Joy News: Do Not Drink and Write

Joy News and their confused journalists must be admonished “never to drink and write”! An established media house about to celebrate their 25^th anniversary in the industry may just have thrown their gains to the dogs by a series of unsavoury rubbish so-called investigative exposés, the first being, “Militia in the heart of the City” or whatever it was named, and the second most recent one on the issue of auctioned vehicles that was resurrected from December 2017.

The former was a false and unhealthy bundle of lies and innuendos that sought to spite the NPP government of His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo by painting a wrong picture of instability ostensibly to cover up for the spate of NDC vituperations and calls for war, heralded by the statement of John Dramani Mahama that “no one can beat the NDC when it comes to unleashing violence”!

In the latter piece, Kwasi Nartey, the Joy News journalist tried hard to indict the Office of the President with a wrong doing that was actually a “correct doing”! Let me explain.

In December of 2017, one Nana Serwaa, a Customs Officer in charge of auction vehicles at the Port complained of a buildup of cars confiscated to the State meant for allocation. At that time the Office of the President had over 400 applications for allocation of vehicles. Procedurally, a chain reaction of processes had to be instigated and adhered to in order to ensure accountability. In light of this, a list for allocation was prepared and names were paired to the respective vehicles. This was attached to a request for consideration addressed to the then GRA Director, Mr Nti.

A fortnight later, chits for 30 vehicles were approved because the others were given at “first offer”, which meant that the owners or importers claimed them by paying all the charges including demurrage and so on. In some instances, cars that were paired with certain names were given to others because either the original beneficiaries were unable to pay the charges, or the vehicles were rejected because they were unserviceable.

In the said list, for example, some names that were supposed to be beneficiaries did not get their allocations. I can state on authority that Alex Gyedu, Charles Nii Teiko-Taigoe referred to in the lazy journalist’s sham report as Charles Nii Teiko-Tetteh, and others are innocent of the wrongs that the foolish so-called exposé sought to accuse them of. They got no cars and the vehicles paired with their names were not claimed by them. Besides, the tariffs applicable on the vehicles are determined by the “Customs Excise and Preventive Service” (CEPS). No other entity or person can do that, so whatever losses to the State suggested against Protozoa and others is a total lie; a fabrication of the evil imagination of the journalist and his gang because it just is not the case at all. However, let me ask the lazy NDC journalist, who conducted this rather shameful investigation whether it is normal to pay twenty four thousand Ghana Cedis duty for a 2004 (thirteen years old) VW Touareg that was broken down, or fifty thousand cedis for a scrapped unserviceable vehicle irrespective of the luxury that is known to come with it? Is he correct at all?

Then he conducts an interview with a CEPS officer, and doctors the recording by expunging those pieces that exonerate the Office of the President. What is the meaning of this mischief? This same NDC janitor of a journalist from Joy News called on Mr Frank Asiedu Bekoe to conduct an interview. Popularly known as “Protozoa”, Mr Frank Asiedu Bekoe is the Director, Political Affairs at the Chief of Staff’s Secretariat, Office of the President, Jubilee House.

So Protozoa lectured Kwasi Nartey, the Joy News journalist, on the difference between auction and allocation, and the various processes that the two went through. Let me emphasise and reassert that the letter raised to the Commissioner for the GRA at the time was one for “consideration” and NOT an “instruction”. It could have been declined and nothing could have been done about it. So for this journalist to talk about 150 cars is wrong and mischievous. The cars that were approved for which chits were issued were about thirty.

Allocation of confiscated vehicles is covered by the constitution of Ghana, and the processes used did not contravene any single Act under it. I read so much hatred from this fatuous journalist’s sham investigative piece. I am horrified that a once credible media house as the outfit of Joy News would reduce its image to one of a mere drunkard’s, toasting under the heat of intensive labour. So for him to say that Protozoa was called on this issue, but declined the interview is a blatant lie that is as smelly as the gas that rages in their constipated system. Protozoa merely asked Kwasi Nartey to write officially requesting answers to the questions posed to which he would reply formally, too. So where is the objection or refusal in this?

Joy News and Multi-Media journalists should go back to the Institute of Journalism to learn some discipline and ethics that seem to have fled them for the evil that lurks in their unamiable hearts. Before I conclude, let me advise them to refrain from running around a rubbish dump claiming a shine in investigative journalism. Most of all, they should stick to an important rule of thumb, “DO NOT DRINK AND WRITE!”

No matter what they do, still #4More4Nana

By Fadi Dabbousi