Friday 20 December 2019

TALKING DRUM: Of grounded ambulances, a bewitched president & the 37 masquerades

Grounded ambulances at the forecourt of Parliament/Sate House

August 31st, 2019 marked my fourth year since I relocated from Spintex to somewhere in the Ga South Municipality in the Greater Accra Region. For these past years, I have observed one worrying trend on the Mallam-Odorkor Highway and George Walker Bush Highway [also known as the N1].

Almost every day, I see, at least, two taxis with their drivers crazily honking at others. Drivers of these taxis are themselves not crazy. They honk at their fellow drivers because at that material moment, their cars are not mere vehicles for carrying ‘ordinary’ passengers. They are ambulances!

At the back seats of these taxis, always stretching my neck to see when possible, is a pregnant woman— ostensibly in labor— sandwiched by two men,. Then, there would be another person at the front seat

The front-seat-sitting passenger’s role is to stretch his/her hand signaling other drivers to give way. The saddest part of the narrative is that, usually, such taxi-turned-ambulances honk in vain. They meet stagnant vehicular traffic that makes me cry and cringe within.

Yet, when they gradually make it to hospitals such as Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the taxi-tuned-ambulance is greeted with an inscription at the health facilities’ entrances— “Taxis Are Not Allowed!” Is this not sickening?

Having narrated all the above, what makes the ambulance debate in our country utterly sickening is the reason behind the Nana Akufo Addo-led government grounding 96 out of the 275 ambulances procured for all the constituencies in the country.

In a Neat FM interview, Minister for Special Development Initiative, Mavis Hawa Koomson, fully-filled with arrogance and power like that of a tethered he-goat, spewed some indescribable words in her analysis on these ambulances that have become an albatross on our necks.

When I saw a YouTube link of the said interview, I quickly downloaded it and watched the whole of the 19 minute 5 second long video. Although the link was shared by – I think – Peace FM’s Facebook account, I could not believe it at first.

Madam Koomson’s comments were so harsh, cruel and insensitive that I doubted she could have said that. Whoever has listened to the said tape would attest that the comments do not match our minister’s age as a grownup adult.

“[…] I know people are dying. But, did people start dying today?” Mavis Hawa Koomson proudly said. If these words were to be bottled, I am over confidently certain that its pungent smell could kill an elephant when sprayed on it.

You have ambulances parked at the forecourt of the Parliament House while some of our pregnant women and other patients alike go through the hell of being transported in taxis to hospitals and is this the best response you could give?

Then, when on Friday, December 13, 2019, President Akufo Addo had an encounter with the media, it came to light that he had ordered Madam Hawa not to distribute the ambulances.

For the fear of being tagged a pioneer in favoritism, Nana Akufo Addo said his government would rather wait for the other remaining ambulances to be shipped down to Ghana before their overall distribution. I must say that his government’s reason is somewhat understandable. If we take a look at the brouhaha that surrounded the Finance Ministry’s ‘genuine error’ in the omission of Volta roads from the 2020 budget, for instance, one is tempted to side with the reason given for grounding the 96 ambulances.

Nonetheless, to a large extent, it does not in any way make sense to look on unconcerned while women in labor and the sick – in both the cities and villages – struggle for taxis and tricycles as ambulances just because you [the president] want to be liked by all. Is that how to govern a developing country?

Mr. President, as you are so determined to be liked by all, I guess you are in a wrong position as the country’s leader. To be liked by all, I think you need to rather venture into the sale of ice-creams!

On three consecutive Sundays now, I would see on my way to work some young men dressed as masquerades. They stand on the roads just by the 37 Military Hospital, dance and solicit for alms. Here, I have rather observed that these masquerades end up not getting anything from drivers who ply the roads there and the reason is simple.

These 37 [Military Hospital] masquerades instead of dancing to entertain a few of the drivers at a time to catch their attention properly, rather try pleasing every driver whose car waits in traffic. And, this is exactly the failed strategy our president hinges his hopes on that at the end of the day, all the 29 million or so Ghanaians would call him Father Christmas.

Looking at the caliber of person that we saw in the then presidential candidate, Akufo Addo, and what he has ‘grown into’ now in relation with his decisions as the president of the country, I cannot but believe those who claim that he has been bewitched.

