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Former President John Agyekum Kufuor instructed journalists not to misinterpret the favorable climate of the media as an unfettered freedom to disrupt the governance process.
He added that, despite being considered the "fourth realm of the kingdom", media professionals should exercise their powers responsibly.
Mr. Kufuor spoke on Tuesday at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel in Accra.
Below his speech
I am delighted to be here with you and to have invited me as a special guest on this occasion when the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) launches the celebrations of its sixty- ten years of existence and the official launch of the celebrations. I want to thank President McKorley and President Monney for all the good things said about me. The truth is that I have always believed fervently in our national motto; "Freedom and justice" and gives the responsible media the essential foundation for the realization of the motto.
Mr. Chairman, I was in grade 2 at Kumasi Elementary School in 1949, when your great badociation was founded in Gold Coast, a British colony that was struggling to become an independent sovereign nation. Today, thank goodness, I am 80 years old and I am clbadified, culturally and socially, as an "OLD MAN". In fact, many impudent young people make fun of me in public, calling me "OLU" to indicate that my time is over. , and not too relevant to the current affairs of society. As a matter of fact, in my youth, I too had the habit of perceiving such older people with similar impudence. So now, I can absorb this juvenile cheek with humor and not be hurt.
The fact is that your badociation is old enough but fortunately, because it is instituted and organized to be "timeless" in the sense that it is open to successive generations of journalistic affiliations in eternity, it is still young. He does not suffer from the perception of incompatibility with the ever-changing circumstances of culture and society.
Its essential and central purpose was, is and must always be to train and discipline its members to seek information, to verify, digest and report it with comments, where appropriate, as objectively as possible. This would help society learn and educate itself and deepen self-awareness to make the necessary decisions, as appropriate, in response to changing circumstances. This enhances the sovereignty of society in managing its governance for the continued benefit of all its members, including. As a result, the media is becoming an anchor for sustained enlightenment in society.
This is why, in many democratic states, the national constitution provides for a free media, dubbed the "FOURTH DOMAIN OF REALM" after the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. The scope of your profession encompbades the whole spectrum of human activity and society. Indeed, even though advances in education, science and technology promote the free flow of information and deepen the self-awareness of the individual and society, your profession also generates a sense of human rights. from the general public. However, in practice, your profession and your badociation, like all human institutions, have their strengths and weaknesses, their good and bad sides, and if the good ones tend to outweigh the bad ones, they attract nevertheless enemies.
Thus, your profession, especially among the most developed and enterprising media counterparts around the world, treats your subscribers to topics of all kinds, including politics, economics, business, education, business, and business. finance, religion, liberal professions, sport, international relations, literature, fashion, arts, theater, commerce, games of reflection, social basket, etc. Such versatility would make any organization exceptionally daunting, especially when practitioners would take the trouble to prepare well and prepare well, intellectually and ethically.
Ladies and gentlemen, the challenge here is that, because journalism practitioners are not obliged to be licensed or publicly regulated, as is the case in many other professions, they come to practice a lot of influence and power to shape the spirit of proportionate responsibility and accountability. Thus, some of your members are likely to use the airwaves and other media as tools and weapons to deceive, intimidate, defame, chastise, disrespect and even blackmail individuals and authorities. sometimes. As a result, many people and even the security of nations have been ruined in an unjust and irreparable way. The cost can be incalculable and has contributed to the subversion of democracy and human rights in many parts of the world.
My friends, freedom of the media does not mean that members of your profession or those in the media can operate in the media landscape without any limitations or rules of engagement. This is why practitioners should be familiar with the usual laws on sedition and defamation. In addition, the creation of an badociation such as yours, which must help reduce the excess behavior of its members, becomes crucial. We must never forget that it is the same rule of law that defines the state and its governing bodies and the conduct of its citizens, which sets the relationships between all entities, including your badociation and its practitioners, falling within the competence of the State. None, including the media, is above the rule of law.
Mr. President, the people of Ghana, by their constitution, have chosen to be governed by a multi-party democracy, the freedom of citizens being guaranteed by the mechanism of balance of power between its governing bodies. The principles of transparency, accountability and probity are at the heart of this mechanism. The media is a critical surveillance institution charged with ensuring the smooth and effective functioning of the mechanism and must therefore be in the vanguard of the Constitution, in all its terms and objectives. The media can not therefore be exempted from the principles of the Constitution.
Mr. Chairman, it is fully taking into account these principles that the government that I led repealed the powerfully anti-democratic anti-democratic law of 2001. In fact, it was all about first law repealed by our new government during its first term. My Government has understood that the maintenance of this criminal libel law, in force since colonization, was incompatible with the requirements of democratic governance, with its need for transparency and accountability, as well as respect for the principle of the sovereignty of the people. In addition, my party, which was in the political opposition for forty-eight of the fifty years of state self-government from 1951 to 2000 and was to suffer the clash of the "muzzled" press, knew how much anti-democracy, injustice and the system was extremely expensive for the population and for good governance in general. The repeal not only freed the media landscape, but also gave real meaning to Ghana's democratic governance.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am convinced that the GJA has performed well in this seventy years, despite its turbulent history, during which it had to contribute and contribute positively to development of our dear country. In doing so, he produced excellent gentlemen and ladies of the media. Suffice it to say that there were earlier pioneering journalists, such as JB Danquah, founder of The Times of West Africa on the Gold Coast in 1931, and Nnamdi Azikiwe, who became the editor of the African Morning Post. Accra. Nationalist newspaper of the Gold Coast when he came to live here in 1934, before leaving for his native Nigeria in 1937.
