'Stop the deliberate search for scandals where none exist' — Mahama cautions media

President John Dramani Mahama has urged journalists to exercise restraint in their pursuit of public accountability, warning that what he considers excessive confrontation with government officials could shift attention away from national development priorities.

Addressing the 30th Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Media Awards in Accra on Saturday, November 7, the President called for a clear distinction between legitimate scrutiny of public officials and journalism driven by confrontation.

He took issue with reporters who, in his view, go beyond investigative scrutiny by publicly challenging ministers to appear on their programmes to answer questions over alleged inconsistencies.

“We must also draw the line where journalism becomes adversarial. As a trained journalist myself, I believe that it pushes the limits of media zealotry when a journalist publicly challenges a minister to call into his show to expose him over a so-called discrepancy that the journalist has discovered.”

While acknowledging the media's responsibility to scrutinise government, Mahama said journalists and public officials should engage constructively to advance the public interest.

He maintained that his administration would protect the media's watchdog role but cautioned against what he described as deliberately searching for controversies that do not exist.

“This government that I lead will uphold the media mandate to hold government to account. But it distracts attention from the people’s business when we split hairs in a deliberate search for scandals where none exist,” he said.

The President's remarks come against the backdrop of public debate over the GH¢49.7 million spent on evacuating 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa following renewed xenophobic attacks.

The Minority in Parliament has raised questions about the expenditure, particularly alleged inconsistencies in records relating to the GH¢5,000 reintegration grant and GH¢500 transport allowance reportedly allocated to each evacuee.

It has consequently demanded an independent audit of the evacuation exercise and called on Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to account for the expenditure.