The media as the fourth realm of
government has an important role to play in the national development of any
country; and especially, the national development of a developing country such
as Ghana. It is therefore sad to find the media drowned or concerned or
prioritising news items and discussion topics that draw the attention of the
ordinary Ghanaian from matters and issues affecting national development. In
fact, it is not only sad but extremely shameful and pathetic. One may argue
that the media, particularly the privately owned media, are more concerned
about making money so therefore, whatever that sells i.e. whatever will get
everyone to tune in and listen is what they will be concerned about or prioritise.
But really and truly speaking, should that be the case? What happened to the
moral obligation to ensure that the citizenry are informed? The media finds
itself in a position where it is charged with a duty to encourage national
development. I do give credit to some media houses for attempting to make an
effort.
However, when things such as Wikileaks and
other unnecessary matters dominate the topics for discussion all over the
country for over one week or over seven days or over 168 hours or over 10,080
minutes (I hope you get the point), then there is cause to worry. And the worry
is that the media is not living up to its role and moral obligation in national
development. The worry is that the media is as guilty and corrupt as the
politicians who seek their own interests as opposed to the interests of the
citizenry who entrusted them with such positions. It is even more worrying when
only a few days after the main opposition party’s leader gives his first speech
outlining his policies and programmes the media decides “let’s not concern
ourselves with what he has to offer Ghanaians. Instead, let’s discuss what
America’s mission in Ghana is saying about Ghana and other unnecessary
matters.” What the media is saying is “let’s divert attention from what will
develop Ghana to what will cause deeper divisions in Ghana”.
Nana Addo’s speech at the first Liberty
Lecture organised by the Danquah Institute should have been put on the table
and dissected. Questions should have been asked. Analysis should have been
done. What does Nana Addo mean by an “industrialized economy”? How is he going
to achieve that? How can his programmes be implemented? How feasible will the
implementation be? We should have questioned what Nana Addo said to the very
core. He should not be allowed to give a fancy lecture and waltz his way into
office. Those days and that kind of politics are way gone. We should not accept
that it can be done simply because for about two hours Nana Addo said it could
be done. What the media houses should have done and should do is to
intellectually challenge each aspect of Nana Addo’s speech. Get the economists,
trade experts, financial experts, entrepreneurs, tax experts, education
experts, health experts and all the very brilliant and fancy experts there are
in Ghana (and I know we have way too many) and critically analyse every aspect
of Nana Addo’s speech and then discuss the analysis. That is what a media house
with the national development of Ghana at heart would have done or should do
instead of discussing the unnecessary such as Wikileaks.
My very good friend Gabby recently threw a
nice and polite challenge to the brains in NPP. I in turn challenge all the
Ghanaian brains to debate Nana Addo’s speech bearing in mind some of the
questions posed above. Every year we churn out thousands of graduates from our
universities and tertiary institutions. We believe they finally have what it
takes to live in the society and contribute to building a modern society. So
there is no question that there are brains out there which can analyse Nana
Addo’s speech. “Where are the Ghanaian brains”? And I throw a further challenge
to the media houses: encourage the debate of these issues. Personalities don’t
develop a nation. It is sound policies and viable programmes that develop a
nation. That is what Nana Addo is proposing. Analyse his proposal.
Before I end this short note, I would like
to say I strongly believe Nana Addo is the man who can do the job i.e. return
Ghana to the tracks of development. But the mere fact that I believe that he
can does not necessarily mean that he can which is why it is necessary for the
media to scrutinise his policies and programmes and put them to a strict test. He
is proposing a modern society of opportunities for every Ghanaian. Great
nations are built by principled men of vision, courage and conviction. Leaders
with can-do spirit built Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore. We can do it too
right here in Ghana. Nana believes Ghana cannot continue doing the same thing
and expect BETTER results. I agree with him. We need to solve Africa’s problems
with practical African solutions. For 35 years Nana Addo has been at the front
fighting for the Ghanaian to be free and prosperous. Since the 1990s he has
been saying the same thing: “we need to transform the economy”. We have sold
raw materials for over 100 years and yet we are poorer than ever. Oil will
certainly not make us rich if we carry on selling and exporting. We need to add
value to our oil. That is what Nana wants to do and he believes in the
competence and confidence of Ghanaians to do this. Ghanaians must give him the chance
for him to lead us to do it. Let’s believe we can do it.
So what exactly did Nana say in that two
hour period that I keep stressing we need to debate and have thought provoking
discussions about. Nana Addo said he will focus on EDUCATION, SKILLS and JOBS.
He said he will put Ghana back to work. EDUCATION means JOBS. SKILLS mean JOBS.
The Youth need SKILLS and JOBS. It is therefore not rocket science that Nana
Addo is the candidate with the interest of the Youth at heart. Adding value to
our economy means more JOBS and decent JOBS means decent PAY. Nana Addo and the
NPP will once again make credit available to Ghanaians and small businesses.
Access to credit means JOBS. More contracts will go to Ghanaian companies to
create JOBS for Ghanaians. INDUSTRIALISATION means JOBS. Ghana has the
potential to become an African industrial centre. Modernising AGRICULTURE means
JOBS. Nana Addo will create JOBS in this sector to solve rural poverty. He will
grow a multi-billion dollar palm oil industry like Malaysia. Building more
roads means JOBS. It is a fact that NPP almost doubled Ghana’s roads in 8
years. Keeping Ghanaians alive and healthy means JOBS. NPP will revive NHIS to
serve all Ghanaians. Strengthening democracy means more investments for more
JOBS. Nana Addo also proposed his “TEACHER FIRST” policy. This essentially
means that the focus will be on the needs of the teacher to ensure free quality
education for every child.
If it is not obvious already, a key word
that ran through Nana Addo’s two hour speech was JOBS, JOBS and JOBS. At a time
when unemployment is at its highest in the world and in Ghana, Nana Addo
dangles the JOBS bone before the unemployed citizenry of Ghana and the media
houses and the Ghanaian brains push it aside and discuss Wikileaks and personalities.
It is rather shameful. There is a lot to discuss from Nana Addo’s speech and I
hope the media will live up to its expectation in the national development of
Ghana and critically analyse Nana Addo’s two hour speech delivered at the
Liberty Lecture.
Written and Edited by:
Kow A. Essuman, Esq.
LL.B. Hons (Westminster), PgDip
(BPP), LL.M. (Cornell)
Barrister-at-Law (Lincoln's Inn)
Attorney and Counselor-at-Law (New
York)
All comments, corrections and contributions should be sent to
kaessuman@yahoo.com.
Similar articles can be accessed at http://nppfuture.com
and http://thechixfiles.blogspot.com.
This post is based on the thoughts, observations and
opinions of Kow A. Essuman, Esq. Any attempt to reproduce all or any part of
this article without the express permission of the above named person shall be
an infringement of intellectual property laws; following which the author
reserves the right to commence an action/suit against any such person(s) or
body for breach of copyright and/or any other action/suit the author sees fit.
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