I certainly believe that, perhaps, there is an enchantment at the Jubilee House that blinds its occupants. When they leave power – as John Mahama did – they regain their consciousness.

Today, Mr. Mahama pleads with Ghanaians to give him another chance because he has realized his mistakes. And, I can bet with my lens that Nana Akufo Addo will say same should he lose the 2020 elections.

It is 2:14am on Thursday as I write this piece. I need to now go to bed as work awaits me early in the morning. I can’t kill myself. However, let me just draw your attention – if you did not know – that in most of the developed countries including Sweden and America, there are ambulances for animals. If you critically study how pets/animals are treated so well elsewhere, one is tempted to say that most Ghanaians would never have this level of pet-treatment in their own country, considering how successive governments here think and play politics with our healthcare.

I am getting so much annoyed reflecting on this and I do not want to continue spewing fire. If you have time, please listen to the song titled 52 Ambulances by Knii Lante featuring Blakk Rasta. It sums up my thoughts.

The writer. Solomon Mensah, is a broadcast journalist with Media General (TV3/3FM). Views expressed here are solely his and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organisation.
Twitter: @aniwaba


Friday 13 December 2019

TALKING DRUM: Nana Addo, his colonial citizens & the ‘buy Ghana rice’ nonsense!



A photo of locally produced rice. Source: Culled from the internet.

I have always feared for patients— the sick I mean— who find time to listen to or watch news about Ghana or follow the country’s politics. I consider their plight as a suffering soul being hit with coup de grâce. Indeed, it is only he who wishes for a quick death that passionately follows these events with all their hearts.

It is not the case that we do not have qualified journalists to do a good job here in Ghana. Far from that. If I am not exaggerating, Ghana has great journalists that could compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world. The issue, rather, is that often these journalists’ stories reveal that the single scarcest commodity in the country is common sense. Yes, a revelation of lack of common sense mainly on the part of some of our leaders. That, which makes the listening to or watching of such news depressing!

Few weeks ago, TV3’s Peter Quao Adattor travelled to the Upper East Region of Ghana. He came back to Accra with a story that got almost everybody in the TV3 newsroom standing on their feet to express dismay.

The day we watched Mr. Adattor’s story as aired on Midday Live was on a Sunday afternoon. Rice farmers, especially in the valleys of Fumbisi and Gbedembilisi in the Builsa South District, had bountifully produced bags of rice. However, these farmers did not have [ready] market for their produce.

One farmer who spoke in the ‘Rice Glut’ story said that in order not to look on for their hundreds of bags to go waste, they were selling on promotional basis. When the market women buy two bags of the rice, they are given an extra bag each free of charge. Can you imagine!? As if that was not enough, even before the farmers could get these traders to do the buying, in the first place, they [farmers] would have to lure them by giving them one full guinea fowl also for free. Certainly, this is financially a dangerous time to be a rice farmer.

Then, the National Buffer Stock Company moved in to assess the situation on the back of the reported glut of rice. As predictable as the daily chaos at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange, the Chief Executive Officer of the Buffer Stock Company, Hanan Abdul-Wahab, promised these farmers of a ready market. That promise was actually to come into fruition in two weeks’ time from the day of the visit by the hypocrite fact-finding politicians.

As to whether this promise has been fulfilled or not is not really my source of worry. The farmers themselves did not believe that promise. What gets my head spinning is the apparent mindless game we— as a nation— proudly play. I have neither attended the University of Ghana Business School nor the London School of Economics. Nonetheless, there are some problems that do not require one to hold a certificate in a particular field before proffering a concrete solution to avert its occurrence in the first place.

From the days of Diego de Azambuja to the subsequent colonization of Africa by the greedy bustards, the plight of the continent’s farmers has been the same. There are deplorable roads linking farms to the cities and the preference of citizens going for foreign products over same produced locally have remained unchanged.

You ask yourself why we are so comfortable with this monumental failure and the answer is found right in the bosom of the greedy politicians. They would quickly choose their comfort over the plight of the masses. If not, why did they not find sense in proposing that the millions of dollars that they had wanted to use to construct that needless new chamber/parliament be used to, at least, give feeder roads to places where we get our foods from?

