Statesman's story is not true - Aggudey

Accra, June 17, GNA - Mr George Opesika Aggudey, Convention Peoples Party (CPP) presidential candidate on Wednesday said he would be doing the Party and himself and a great disservice to say that he does not need the Media.

Speaking with the Ghana News Agency in reaction to a publication in 'The Statesman', an Accra daily, which quoted him as saying that he did not need the Media, Mr Aggudey denied ever making such a statement to the newspaper's reporter.

He said he told the reporter he was not going to speak to him on phone because anybody at all could call and introduce him or herself as a journalist, which he considered improper.

The CPP presidential candidate said when the person called and introduced himself as a reporter from the Statesman, he told him he won't talk to him, but not to the entire Media because he knew some journalists had "malicious" intent against him.

"What the paper reported was never true, in any case, why should I make such a statement when I know where the CPP my Party is coming from?

"The CPP everybody knows, is the Party that believes so much in the Media and its indispensable role in our democratic development," he said.

Mr Aggudey recalled an earlier occasion during which he said, he was misunderstood and misrepresented after he had asked a reporter who called to interview him whether he had seen his secretary. Dr Edmund Delle, CPP National Chairman, also told the GNA that the media today deserved so much commendation because "Ghana is what it is today because the Media has been vibrant and dynamic in consolidating her democracy".

He said if there was something the CPP would die for in sustaining the growth and development of Ghana, then it would be towards ensuring a free independent Media.

Dr Delle held that the CPP, under the late Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was the most Media friendliest and that it was through the Media that the Party derived its strength to win the elections.

"It would, therefore, be strange that our presidential candidate will say he will not talk to the media," the Party Chairman reiterated.