Re: Petition To Speaker Of Parliament By Women For Justice In The Ashanti Region

I have noted with shock and dismay a petition by a so-called Women for Justice in the Ashanti Region, to the Speaker of Parliament calling on him to punish the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, for his disparaging remarks against President John Dramani Mahama and radio presenter, Valentina Nana Agyeiwaa.

According the spokesperson for the group, Mrs Alice Anthony, the action of the MP has brought the office of the President into disrepute and cast a dark slur on Parliament, and therefore called on all women groups in the country “to rise and speak against Mr Agyapong’s brazen disregard for the dignity of the Ghanaian woman”

I find this call by this unknown group of women as rather very unfortunate and discriminatory. I also find the women’s call a disgrace to womanhood.

Much as I didn’t agree with the manner and language in which Mr Agyapong responded to Valentina Nana Agyeiwaa, alias Afia Schwarzenegger, one was expecting such women’s groups like the Women for Justice in the Ashanti Region, to have first condemned the behaviour of Afia Schwarzenegger, who even went to the extent of insulting the mother of the Member of Parliament, who is also a woman.

Afia Schwarzenegger, knowing very well that Mr Agyapong is a businessman, invariably declared him a thief or someone who acquired his wealth through dubious means, by sarcastically asking Mr Agyapong on her radio programme to tell Ghanaians where he got his wealth from. This was in addition to some unprintable words she used on the MP when the MP had not done anything wrong against this radio presenter.

The unprovoked attacks and insults by Afia Schwarzenegger on the Member of Parliament should have been condemned immediately after her programme by her employers, Despite Group of Companies, Okay FM, and indeed the National Media Commission (NMC) and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).

When the Despite Group of Companies, the NMC, the GJA and concerned women’s group failed to condemn the unprovoked attacks by the radio presenter on the Member of Parliament, were we expecting Mr Agyapong to keep quiet when his integrity was at stake, and even been declared a thief or acquired his wealth through dubious means?

As human beings, we all have our tolerance levels, and again, members of parliament and other public office holders or politicians generally, are not angels despite the fact the we expect higher level tolerance and good conduct from them. Mr Agyapong’s response was therefore unacceptable, but we would have been spared this if the appropriate had acted appropriately immediately after he was attacked.

The very late face-saving statement issued by the NMC did not have any effect as it failed to first condemn Afia Schwarzenegger, who in recent times has taken undue advantage of having free airtime provided by the Despite Group of Companies on both television (UTV) and radio (Okay FM) to disparage people in all spheres of our national life without anyone calling her to order. By grouping Mr Agyapong and Afia Schwarzenegger together for a simple condemnation was a failure on the part of the NMC.

To the Women for Justice in the Ashanti Region, if anyone has disgraced or devalued womanhood, it is Valentina Nana Agyeiwaa (Afia Schwarzenegger) and not Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, therefore the members must be ashamed of themselves for shielding Afia Schwarzenegger with the petition to the Speaker of Parliament instead of calling the unprofessional radio presenter to order for at least insulting Kennedy Agyapong’s mother on radio.

We have people paid by the state to defend the President in all aspects including numerous communication team members who are there to respond on behalf of the President when attacked in the media. Because such people are professionals, society expects them to respond to any insults on the person or office of the President in a professional way, and not the way the fame-and-self-seeking Afia Schwarzenegger went about on the radio.

In growing our democracy, let’s learn to praise where praise is due and condemn when condemnation is due, instead of always using politics as a shield to cover wrong-doers.

Unprofessional people like Afia Schwarzenegger should not have been given the unfettered space and free airtime on television and radio in Ghana. The good image of the media houses of the Despite Group of Companies has been greatly dented by Afia Schwarzenegger.

By the way, who are the members of this so-called Women for Justice in the Ashanti Region?

Dr Frankie Asare-Donkoh
Political Scientist & Media and Communication Consultant