Why did they not, again, propose that such an amount be used to rigorously start a campaign to cut Ghana’s umbilical cord of overdependence? Would that not have weaned majority of our citizens off foreign goods? A lifestyle that only reflects what pertained in the colonial days.

The underlying argument here is that access to our farms and our preference for foreign goods hugely contribute to the losses we see our farmers suffer. And, to curb this trend goes beyond merely urging citizens to patronize locally produced rice [or any of such].

Speaking in Ho, the Volta Regional capital, to mark this year’s National Farmers’ Day, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo repeated a mistake he keeps committing. He urged Ghanaians to buy locally-grown rice.

Mr. President, because of you I am likely to write a book that would probably be dubbed ‘How To Govern A Developing Nation’. The truth is, we do not govern a developing nation by merely urging citizens to do the right thing. You impose! Impose hefty tariffs on imported rice/foods and other goods that our own people produce here. Why do we, for instance, allow an overflow of importation of poultry products while poultry farmers in Dormaa in the Bono Region alone could— to a large extent— feed the country?

And, should you think of the ripple effect of these measures to break the shackles of our underdevelopment, the formula to counter such [effect] is to let the nation endure whatever hardships that would come with it. If it so happens that even half of the state’s population would have to die of hunger, so be it. Those who would survive would live a better life thereafter and learn sense that overdependence on another state— especially on agriculture and health— is dangerous.

This is exactly what Richard Wright wrote to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in a letter as captured in the latter’s book, Dark Days In Ghana, that, “I say to you publicly and frankly: The burden of suffering that must be borne, impose it upon one generation! … Be merciful by being stern!”

Hello, Mr. President. I guess I have given you a clue on how to effectively run your government. There is no need telling Ghanaians that you and your wife cook local rice. How many bags of local rice do you buy in a year as a family? Borrowing the book title of the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, ‘With All Due Respect’, the next time you speak on this local rice, you must sound as a benevolent dictator in telling your citizens to purchase such.

If I were you, when citizens prove adamant buying, I would bill every public servant and SSNIT contributors a bag of the rice say, every three months, by deducting them from the source of their income. Even if everybody gets a cup of the rice, that will be fine. The soldiers at the various barracks are tasked to ensure that households get their deliveries and if they [citizens] will not eat it, they are at liberty to donate to the orphanages.

Until the day I hear of crazy measures as these to ensure we bridge the gap between the cities and villages and get Ghanaians to eat what they grow and grow what they eat, the so-called campaign on the purchase of local rice sounds but nonsense to my ears. It will only yield marginal results!

What have Emelia Arthur and Okyeame Kwame not done as ambassadors of the Made-In-Ghana campaign proper? You think about it and you ask yourself the question posed by the name of a show on Asԑmpa FM, Ԑkↄsii Sԑn? To wit, ‘How did it end?’

The writer, Solomon Mensah, is a broadcast journalist with Media General (TV3/3FM). Views expressed here are solely his and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organisation.
Twitter: @aniwaba


Sunday 13 October 2019

TALKING DRUM: Of the protesting law students & Nana Addo’s attack dogs!

Protesting law students hold placards 


Before the protesting law students embarked on their demonstration, speeches upon speeches were read by some executives of their front. Prominent among these speeches— in my view— was that by the President of the National Association of Law Students, Nii Adokwei Cudjoe.

Mr. Adokwei had not only charged his students to remain steadfast to their course of protesting for reforms in the country’s legal education but that they should vehemently resist the oppressor’s rule.

President, National Association of Law Students, Nii Adokwei Cudjoe addressing the protesters. Photo Credit: Writer
"History will remember you. Do not think what you are doing [the demonstration] is in vain? We have come to the crossroads and your boldness is a statement. We are not here hiding our faces. If we keep singing the National Anthem but do not live it then whom are we praying to? Resist oppressor's rule," he said.

As if by dint of fate, the protesters later on in their demonstration encountered a situation that demanded they vehemently resist the oppressor’s rule as earlier admonished.

Nonetheless, the protesting law students were as helpless as a tethered he-goat. They could not resist the oppressor— at that moment— being the Ghana Police Service and not the Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo.

Just about a stone throw from the Liberation Road, the direction from the Ako Adjei Overpass towards the Jubilee House in Accra, heavily armed police men and women numbering close to 20 or more confronted the protesting students.

