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23.11.2019 Feature Article

Afia Pokua at Okay FM Radio Station Must Get Her Facts Right

Afia Pokua at Okay FM Radio Station Must Get Her Facts Right
23.11.2019 LISTEN

Wielding a sharpened double-edge sword that cuts on both sides, I have the right of duty to praise and to condemn a person depending on their actions and inactions at the time of their occurrence. I had on about two occasions published articles praising Ms Afua Pokua, alias Vim Lady, when she was at Adom Fm. However, in this publication, I am going to reprimand her for overreacting in a manner deemed unethical behaviour to her profession.

Much as Ghanaian journalists in Ghana exercise their journalism in anyway they deem fit, often seemingly influenced by their overt or covert political affiliation probably induced by underhand dealings, so do us, the public, must have the right to express our views about their conduct.

On Thursday, 21 November 2019, I tuned in to Okay FM online radio. Luckily or unluckily, I could hear Afua Pokua hosting a programme. After interviewing a certain lawyer to seek his views on the impending referendum on YES or NO for electing Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), she then interviewed one Mr Kokofu, a former NPP Member of Parliament for one of the constituencies in Kumasi.

After finishing with the lawyer her next interviewee was one Mr Kokofu. She asked him about an alleged NPP members instigating the termination of the newly appointment of one Dr Baffour Awuah from the Acting Director-General of the Ghana Health Service to Director-General of the Ghana Health Service. Barely the rumour of annulation of his appointment came to the public notice, the NDC rushed to stage one of their usual nonsensical quickie press conferences to condemn the purported action by the Nana Akufo-Addo's NPP government. Afua Pokua could be heard repeatedly exhibiting her biases. She was accusing the NPP, trying her hardest of course, but unprofessionally anyway, to push Kokofu into a tight corner only to be let off if he said yes. She was asking him if the NPP foot soldiers had really accused the Doctor of being an NDC stalwart hence they would not agree for him to be appointed as the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service. They would rather have the post go to an NPP person.

Mr Kokofu said that could not be true. However, he gave the NDC the benefit of the doubt and on condition that the NDC produce both the Doctor's appointment and termination letters for public scrutiny rather than going public to misinform the Ghanaians. All the while, Afua Pokua was naively, if not mischievously, insisting that NPP are wrong to terminate the man's appointment as he himself, whether an NDC member or not, is first and foremost, a Ghanaian and must have the right to work and be appointed to any position if he was qualified.

Yes, every Ghanaian must have the right to be offered employment. Yes, every Ghanaian must be treated the same according to the nation's constitution and the enjoyment of human rights which is universal.

Mr Kokufo, in proving that he was more knowledgeable than Afua Pokua, submitted that for every employment, the employee signs a contract with the employer in which the terms and conditions of his/her employment are stated. To add to the proposition by Kokufo, it must be noted that every contract allows for a period of probation to assess the newly employed worker. Within the duration of the probation, if the worker is performing abysmally, their contract can be terminated without the employer stating the reasons why. Does Afua Pokua, a lawyer or a future lawyer, know about this or about employment laws in general?

The Doctor was offered his new appointment by the president on 5 November 2019 and had it terminated on 15 November 2019, it is alleged. Whether he is an NDC member or not, whether his appointment was terminated having been instigated by NPP foot soldiers or not, does he not have both appointment and termination of contract letters to submit to the public for our perusal?

Why should Afua Pokua incessantly assert in the absence of proof that the some NPP members had forced the hands of the president to terminate the Doctor's appointment? Sorry to say, she was foolishly insisting that whether the doctor is a member of NDC or not, he has the right to work since he is a Ghanaian and paid by the Ghanaian taxpayers like any other person working in the public sector. She was vociferously insisting on the doctor's right to work regardless of his political affiliation.

Yes, she is right here. Every Ghanaian must be given the equal opportunity to find work and to work. Nonetheless, where was Afua Pokua, and what did she do when President Professor Evans Atta Mills sacked some security personnel and about 500 recruits into the army? Were they not Ghanaians? Did they not have the right to be employed and/or maintained their jobs? What did you, Afua Pokua, say, when those people were sacked with the NDC offering some flimsy excuses or not giving any reasons at all? Were they, or some of them, not perceived as belonging to the NPP? Could that not be the only reason for the abrogation of their contracts?

Read More: Rawlings barks, Mills sacks
I published some articles relating to how the Ashantis were being discriminated against under the Evans Atta Mills/John Dramani Mahama's NDC administration. One of such articles is cited below. What did Afua Pokua do about it or she did not see or read the said articles? If she happened to read them, did she bother to conduct her own open or secret investigations into my assertions? If she did not, why? Could she not be bothered because they are Ashantis and are not Ghanaians or it is because they vote principally the NPP of which political party she probably has aversion to?

Read More: Suppression of Ashantis under the NDC Government
What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. Therefore, if Afua Pokua has sympathy for the doctor to the point of vehemently slacking off the NPP for terminating a Ghanaian's appointment for stupid partisan reasons, she must have the same compassion for Ashantis, and the soldiers sacked. She must not be a selective hypocrite to loquaciously open her mouth to rumble anyhow.

Read More: Daily Guide: More Soldiers Sacked
Finally, has she ever heard about the phrase "positive discrimination?" When is it applied and in which countries has it ever been applied?

For the sake of the reading public, let me help her. Positive discrimination is defined by the dictionary as "the provision of special opportunities in employment, training, etc. for a disadvantaged group, such as women, ethnic minorities, etc.: US equivalent: affirmative action". It has taken place under the late President Nelson Mandela of South Africa to help the Black South Africans get jobs. This is because they had been discriminated against, denied jobs or higher positions, during the apartheid regime of the Afrikaners (White South Africans). Again, in about a year or so ago, the British Police advertised to recruit only Black, Asian, or people of the minority extraction in United Kingdom into the police force. The government had come to the conclusion that for all those years, despite the growth in the minorities population in the UK, their number has not been proportionately reflected in the police force. Therefore, recruiting only people from the minority background could fairly address the situation as long as they are all qualified. The little said explains it all.

Under the NDC regimes dating from Rawlings' PNDC era until John Dramani Mahama's, the NDC had always discriminated against certain people of a particular political and tribal background. This is a fact that can only capably be disputed by Afua Pokua if she wishes. Therefore, if "positive discrimination" was probably being called for, what was wrong about it? Were those neglected under the NDC, also not Ghanaians?

Afua Pokua could not care a hoot about them for reasons only best known to her. Nevertheless, she has the shameless audacity to conclude, although without proof, that the Doctor's appointment was terminated for the fact that he is an NDC member.

Whenever she interviews a member of the NPP when there is a seeming political problem that is potentially injurious to the NPP, one sees how gleefully maliciously she tries her hardest to put blame on the NPP with or without proofs. I have observed her do that when listening to her on the radio. What a shame!

Rockson Adofo
Saturday, 23 November 2019

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