By
Solomon Mensah
 |
| Kwaku Sakyi-Addo |
Kwaku Sakyi-Addo had
announced his presence earlier on to the school as his posters flooded the
campus. One of such posters pasted somewhere at the entrance gave students
assurance that Kwaku’s talk, as usual, will not be as boring as a civil
servant’s memo.
So when the day was
due, I
was torn between the anvil and the hammer contemplating as to whether I revise
my notes for the mid-semester examination or join my colleagues at the seminar
room to listen to the ace broadcaster.
At last, the man I
listened to on News File (Joy Fm) from the two loud speakers of Alavanyo Spot
in Sunyani was in front of me. I could not believe my eyes but really it was
Kwaku Sakyi-Addo. As old as (I guess) he would be, Kwaku’s well built muscles
popped in his white long sleeve cotton shirt gave him a youthful look.
Unlike some of our
leaders who bury their heads in written speeches like the ostrich does in the
sand, the onetime BBC’s correspondent exhibited a sense of intellectualism. For
his close to an hour interaction with the students of the Ghana Institute of
Journalism, he poured statistics pertaining to the Ghanaian Telecommunications on
the writing board without looking on any paper. Impressive! As pleasing as he
sounded to the ear, at a point in time, I thought he was reciting one of the
best African poems we learnt at secondary school.
All too soon, the
lecture was over but Kwaku Sakyi-Addo could not have resumed his seat without
passing a word of advice.
As benevolent as Kwaku
is, he had provided us kebabs and some crates of Coca Cola. This was a funny
way of a guest “welcoming” a host. But without towing the Ghanaian way of
hesitating over a gift that he would ultimately accept, we said ‘thank you’ to
him for his benevolence.
He “prayed” that the
kebabs and crates of Coca Cola, which he sponsored, become the “last supper” of
the would-be journalists. Kwaku’s concern was the shame some journalist cause the
inky fraternity at gatherings when they fight over kebabs, Coca Cola, “soli” and
the like. So his benevolence should tell us that if we work hard, we can afford
to buy more than a stick of kebab.
Shunning the sweat that
trekked in-between his left eye and the nose, he rose again on his toes. This
time, the seminar room was calmer than the cemetery as he lamented over the
attitudes of the bad nuts. Looking at the contours on the face of my secret admirer,
one needed not a psychologist to tell that the man with a patented
throat-clearing stints signature was disturbed.
With his agility with
words, crafting and weaving them as though he was weaving a basket, he advised
the gathering. “As you go out into the
field of journalism, do not go and join the black sheep in the media landscape.
Value yourself. Mind you, you are more valuable than a kebab or perhaps a bottle
of Coca Cola. I find no sense when trained journalists chase such eateries at
the expense of their duty,” he said.
Kwaku’s words goose
fleshed our skins sheltering us like the brood of ducklings lain in-between the
bent leg of one of the horses in Animal Farm. Indeed, the accomplished
broadcaster and now the CEO of The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT)
wish we (would-be journalists) rise above his achievements. He would therefore
not leave us to wander aimlessly in our chosen profession.
I think it will be
prudent clearing the air that Kwaku Sakyi-Addo had no beef with kebab sellers neither
the Coca Cola Company nor a section of any media practitioners. Rather, a share
of sentiments that has the potential of crippling the Ghanaian media.
So, was it wrong when Kwaku
Sakyi-Addo posed behind the podium as a father in advising his ‘children’? I
guess your response is a gargantuan NO! The time has come for a rigorous
cleansing of the journalistic profession.
“Profession” according
to the Oxford dictionary online is “a paid occupation, especially one that
involves prolonged training and a formal qualification.” Moreover, the
Cambridge dictionary also defines it as “any type of work which needs special
training or a particular skill, often one which is respected because it
involves a high level of education.” Pardon me for bothering you with definitions
but it is a way of helping understand what we might take for granted,
“profession.”
