An Indelible Blemish

President John Evans Atta Mills

The government might have rescinded its obnoxious decision over the boycott of dealings with the Multimedia Group, but the blight it has deposited on the image of those at the helm of state affairs remains.

An indelible blemish as it is, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will bear the blotch, one of many to its discredit, as long as it remains a player on the country's political turf.

 A member of the ruling party's legal team sounded an unremorseful warning to other media houses that they too could suffer the tribulation visited upon the Multimedia Group. Coming a couple of days before the so-called peace pipe was smoked, we can only sneer at the rescission of the decision.

The behind-the-scenes manouvres by an image-dented government to douse the effects of the action and the largely untrue dispatches pointing at a begging Multimedia seeking a rescission of the action, can form another commentary theme.

We recall the attempts at re-branding the party in the heat of the then Candidate John Evans Atta Mills's quest for power when the NDC strategists flew the 'new NDC kite'. It was thought that could change the negative impression of brawniness about the party as it tried its hands on democracy and good governance.  

As a political project, it failed to reach fruition, with the trappings of bad conduct and uncivility continuing to feature in the dealings of the party, which situation could cause the party a fatal hemorrhage.

The choreographed peace-pipe smoking ritual, which took place last weekend, cannot be detached from both the local and international bashing the government suffered.  

The mediation was a cosmetic treatment to a cancerous challenge underpinning the private media/Mills government relationship, which we brush under the carpet at the peril of democracy. Private sector media managers continue to contain the subtle vindictiveness of a paranoid government.

As business entities employing so many Ghanaians and thereby contributing to the economic development of the country, the welfare paying taxes et al, the survivability of these companies should be of concern to government, regardless of their perceived unfriendliness.

The asphyxiating policies against the private media are inconsistent with the tenets of democracy, and this is worth considering by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the National Media Commission (NMC) and all who cherish the enhancement of democratic values vis-à-vis media role.

The unwritten directive to MDAs to starve 'unfriendly' private media of advertisements is as old as the Mills government. As for the tax managing authorities, their unusual auditing of the books of such media establishments- the Daily Guide inclusive- is to stumble upon anomalies and exact politically-motivated punitive measures and possibly cripple these businesses.

Have we ever considered how ineffective the sentinel role of the media would have been without the private segment of the fourth estate of the realm? The long arm of Castle operatives in the indirect management of the state media has left in its wake varied editorial challenges.

What the Multimedia Group suffered is only a microcosm of what others have gone through- including Western Publications Limited, publishers of Daily Guide- which between them employ hundreds of Ghanaians across the country. And these establishments continue to suffer at the hands of a vindictive Mills government.

Will the terms of settlement include acquiescence by the Multimedia Group, to be dictated to by the Castle Boys? What a government!