This was on Monday, October 7, 2019 when the students had walked peacefully from the very entrance of the Ghana School of Law, using the Atta Mills Highstreet to negotiate the curve to walk in front of the High Court Complex through to the ministries to the Office of the Attorney General, to the office of the Ghana Bar Association [close to the Ghana Institute of Journalism] and finally headed to the Jubilee House where they were stopped on the Liberation Road.

I must state that I followed the protesters from the beginning of the journey till they met the police who used force on them. In all honesty, doing my job as a journalist on that day, reporting for Media General’s radio stations [3FM and Onua FM], I never saw the protesters showing any sign of aggression at any point. They didn’t pose danger to pedestrians/motorists or whoever came their way.

It was at the Office of the Attorney General that the students ambushed the vehicle of the Deputy AG, Godfred Dame. Here, I never saw any student raising a hand to hit his vehicle or whatsoever. The ambushing of Mr. Dame’s vehicle was just understandable in the given situation of a protest where the students needed nothing but the man taking their petition so they could leave.

This, when I later read a concocted account by the Ghana Police Service on the students’ demonstration, I pitied this country called Ghana. A law enforcement entity having a penchant for telling lies to save itself from atrocities committed is more dangerous than a mentally derailed man wielding a gun!

Portions of the said statement read: “They then headed towards Jubilee House and on reaching King Tackie Tawiah/[Ako Adjei] Overpass, they sat in the middle of the road and pelted the Police with stones and offensive weapons. In the process, police sprayed cold water and fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.”

To put it succinctly, it was not until the police prevented the students from marching to the Jubilee House that their leaders told them to sit down on the road. They did not just sit upon reaching there! Even this, Mr. Adokwei had pleaded with his members to occupy one lane of the road so approaching vehicles could have their way. The students eventually obliged.

Some students sit on the Liberation Road that leads to the Jubilee House. Photo Credit: Solomon Mensah
Again, no protesting student threw even a grain of gari at any police officer as the police claimed receiving pelted stones. If the police have evidence to this effect— being pelted with stones and others— then I dare them to bring forth such to counter some of us who followed the protest with rapt attention.

Rather annoyingly, it was the police who fired over 10 warning shots [into the air], fired rubber bullets [leading to a cameraman with Yen.com sustaining injuries] and aggressively using its water cannons on the students.

For those students who showed sign of resistance, they were hauled and manhandled like expired goods and shoved into police trucks.

Police hauls protester into truck. Photo Credit: Solomon Mensah
Observing the gloomy mood of the armed police, one would have thought that perhaps Boko Haram had invaded our country. So, it was sickening seeing the level of force used against a group of harmless protesters.

If the police had employed these heavily armed officers in the case of the Takoradi missing girls, I am certain we would have had a better story to tell of the girls. But, they remained adamant because they feared for their lives to confront the kidnappers [one of them is their own who aided the prime suspect to ‘break jail’] and now would annoyingly show their muscles on the protesting law students.

On the day of the protest, I spoke off camera to an officer of the Accra Regional Police Command who was at the scene of the police’s use of force. His account to me and what I subsequently heard the Director of Public Affairs at the Ghana Police Service, ASP David Eklu, narrate to 3FM News tell that the police merely acted as puppets of some persons within the Jubilee House on that fateful Monday.

Of a truth, the police’s account on why they stopped the protesters does not make sense. That, they did not approve the said demonstration. Meanwhile, the leadership of the students and the police had met about five days before the demonstration as they [leaders] submitted a letter of the protest detailing their route and what have you.

This, ASP David Eklu admits in the 3FM interview with morning show host, Winston Amoah, that they [police] had sent a separate letter of cancelation to the students but it could not reach them until the very morning of the day earmarked for the demonstration.

So, the police in its wisdom expected the students to call off their demonstration when they had made arrangements including buses, with other students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in the Ashanti Region and those from the University of Cape Coast all on their way to Accra to protest?

Again, if the police say the protest was illegal, why did they not stop the students from embarking it in the first place when they [police] were at the Ghana School of Law in the morning?

Clearly, it suggests that all is not well with the Ghana Police Service. Their inability to take sound decisions on their own often stupefies their front and this is true in their use of unnecessary force on the law students.