From the two well carved
definitions above, one must do all things gentlemanly to further uplift the
image of his or her profession. So satirically, we hear lawyers, especially the
student-lawyers, say that all professionals are educated but only lawyers are
learned. This irrespective of its impact on academia, it is a way to make the
“I put it to you” profession look lucrative and special. Therefore, if one
spends two to four years in school to be taught and trained as a journalist,
then it behoves upon such a person to hold the journalistic profession also in
high esteem. Whereas a doctor who gobbles over food at a gathering would be
chastised by the Medical Association, the journalist who does not only gobble
but packs food shamefully must also be chastised by the journalistic body.
As if by design, while
Kwaku Sakyi-Addo was saddled with some journalists’ bad attitude towards “item
13,” a chunk number of the lecturers at the Ghana Institute of Journalism buried
their chins in the palm over indecent dressing. Bursting out (but soberly) like
over pumped football, one of these lecturers pleaded to the First and Third
Year students (females) of the Institute to put a stop to their “breast
release.”
When this Lecturer (who
I will like to remain anonymous) first mentioned her coined term, breast release,
the ‘editors’ among us (the students) gathered for orientation towards
internship thought she meant “press release.” She said she had observed an
indecent dressing among some section of the female students whereby their
breasts pop up like the mucus in a crying child’s nose.
I almost said amen when
she said, “declare today that you will put a stop to this kind of indecent
dressing as you are leaving for internship.” Don’t mind me for I was so
touched. “Be mindful that not only will you disgrace womanhood with this
indecent exposure but tarnishing the image of journalism as well,” she added.
Personally, I find it
hard to comprehend why a woman would like to expose her breast publicly. To my
surprise, I have never come across a dead woman laid-in-state with part of her
breast released. Tell me if you have found one yourself.
This lecturer in
question said she has for many occasions called on such breast releasers to
teach them how to dress and advised them to stop broadcasting what they release
to their viewers. I am therefore tempted to ask that if the dead’s breast will
not be shown, why the would-be journalist?
It is said that when
rain falls, it does not fall on only one roof. So another worried Lecturer
could not let the first Lecturer’s “rain” fall on only the female students. The
blindly copy of Otto Pfister’s (a coach who once managed Ghana’s football team)
trousers below his buttocks was frowned upon.
This second Lecturer
was also worried as to why one will intentionally pull his trousers below his
buttocks. He called on the few students who adore this style of dressing to
emulate their colleagues’ proper way of dressing.
As if that was not
enough, a word of caution was sent across instructing that one keep a well
shaped hair. “The vagabond way of hair style does not befit any profession
especially journalism,” the second concerned Lecturer said. Well said, one can
just tag another to a group of people by a mere look of his or her haircut. Owing
to this, nurses (both student-nurses and practising nurses) cannot just put up
any hair style. Can you imagine a nurse with a six feet high wig like Papa
Ajasco’s wife’s headgear attending to you as a patient? Such frightful scene of
hair style is now being worn by men as well with some having inscriptions
written on their heads. This, common sense tells us that it will not be
welcomed in the media landscape.
It will not be out of
place to applaud Kwaku Sakyi-Addo and the Lecturers at the Ghana Institute of
Journalism in helping ensure that “sanity” prevails in the media profession.
This piece built upon
the words of the two parties above does not seek to restrict anyone in the
media of any kind of reception offered him or her, but, rather, to advise that
one must put self value first before the stomach. The breast release (a new
term you can adopt) is just a reminder to the practising journalists and would-be
journalists to continue to be decent and modest in terms of clothing.
How I wish someone tell
Kwaku Sakyi-Addo that “I want more” of his kebab as said in the Pure Milk’s
advertisement on television. Hey, I do not mean to make noise over it like the “stubborn”
child in the ad. I have learnt my lessons.
The writer is a
student-journalist at the Ghana Institute of Journalism
Email:
nehusthan4@yahoo.com
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