In 2017, I left the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and have since not been a member. I left because the association fought me for fighting corruption.
I had published an investigation that resulted in the cancellation of a $74 million fraudulent contract awarded to the Jospong Group.
The GJA President issued a press statement attacking my story. The press statement did not state anything wrong with the investigation, which was adjudged the overall best story in the 2018 West Africa Media Excellence Awards (WAMECA).
The GJA’s statement was concerned that a so-called profitable Ghanaian business was affected, saying such businesses should not be destroyed “in the name of investigative journalism.”
Last month, the GJA again offered its platform for a similar attack against The Fourth Estate, which had published a report on the KGL contract with the National Lotteries Authority (NLA). That contract diverted the income that should have been coming to the NLA to the private company, while the NLA gets only peanuts.
I am yet to see any rebuttal to the substance of The Fourth Estate report, but at the GJA’s award launch, the Executive Chairman of the KGL Group, Mr. Alex Apau Dadey, said, among others:
“The tendency to undermine our own across the country is worrying. The default reaction to successful local champions is often suspicion rather than celebration. Why do we cheer foreign conglomerates but question the success of local ones?”
Of course, he mentioned The Fourth Estate and referenced the publication on the NLA-KGL contract.
This is unfortunate, and the GJA should not follow money and allow private businesses caught in accountability journalism to spread this tired and false narrative that seeking accountability for public resources means destroying local businesses.
Such false narratives incite the public against journalists and media houses doing accountability journalism. It paints the journalists as enemies of the state, enemies of Ghanaian interests.
I don’t remember the GJA awards ever being named together with a sponsor, but this year’s event goes by the joint name GJA/KGL Awards. Irrespective of KGL’s sponsorship package, its officials shouldn’t be given the platform to undermine the very journalism that the GJA awards were created to honour.
Besides, it is not true that Ghanaian journalists are against local businesses. There are thousands of local businesses that have been built with the support of the media. There are also so-called businesses that sprout overnight, connive with politicians to sign obscene contracts that are detrimental to the interests of the state.
To say that the media should not expose them because they are local businesses is like saying a thief or an armed robber who attacks you should be set free if he is a Ghanaian.
Exposing corruption or unconscionable business dealings is not synonymous with targeting Ghanaian businesses. I have been reporting on Zoomlion’s operations since 2013, but not once have I reported on its contracts with private companies.
If, for instance, a private bank signs a private with Zoomlion, it is that bank’s responsibility to ensure that Zoomlion delivers. If the bank decides to pay Zoomlion for no work done, that is the bank’s problem.
However, if a business enters into a contract that involves public funds, it should be prepared to account to the public. It should not see accountability as an attack on Ghanaian business. Being a Ghanaian business doesn’t mean corruption.
If KGL thinks the publication got any facts wrong, the company should point it out. The company has the right to a rejoinder. And they have other remedies.
Using a GJA platform to dampen the spirit of the few media houses doing accountability journalism with such false and sweeping claims is detrimental to journalism.
The GJA must resist corporate capture and act in the interest of its members and good journalism.
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