I had hoped to publish this piece at a time when Ghanaians would have been patting themselves on the back for a great ceremony, following the beautiful coronation of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Instead, just when I got down to work the plagiarism matter surfaced.
The scandal was indeed a very unpleasant occurrence and no amount of apology would suffice, especially, considering the rather same or similar lines from, at least, three previous speeches, which were not duly credited or acknowledged.
That subjected our new President to public ridicule, both at home and abroad.
That said I will still proceed and make my submission on the matter of the shambolic handling of media accreditation, prior to the inauguration. As well, I will seek to review arrangements for the media on the ground during the swearing-in.
On Monday, the 3rd of January the Information Services Department sent out invitations to the media to attend a briefing on arrangements toward the inauguration.
Time was 11 am. Journalists from across the country who had applied for accreditation to cover the January 7 inauguration turned up in their numbers. That was at the International Conference Centre.
By 11 am there was still no sign of a meeting beginning soon. I inquired from the ISD and was told the venue for the meeting was occupied by the Transition Team and that we should be patient.
Soon that meeting ended and we began to troop into the Committee Hall for the media briefing. It turned out the Transition Committee in charge of the Inauguration had pushed the media briefing to 3 pm without the knowledge of the media.
What was obvious was that the very staff from the ISD who convened the meeting were oblivious of the postponement. So while people like Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and Mustapha Hamid kept telling the curious journalists that the presser had been rescheduled, the ISD bosses asked the journalists to go into the Committee Hall for the meeting to commence. We did and moved in. As it turned out the politicians prevailed and the civil servants (the ISD staff) had to apologise and ask us to “hang around” and come back at 3 pm.
Following the meeting, it was announced that work on media accreditation would start with photo taking that afternoon. About 400 journalists had applied for accreditation, it was announced. The photo taking never happened. Instead, we were asked to come back the next day for that exercise. That was Wednesday. Journalists who came from Kumasi, Ho and across the country were all to return the next day just for photographs.
The Conference Centre on Wednesday was a sight to behold (I shared a short video and pictures on Facebook). By 8 am most of us converged at the Centre. Submission of names for accreditation had ended the previous week (or so we were supposed to believe). However, to our surprise, those in charge of the accreditation rather began receiving what one of them called “late submissions”, names that were now being added to the list. Those last-minute names formed the chunk of persons whose photos were first taken, regardless they came later.
That was a sign of things to come. Realising that some names and media houses were receiving priority attention journalists who came earlier began to push forward for answers leading to near chaos.
The organisers then sought to arrange the media in a queue, first to check their names, then to go for the photo taking. Less than halfway through the process it became obvious that something was amiss. While about ten journalists would be selected from the foyer of the Conference Centre to the Accreditation Centre it took unusually long time, up to 30 minutes to an hour, before the next batch was selected.
This created more uneasiness. Those like me who refused to struggle in the queue but waited for our turn left the Conference Centre after 5 pm. I arrived there at 9 am.
Another observation which baffled everyone was how the exercise was hijacked by seemingly NPP loyalists. Members of the ISD whose job it was to coordinate the media accreditation became mere spectators. One colleague told me of how Mr David Amoah, a Director at the ISD who was in charge of media invitations, was virtually pushed out of the accreditation centre by those manning that place. Mind you, the ISD is the State body in charge of activities such as this and more.
What was obvious was that the ISD had already compiled the list of all those who submitted their names for accreditation. A proper procedure would have been to follow the list and call out the names and people would step forward for the photo taking. That would surely not have favoured the so-called protocol list and pro-NPP media houses. So a more chaotic process was adopted to benefit party activists.
We were asked to come back on Friday, the 6th January for the accreditation tags. The chaos that Friday was worse than what was witnessed on Wednesday.
It turned out those taking the photos were preoccupied with other functionaries and the media were left out till the last hour. Most of us spent the whole day at the Conference Centre.
I left there at 8 pm on Friday. Still, I didn’t receive my accreditation. Other colleagues waited till midnight. The angel (a colleague journalist) who got me a tag waited till midnight to get one for him and for me.
It beats one’s imagination that in today’s day and age we would subject citizens of this country to such torture and sheer cruelty just to get accredited to cover a national function.
Even the national Electoral Commission, performed a perfect job in accrediting the media for the 2016 elections. It didn’t have to make journalists queue before taking shots of them for accreditation. Also, journalists in the regions didn’t have to spend up to four days in Accra in pursuit of accreditation. The EC, once the accreditations were ready, sent them to the regional capitals for the journalists. That’s way more humane.
The D-Day
Arrangements at the Black Star Square are also worth mentioning. First is that of the location of the Media stand. Journalists who were to cover the event were placed on a stage behind the MPs and other dignitaries. The media stage was almost of equal level with the one on which the MPs and dignitaries sat.
Each time these people stood up the view of cameras filming and taking pictures was virtually blocked. Also, no single audio speaker was placed on the side of the media stage for recording, especially, as only a limited space was provided for cameras to take the feed from the speakers. Radio journalists like me had to go stand in distant places to attempt recording from a noisy environment.
Also, the movement of photographers and camera operators was restricted to the media stage, once the event commenced. Elsewhere, someone would be in charge of the media and would select about 5 or so number of cameramen at a time and allow them to go round and take quick shots, and return to their stand. That didn’t happen and security officers pushed and blocked journalists who attempted to position themselves a bit better to take photos.
Contrast the positioning of the media behind the dignitaries to the period of electioneering campaigns. Journalists were mostly positioned right in the middle to see far and wide and capture the crowds. That was during elections, the time when politicians wanted the media to do their bidding. And so they strategically positioned them!
I could have let this matter go and we all go about our work without sounding bitter. But then in less than two months Ghana will be marking 60 years of Nationhood, and as expected, we will converge on this same venue for another celebration.
I hope, I just hope, that this time we will get things done right, particularly, the way we handle the media.
We claim they are the Fourth Estate of the Realm.
Yet, we often treat journalists with disdain.
Mr President, Akwaba!
We will be watching how you and your team will handle the media.
Your honeymoon is over, Sir.
I have more to write, particularly, about how journalists also project themselves. I will reserve that for a later date.
Happy New Year!
