Omane Boamah: In a democracy, the answer to dissent is strong denial & proof of innocence for vindication, not death or harm

In a democracy, the answer to dissent is strong denial & proof of innocence for vindication, not death/harm.—————————————————————————–Of Ghana's worrying and steeply declining press freedom record, the ensuing discussions and the disclosure by Manasseh Azure Awuni. This disclosure is adequately captured in manuscripts… But I will try to shed some light.Yes, Manasseh is right. I called to check on him and to ask if he felt safe. I'm proud of what I did because in a democracy, the answer to dissent is strong denial and proof of innocence for vindication, not death or harm.But the truth stands that, the twist and conclusions which flowed from his story was false. That is why we immediately issued a statement and an audio clip to all media houses to deny and followed up with several interviews.Sadly, the night before this story, President Mahama had lost his dear mum and his family was mourning her. I found it extremely callous that Multimedia would pelt a man mourning his mum with such a documentary when there was absolutely no proof of wrongdoing on his part.That's why I stated on Newsfile that, "My President, your President, Our President John Mahama is not corrupt…" My defence of John Mahama was so swift and defining that Manasseh had cause to enter the studio to complain. And truly in the 6th year of this administration, NOTHING UNTOWARD has been proven against him..I'm happy I served as Minister under a President who was not corrupt, loved his nation, meant well for our nation and upheld press freedom to the highest level,; even when he felt maligned in his bereavement.Roll back the hands of time and I will still have sought Manasseh's safety because no journalist and let me add no human being must be harmed or killed as in the case of Journalist Ahmed Hussein Suale in the name of intolerance of dissent.In a democracy, the answer to dissent is strong denial and proof of innocence for vindication, not death.But I have a message for the few, in fact the very few, who think Manasseh had been unfair to John Mahama so his safety should not have been our concern. Such people must repent and also be far-sighted because leadership requires vision and anticipation too. Using an extreme example, just imagine Manasseh was killed or even suffered armed robbery the night after he broke the story… 🤔 💭 🤔 Think about this carefully for a moment.Furthermore, note that NPP had militia groups such as Invisible Forces, Delta Forces, Mission Impossible Forces that have caused terror in this country. Any of them could have harmed Manasseh and the blame would have been placed squarely on John Mahama.Let us continue to uphold press freedom, let us disagree when we must; as we did in this case and let us anticipate complications too when serving in government.No journalist must be harmed!

Posted by Dr Omane Boamah on Thursday, May 5, 2022