in the nation's 50 year history having been recorded in 1983 during the reign of the (P)NDC, “from whence cometh the energy tin gods the country has ever been blessed with”. God save us oo!!!

As attempts are being made to resolve them, the Government Spokesperson on Governance, in answer to a question by the host, said the load management exercise would end in August 2007.

This answer elicited an intervention by the Deputy Minister of Information and National Orientation who sought to rectify the position taken by her representative. In an unprecedented manner in our political landscape where leaders will not openly disagree with people from their own camps on an issue, for fear of being labeled as double-tongued, the Hon. Deputy Minister did the honourable thing.

She corrected the Spokesperson on the issue and personally took responsibility for the error, since according to her, she failed to brief him accordingly. What more do we expect of a modern day Ghanaian politician?

Unfortunately however, and this is not strange, she slipped when giving the 30th September deadline and instead mentioned 31st. Which credible, serious and non mischievous person will take this as a case? Who does not know that there is nothing like 31st September and as such treat it as a slip and nothing else?

Strangely enough, a well known, fully fledged website as myjoyonline.com went ahead and placed this on its site without doing the necessary corrections or putting anything in parenthesis or any editorial comment that it was probably a slip. Other websites also proceeded from there to pick the story, credited JOY fm, and asked whether there was no end in sight to the energy problem, based on the 31st date.

But for mischief or other ulterior motives, what other reason could be adduced for this? JOY Fm, you should be above this pettiness and cheap propaganda, as you could have done better. I believe you owe the Deputy Minister, whose intervention enriched your programme, an unqualified apology. Come clean on this, lest I am disappointed in you.

On a lighter note, I was listening to Citi Fm this morning, May 22, 2007, when one of my cherished morning show hosts in Ghana today, Bernard Avle made a slip when in reiterating “so four (4) issues were raised”, said “so four (4) issues were rosed”. I know it was a slip and I did not skip a beat!

Let me however conclude by saying that I am shocked and appalled at the way and manner some so called NDC bigwigs have taken this bit and are making political capital out of it. This is shameful indeed. Is the NDC and its cronies so bereft of sound, meaningful and constructive campaign messages and ideas such that they will lurch on embarrassingly to any trivial slip in their desperate quest to achieve power? Hmm!!!!


KOBLA NUVIADENU.