If you have a president who ‘cleared’ police officers mentioned for wrongdoings by the Emile Short Commission that probed the Ayawaso by election fracas, then you expect nothing but emboldening some of our police wo/men to wallow in their stupidity. Are these officers not ‘attack dogs’!?

Away from the police and their day of shame, I only think that the demands of the law students are genuine and all and sundry must join them in their ‘fight’ for reforms in the country’s legal education.

Does it make sense that a student having ‘Cs’ in three [3] subjects is said to have failed all other subjects even if they had say ‘As’ in the rest? Does it make sense that a student seeking to resit a failed paper is obliged to pay ₵3000? So, if you failed three papers you pay ₵9000 for resit! Are the resit papers questions set by God?

Why are students writing the contested entrance examination into the Ghana School of Law obliged to sign a bond/undertaking? Speaking to some of the protesters, I chastised them for signing such a document. No matter the explanation the students give, I think people being trained to be lawyers must not sign such an undertaking that forbids them from protesting if they failed the entrance examination.  

If one of America’s celebrated journalists, Amy Goodman, was right when she said, “Go to where the silence is and say something”, then this is the time for you [reading this piece] to say something in the face of powers-that-be going cold on the students’ demand.

The study of law— a prestigious profession— must not be made to seem in Ghana as though one is studying the nature and origin of the mysterious beings in heaven. The charcoal seller’s child must equally have access to the Ghana School of Law as has the crooked politician’s child.

The writer is a broadcast journalist with Media General [TV3/3FM]. Views expressed herein are solely his, and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organisation whatsoever.
Twitter: @aniwaba


Wednesday 4 September 2019

TALKING DRUM: Killing our officers, must we not challenge Amnesty Int’l Ghana whitewashing criminals?

Ghana Police Service. Photo Source: Culled from the internet

Just when I had ordered my banku at an eatery somewhat opposite the Afrikiko Restaurant in Accra, I had a call from the office. It was my colleague, Silvia Akorfa [Miss AK], calling with 3FM’s landline.

“Hey, Solomon where are you?” she asked.

Before I could tell her I was outside the premises of 3FM/TV3 for lunch, she pulled the breaks on me forcing me to swallow my words.

“Someone by name Patrick just called in from Liberia Camp enclave near Kasoa. He says some suspected armed robbers have shot dead a police officer and injured another,” continued Ms AK.

I quickly scripted a lead [the story] on my phone and dropped it on the newsroom’s WhatsApp page with the eyewitness’ contact attached. My Managing News Editor at Media General – Matilda Haynes – had a private chat with me.

“Please, try and get to the office. This is journalism,” she replied when I told her I was about eating. As the order came, I quickly dashed to 3FM’s studios to break the news. That was how I was immediately affected by the painful death of the police officer whom we later got to know went by the name Sergeant Michael Dzamesi.

Sgt. Dzamesi did not receive the fire alone. His colleague officer was involved, too. Lance Corporal Mohammed Awal, in a widely circulated social media video, had tried rushing for medical attention after being hit by the bullets. Apparently, confused bystanders had assisted him mount the back seat of a motorbike. He is seen slapping the hand of the rider to speed up; he was dying slowly of the bullet wounds!

As the motorbike sped off, voices are heard [according to the video] crying that Mohammed Awal was likely to fall off. To cut a long story short, the young man could not stand the bullet wounds. He passed on, too! This was on Wednesday, August 28 2019.

If for the temporary pangs of hunger I felt it so hard leaving my food to go report on that breaking news ─ as journalism takes no excuses but results ─ then can the dependents of these officers contain their ‘hunger’ for the years ahead? News reports suggest that both Sgt. Michael Dzamesi and Lance Corporal Mohammed were breadwinners of their respective families.

In 2019 alone, in a matter of barely a month, five police officers’ lives have been agonizingly taken by criminals.

Corporal Agatha Nana Nabin with the Northern Regional Police Command was, on July 30, shot dead at a police checkpoint. We are told it was on the Tamale-Kumbungu road in the Sagnarigu District.

August 19 announced the death of Corporal Bernard Antwi. The 37-year old was with the Manso Nkwanta Divisional Command in the Ashanti region.

