KKD “THE FINEST” and the Talking Society

As a society, our national discourse has deteriorated so fast. Evidence of this can largely be found in the level of mediocrity that has engulfed our talk show programmes. Any body gets up, claims to have expertise in almost every field, and gets the platform to talk rubbish! We talk too much, often baselessly and defying logic. This is a worrying and dangerous trend that needs to be condemned in strong terms and curtailed forthwith. Otherwise it would hunt every one of us; our children and their grandchildren would substitute critical thinking for hearsay, rumors and gossips as social values. Such behavioural tendencies can't evolve inquiry minds and a scientific society. Learning takes place from our immediate environment and the kind of social experiences our young ones are exposed to determine their way of thinking and actions. If we prove to be a critical society, they will grow to be so. Criticality doesn't lie in just opposing or supporting an issue, it's conceptually about one's ability to consider all aspects of the issue, reflect and take a cautious stance even if it goes against a preconceived view. Every Head of State of Ghana from Dr. Nkrumah to Mr. John Dramani Mahama has made similar observations regarding our talking, uncritical society and lamented bitterly. Our school system is not supportive either; teachers are always right, weakening their students' ability to critique them. Our cultural antecedent is largely an autocratic and dogmatic one, making it difficult to critique the status quo.

In particularly, we are too quick to crucify people embroiled in a scandal, be it political or social, without affording ourselves with further and better particulars. One typical case that fascinates me most and strikes me thinking every day is the Bishop Obinim vrs the Pregnant Woman saga. Sometime in the first week of December, 2014 a certain video went viral on the social media in which Daniel Obinim, Pastor and Founder of the International God's Way Church was supposedly stepping on and kicking the stomach of a pregnant woman. This came following an earlier verbal confrontation between himself and Afia Swaznegaer, as well as his previous extra marital scandal and an alleged vandalism of a certain radio station in Accra some two years ago. As a consequent, the Pastor's head was chopped into pieces without checking the veracity of the story. Surprisingly, a reputable institution like the Ghana Chapter of Amnesty International demanded the arrest and prosecution of Bishop Daniel Obinim for stomping on the 'protruded belly' of the supposed pregnant woman. Several groups, including the MamaYe Campaign and the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR) all condemned the alleged act. A motivational speaker Reverend Albert Ocran also told MORNING STARR host Kafui Dey few days later that criminal charges must be pressed against Obinim for doing what he did. Nobody including Amnesty International attempted to find out who this lady was, or interviewed her; and nobody got the side of the “crucified pastor” until he released the full tape. To cut the story short, as it turned out in a full video released later, the lady was never pregnant and that she instead became pregnant and gave birth after an exorcism session in Obinim's church. Those critics did not retract their frivolous and nebulous charge against the Pastor. Ah! How can we build such a society? The story has since died naturally. That Amnesty boss, Lawrence Amesu, would have resigned, if he found himself in an advanced society!

In the early hours of Sunday 28th December, we woke up to the story of an arrested Ace broadcaster Kwasi Kyei Darkwah (aka KKD), for allegedly raping a certain adult lady of 19 years the previous night. Since then the social media has been undated with a barraged of attacks on KKD. The man has simply been disadvantage by his status (age, social class etc). Significant number of people have allegorized and moralized the scandal and questioned KKD's moral uprightness. Few have, however, questioned the moral turpitude of the young lady in question. In social reality, there are two major means for ascertaining #‎Truth‬‬, one is by experiential or empirical means (observing with our five senses); the other is by rational means (applying deductive-inductive logic). In the present case, all of us were not there to observe the event, so we can only apply deductive-inductive reasoning instead. Now how can anybody justly think, make meaning of the situation and come to a sound conclusion without painstakingly getting the full details of the issue? Rambunctiously incredible, isn't it?

From day one, it does appear that we haven't been fair to the man on this matter. KKD's head has been on the chopping board, being slashed left, right, and center defenselessly. We seem to believe the young lady's story that she was raped, which is fine! But, consider the man's side that they had consensual sex, why are we not willing to take his side too? Our court of public opinion has declared the man guilty as charged! So how did we arrive at our moral/legal judgment? Is it because it's KKD, certain celebrity, 49 years old man? Or yours is based simply on your sympathy for the lady? In such situation, it's the court that could have the capacity to judge so that we may pass comments thereafter. Until the null hypothesis that KKD is innocent is rejected, we cannot conclude otherwise. Those who seek just must obey a fundamental principle of natural justice, Audi alteram partem(hear the other side too). You can choose to be on any of the sides but do so cautiously, bearing in mind that your view may not be the #Truth. That means you are being pragmatist and acknowledging that your truth isn't immutable.

In 2015, our society must strive to eschew hearsay, triviality and sensationalism and embrace the full concept of criticality in our national discourse.

#‎TalkingSociety‬‬ and #‎TheFinest‬‬

Prince Hamidu Armah
Social Scientist
United Kingdom
[email protected]