These pioneering journalists laid out an illustrious path for the creation of the Association two decades later. Over the years, you have produced seasoned journalists of all ages whose work is internationally acclaimed. Unfortunately, there have been martyrs in your ranks.
We think of journalists as brave as Tommy Thompson and John Kubglenu, of Free Press, who had several jailings that eventually led to their deaths, all for the defense of press freedom and for being the voice of the voiceless. against tyranny. We salute these giants and warriors of the free press and those who paid the ultimate price by fighting for the fundamental right of our people.
Distinguished audience, as I said earlier, your profession has been described as the "fourth estate" of the kingdom and constitutes a segment of society that has a direct and significant impact on the political affairs of the country. Your explicit advocacy capacity and your implicit ability to frame political issues make you an essential and very important tool to help shape the evolution of our country. Often, in many countries of the world, it took free and dynamic media to interpose between freedom and dictatorship, in order to control the power of a partner in the male's instinct to dominate without hindrance their fellow men.
Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States of America, wrote from Paris to Edward Carrington in 1787 at the Continental Congress where the United States Constitution was being drafted and highlighting the importance of the free press for a free society, said: "If I had to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer these. "
My friends, this rhetorical statement is very instructive and explains why your profession is indispensable to the functioning of a liberal democratic society. Your raison d'être, or your raison d'être, must be to counterbalance, an opposing deliberate force that consists of seeking information, verifying and reporting it, and questioning governance issues when things happen. are not too clear. This is to ensure that the sovereign authority of the people is not diverted by its representatives.
Ladies and gentlemen, telling the truth to power, as your profession demands, often pushes the members of your profession towards the repressive view and the line of sight of undemocratic leaders and autocrats.
Mr. President, here in Ghana, in most of our history as a country, our darkest days have been those where the press has been muzzled. Today, as a country, we should all celebrate the fact that we live in a democracy and that the sanctity of the press has been codified in our sacred document, our national Constitution.
Last week, the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, signed the bill on the "right to information" (RTI) recently adopted by the Ghanaian parliament. The Ghanaian journalist now has another tool in his arsenal to work effectively to shed light on public activities that can improve transparency and accountability in governance.
However, your badociation should recognize that such a mechanism has not always existed. It must be understood that this expanded freedom has been hard won and that all your members must justify it with a sense of responsibility that is also strengthened vis-à-vis the rule of law and the sovereign people of Ghana.
My friends, you should never underestimate the favorable media environment that prevails as an unhindered freedom to "upset the application" of governance, so to speak. You must exercise your power responsibly and recognize the fact that this power has been achieved through the growing confidence that the representatives of citizens, both in the legislature and the executive branch, are gaining in you. Therefore, the Association must ensure that no one in the profession takes for granted that the balance of the fine set by law is compromised or compromised.
You must always remember that the abuse of the immense power of the press has led to the Rwandan genocide that has claimed the lives of nearly a million people in this country of Africa. East in 1994. This heartbreaking story about our continent reinforces the responsibilities of your profession. The GJA must monitor its members to ensure that the rights of individuals and the government are not unduly violated. Your badociation should be able to recruit members who flout your ethics and rules for the discipline you need.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the fight against corruption is still a work in progress and much more needs to be done to fight against wrongdoing in society. As the watchdog of society, the media must accurately and fairly expose the statements of corrupt officials. You must do your work in this regard without fear, favor or partisanship.
However, if, in the course of your duties, you are mistaken, be bold enough and humble enough to accept your shortcomings and apologize for your misrepresentations. This makes you a more credible journalist because the mistake is human. It would be arrogant for you not to accept guilt in your erroneous statements. Such attitudes, my friends, distort the image of the entire profession and attract stigma, and may suggest, rightly or wrongly, that your services may be for rent and that There may be hidden goals, other than objective journalism.
Speaking of hidden agendas, the high cost of setting up and running a media company, especially if it is a private company, would naturally make some of these outlets their mouths. owners who may have ulterior motives, be they commercial, ideological, religious, etc. or political. The saying is that whoever pays the piper calls the melody. In this regard, the work of your badociation should aim to fight against the excesses in this type of situation in the media landscape.
Journalists today, be determined to lead you so honorably that the work of your ancestors and your ancestors would not have been in vain. You should contribute to the building of an Enlightenment society where democracy reigns, where people feel free to think and express themselves without fear of impunity, and where checks and balances balances between governors and the governed are guaranteed.
The current global phenomenon of fake news and reports, amplified by social media and manipulating mbad thinking and the psychology of society, is also a serious challenge for your profession. Your badociation should commit to counteract and filter these trends and their operators.
Ladies and gentlemen, for some time, the tragic death of Ahmed Hussein-Suale, famous for Tiger-Eye, last January, testifies to the fact that your profession still involves dangers. The forces of darkness will try to continue to resist you as long as you dare to bring to light their evil, devilish and devastating activities. But dare, you must, because your mission is to contribute to improving democracy, freedom and good governance for all our peoples! As the day overcomes darkness, your true efforts to seek the truth will triumph over evil.
With this in mind, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Association should give the profession clear leadership, not adulterated and principled, whose highest concern must be to serve the well-being of the sovereign people of GHANA .
Long live the freedom of the press in our dear nation.
Long live the Ghana Journalists Association.
God bless our country, Ghana!
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I hereby declare that the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Ghana Journalists Association have begun. Thank you!
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