Corporal Antwi was found dead at Manso Abodom in the Amansie West District of the region. News reports suggest he died after working hours.

Akyem Swedru Police Station’s General Lance Corporal Alhassan Asare also died on August 20. The incident which happened at the Dukes Fuel Station, in the Eastern region, had it that the 35-year old man had his rifle in between his thighs at the time of his death. What is not clear is whether he [mistakenly] shot himself or someone shot him.

Is it not heartbreaking that your husband or wife, sister or brother says goodbye to you in the morning that they are going to work and that they would be back only to hear they are no more? They are no more because someone decided to take their life!

This, the Amnesty International Ghana says we must respect the human rights of such criminals by not killing them in return. So, for many months now, the human rights organization has called on President Akufo Addo, the Attorney General and other stakeholders to expunge the death penalty sentence in Ghana's legal system.

If you care to know, Amnesty International Ghana actually wants the death penalty totally abolished from our laws by close of this year.

“Ghana has not executed anybody in the last ten years and it is believed to have established a practice of not carrying out executions. Although no official moratorium executions are in place, Ghana has not carried out an execution since 1993. Twenty countries in sub-Saharan Africa have already abolished the death penalty for all crimes; seven of which are in West Africa,” said the Director of Amnesty International Ghana, Robert Akoto Amoafo, at the launch of the Global Death Penalty Report. So was it captured by the news portal, Modern Ghana, in April 2019.

What irks me is Mr. Amoafo’s reiterated position that killing the law court’s certified criminals amounts to denying them their human rights.

“This is clear evidence that all countries in ECOWAS have abolished the death penalty in one way or another. The time is right for Ghana to join the league of abolitionist countries in Africa and the world by abolishing death penalty for all crimes. Let us all remember that death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights and simply does not deter crime in any way.”

Can I ask the Amnesty International Ghana if those the criminals killed had no human rights? I do not, in any way, oppose the operations of the human rights organization. But, when we embolden criminals this way, then I cannot help but speak up.

Is Robert Akoto Amoafo saying death penalty does not deter crime in any way? Well, he is not alone holding on to this assertion. Recently, I argued with a friend on same as he said if such punishment works, America would have been crime-free. My simple answer to him was that America’s crime rate stemmed from stupidity.

As I write this piece, August 31st, I have had notification on my phone from the BBC. It says, “A mass random shooting in the Texas city of Odessa has left ‘multiple gunshot victims’.” You cannot make the purchasing of guns as simple as one buying tomatoes from the Mallam Market – in Accra – and expect a sane society!

Commenting on the arrest of the crime suspect in the killing of the two police officers at Kasoa, security analyst Adib Saani, rather made a stern case that criminals must be shown the exit point of this world, too.

“A clear signal would also have to be sent, at least, to deter them [criminals] from towing the same line [committing murder]. And, I’m saying that – look – the legal regime would have to change so killing our officers would be tantamount to crimes against the state which invariably attracts death penalty,” Mr. Adib said in a TV3 interview.  

Indeed, Ghana could be a sane society as Japan if we would let common sense lead in how people get access to guns, deal with persons who abuse the use of such guns and shun Amnesty International Ghana’s hot air.

I must, however, add that if anyone mistakenly kills – manslaughter ─ then we could respect the human rights of such persons [killers] by sparing them to live on. We are all fallible as humans. But, my point is, our fallibility plays no role when we internationally perpetrate malice!

The writer is a broadcast journalist with Media General [TV3/3FM]. Views expressed herein are solely his, and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organisation whatsoever.
Twitter: @aniwaba
  

Friday 16 August 2019

TALKING DRUM: 37 years a journalist, the incredible tale of the man who ruled the airwaves!



Retired broadcaster, Teye Kitcher
Every June 4th, Jerry John Rawlings’ 1979 coup in Ghana inspired by his Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) readily comes to mind. This year, as in previous years, the story was not different. I knew nothing substantial in history― worldwide― that occurred on the aforementioned date than Rawlings’ coup.

Then, in the afternoon, as I watched Aljazeera, I heard something that was totally new to me. The anchor mentioned Tiananmen and that it was a protest which happened in Beijing, China, in 1989. The news report said many people died in that protest. After I had watched the news report, I sought to find out more about this mass death in history.

“The Tiananmen Square protests, commonly known in mainland China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing during 1989. In what became known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, troops with assault rifles and tanks fired at the demonstrators and those trying to block the military’s advance into Tiananmen Square. Estimates of the death toll vary from several hundreds to thousands,” so is it captured by Wikipedia.

Journalist Adrian Brown reports on the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989 
Whereas I was thrilled to have learnt something new, what really got me excited was the Aljazeera reporter who filed the story from Beijing on the 30th anniversary of the protests. The reporter was Adrian Brown – a foreign correspondent in Beijing – and as if by design, he was the same reporter who covered the demonstration and subsequent massacre 30 years ago.

Adrian Brown recounts the Tiananmen Massacre
Adrian Brown and his Tiananmen reports make me miss many Ghanaian journalists currently on retirement. One of such persons who readily comes to mind is Teye Kitcher who proceeded on retirement from Ghana Broadcasting Corporation [GBC] few weeks ago. For me, journalists must not retire, especially when they are strong and healthy and so much on top of their business.

Born to Mr. Joseph Richard Wentum-Kitcher from Osu and Ada and Vida Mercy Wentum-Kitcher of Sempe, all in the Greater Accra Region and Saltpond, Central Region, the then little Teye Kitcher began his education at the Osu Presbyterian Boys Primary School in 1965.

“I attended the Ada Foah Presbyterian Boys Middle Boarding School from 1970 to 1973. I thereafter attended the Ada Secondary School and then Ghana Institute of Journalism [GIJ]. I studied Diploma in Journalism and completed in 1981. Luck smiled on me as I got to start work at GBC on 7th of April 1982 till I retired this year on the 7th of July,” Mr. Kitcher tells me in a WhatsApp chat.

A whopping 37 years of service to mother Ghana as a journalist!? Incredible! I got to personally know Mr. Teye Kitcher when we sat in the same lecture hall at GIJ for a degree in journalism. That was in 2014/16. Nonetheless, I had heard his soothingly deep voice on Radio Ghana as far away as Wamfia in the Bono Region when I served as a mentee during my third year at the Berekum College of Education in 2010.

Teye Kitcher’s voice and fantastic pronunciations of words in the English Language urged one to listen to the news whenever he presented it no matter how badly one wanted to switch the radio dial.

“About 15 years of my time at GBC was spent as a correspondent at the Castle, Osu, during the time of former President Jerry John Rawlings. I began work at the Castle at the rank of a reporter; the lowest rank in the newsroom,” he narrated.

“My work at the Castle took me to places as far as Newfoundland; as far west of the world to Los Angeles; as far east as Brunei and as far south as New Zealand,” he continued.

He tells me that while he so much enjoyed his job as a journalist working in the newsroom and later as a presidential press corps member – flying to countries around the globe – that joy was punctuated with shock and pain at a point.

“My most challenging assignment was during the coverage of the Kokomba-Nanumba-Dagomba conflict in the 90s,” he said sending me an emoji depicting his painful experience. Mr. Kitcher says the coverage of the conflict was very much challenging for him mainly because of the weight of emotional strain it had on him.

“I had never seen so much destruction and deaths in all my life. Solo, trust me! I left the Castle 6th January, 2001. I came back to the newsroom to assume the role of Shift Leader. I later produced and presented Ghana Today – a news magazine program. I went on to become a supervisor and retired as Head of News.”

Without exaggerating issues, whoever listened to the retired broadcaster present Ghana Today on Radio Ghana would attest he lifted the stories out of his scripts, making it hard for listeners to switch to Focus on Africa [on BBC radio] which aired at the same time – 1500GMT.

“The time is three o’clock and this is Ghana Today where we bring you reports from our correspondents across the country,” his introduction would go. His style of questioning whenever he engaged his correspondents was spectacular.

This aside, another news segment Mr. Kitcher fronted was the Major News Bulletin at 1pm on radio. It was always a delight to hear this amazing broadcaster read scripts on News Commentary [a segment on the news].

Undoubtedly, here is a man full of rich experience as a journalist. Must such a person retire from journalism because he is 60 years old when he could actively be a walking institution in the GBC newsroom?

I am an ardent viewer of Aljazeera and, I perhaps think, I know all of the station’s reporters and correspondents. Talk of the old but active Mike Hanna who reports from Washington DC in the United States, Adrian Brown from Beijing, from Pakistan Kamal Hyder and Diplomatic Editor, James Bays, among others. Watching these phenomenal journalists is such a pleasure. This is because it is not about them being old but being full of rich experience as they have done what they do repeatedly.

I believe that we need such experienced folks in every newsroom to help shape affairs. I am not, in anyway, suggesting that the young folks are not on top of their job. The point, however, is that there are some old folks whose knowledge the young crop of journalists earnestly need to better their trade.

I am sure you have heard of TV3’s Stephen Anti of News@10 fame, right? Truth be told, the likes of Stephen Antis and Teye Kitchers drive the news. I have produced the former for over three years now on 3FM [92.7] as he reads the then Newshour [at 6pm] now Hot Edition [at 5:30pm].

Stephan Anti – though not overly old – is that type of a newsreader or anchor who basically needs no scripts or prepared questions. Yes! Just get him the microphone and it is as if he was destined to do what he does.

A mention could also be made of the former GBC newsreader, Mercy Sowah. Although I never have met her before, having monitored her from afar – via radio – aside her overly soothing voice, I could tell that GBC had a treasure that it perhaps never knew.

I understand that GBC has been engaging its men and women on retirement to teach at its training school. This, I must say, is commendable and must be continued. We must tap the experiences of the doyens.

Anyway, did you know that the man whose news reading gift you so much enjoyed never wanted to be a journalist? Interesting!

“My earlier interest was in architecture. I was, however, encouraged to pursue journalism by my big brother, Paul,” he tells me. Fate, indeed, has a way of turning around things in our lives.

Mr. Kitcher says he is much grateful to all and sundry, especially his listeners, who made his career a success. He hints that there are three people who, however, were very instrumental in his professional career as a journalist.

“My professional life was shaped by three Johns. John Nyankuma, a former Head of News [at GBC] who taught me all I know about broadcast writing; Johnnie Ashie Kotei, one time Head of Programming at GBC and my father-in-law who taught me presentation skills; and Jerry John Rawlings who mentored me in critical thinking.”

Mr. Kitcher is today thanking persons who shaped his life but, probably, little does he know that he has himself shaped many lives, especially people he directly worked with.

“He was my boss who later became my friend. He was a boss-friend who knew how and where to draw the lines between professionalism and friendship. He also knew how and when to combine the two to get the best out of me,” says Abdul Hayi Moomen, one of the celebrated broadcasters in the country, to me in a WhatsApp chat.
“I would miss his friendly but stern and strict nature― fair but firm. He was one person who was passionate about seeing the state broadcaster take back its place as the pacesetter of broadcasting in Ghana― and for that, I will miss him. This is because I share the same sentiments. In his absence, there’s almost no one left to look up to,” he adds.

For Nana Achia Aboagye, also at GBC, Mr. Teye Kitcher is a role model who keeps inspiring her even when he is out there on retirement.

“I consider him my father and I was fortunate to have sat in the same classroom/lecture hall with him at GIJ. He’s such a wonderful figure whom I look up to in my career. He has been my source of inspiration since day one,” she said.

“Mr. Kitcher is very knowledgeable, humble and affable. What I miss about him is his jovial nature. He plays with everyone in the office. He doesn’t discriminate at all. He appreciates and respects everyone,” Ms. Aboagye intimates.

If it is the case that the retired broadcaster never received any award or citation, I do not consider such a big deal. I have always told my close friends that the best award in the world is giving other people [and even animals] the reason to live and this has been confirmed by Mr. Moomen and Nana Achia.

Mr. Kitcher is 60 years old but, mind you, he did not retire on a ‘simple note’. He bagged Masters in Communication Studies, majoring in Media Management, from GIJ in 2017. You can only wait to see him lecture in a communication/journalism school near you as he is currently doing so at the Wisconsin University College in Accra. All said and done, however, let the broadcaster’s passion for excellence and higher heights in education motivate you to achieve that dream. It is never too late to be that wo/man in the mirror in front of you!

The writer is a broadcast journalist with TV3/3FM. Views expressed here are solely his and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organization.
Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com
Twitter: @aniwaba