Features
Ghana grows stronger when critics bring proof, officials bring files, and the public brings patient attention
When truth becomes a spectator in public debate, credibility collapses, and nations quietly lose their moral balance.
INTRODUCTION: THE CALL FOR CALM AND FACTUAL CONVERSATION
Ghana stands at a delicate crossroads where facts must reclaim their rightful place above factions. Over the last fourteen months, our national dialogue, especially around some state institutions such as MIIF, has shown how easily perception can masquerade as proof.
The media’s role remains indispensable, and so too is its responsibility to verify before amplifying. As a nation that is increasingly striving for transparency and progress, we cannot allow conjecture to replace confirmation or let alternative facts fracture institutional credibility. Truth must be told, traced, verified, and protected.
As the former non-executive chair of a number of institutions, including MIIF and the now further transformed Labadi Beach Hotel, I remain invested in their fortunes because stewardship does not end with tenure.
Even well-run bodies pursue continuous improvement through dialogue with proven past executives and supervisory leaders. That is the spirit of Kaizen. Progress implies learning, not wrongdoing.
WHY MEDIA ENGAGEMENT MATTERS
It serves the public interest for media houses to invite current and former chief executives, including those at MIIF, individually or jointly, to present clear accounts to the public or, where necessary, in private. Investigations into potential wrongdoing must proceed. They are strongest when principals place documents, timelines, and decisions on the table for all to see. Transparency grows when all voices are heard, not in anger, but in accountability. Journalism is not the amplification of suspicion. It is the clarification of truth.
FAIRNESS AND ETHICS IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE
Anyone mentioned or implicated should be approached and afforded the opportunity to present their side of the facts before their names enter the headlines. Due process is not a courtesy. It is the foundation of trust and credibility.
Ghana’s media space is admired for its freedom and vibrancy. Freedom must walk with fairness. A democracy that weaponises perception risks turning truth tellers into targets and institutions into casualties.
A TEACHABLE MOMENT FOR MEDIA AND PUBLIC DIALOGUE
On October 4, during a JoyNews programme, a representative from the Bank of Ghana called in to correct an alternative fact about MIIF. It was unfortunate and regrettable. I felt for the distinguished interviewer who was placed in a difficult position in real time.
Such moments, even when unintentional, show the need for evidence based dialogue in our national discourse. Media remains one of democracy’s greatest guardians. With that power comes a duty to report with accuracy, balance, and fairness. Before any public institution or individual is discussed, it is right and ethical to approach the parties concerned to clarify or present their side of the facts. Balanced reporting requires facts, not fragments.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF ALTERNATIVE FACTS
A single broadcast can illuminate or inflame. When conjecture replaces confirmation, institutions suffer, reputations erode, and public trust falters. The spread of alternative facts is already affecting some state institutions and private citizens.
If left unchecked, it may discourage capable Africans from accepting national duty and from transferring critical skills to the public sphere. Ghana’s media landscape has the talent and influence to set a higher standard, one where integrity in reporting becomes the oxygen of national progress rather than a casualty of political heat. Credibility must never be sacrificed for sensational reach.
ACKNOWLEDGING CIVIC WATCHDOGS AND CALLING FOR BALANCE
IMANI and some of its researchers and Fellows deserve commendation for aspects of their work that have contributed to national awareness and accountability. At the same time, all civic actors must remain cautious about the reliability and motivation of sources.
The critical question for every whistleblower or informant is simple. Are they acting in the national interest, or in pursuit of personal or political gain? Investigative and policy advocacy communities should work together for the common good, not for institutional applause.
Oversight must be objective, not opportunistic. Otherwise, even well-intended initiatives can erode confidence in state institutions and weaken the collective pursuit of good governance.
THE DANGER OF FALSE WHISTLEBLOWING AND MISINFORMATION
Whistleblowers who peddle falsehoods for selfish interests should be publicly exposed to deter the furnishing of watchdogs and media houses with alternative facts that advance private agendas.
Where the law so provides, they should be held accountable, including possible prosecution for causing reputational or economic harm to state institutions and individuals. Truthful whistleblowing strengthens democracy. Dishonest whistleblowing poisons it. The legitimacy of transparency depends on the authenticity of those who claim to defend it.
CONTINUITY AND GOVERNANCE PRACTICE
In many state institutions, current and former non-executive chairs and chief executives have yet to meet face-to-face. MIIF is among them. In my capacity as former Chairman of MIIF, I have formally requested such a meeting with my successor.
I am still waiting and looking forward to the meeting. The absence of a meeting does not prevent investigation. It does, however, create room for confusion and weakens institutional memory. Good governance requires more than handover notes. Outgoing and incoming leaders should meet to discuss long term obligations, risk registers, projects in progress, and matters of continuity. This discipline preserves facts, limits speculation, and protects national value.
MULTIPLE NARRATIVES, ONE NATIONAL CONSEQUENCE
Over the last 36 weeks, multiple narratives have circulated across television, radio, and social media. However unintended, they risk harming MIIF’s credibility and, by extension, Ghana’s reputation for continuity, integrity and predictability. Markets price uncertainty, and citizens ultimately bear the cost of it.
When narrative outpaces evidence, risk premia rise, partnerships stall, and managers spend time responding to noise rather than delivering results. Truth delayed can become opportunity denied.
LESSONS ON TRUST AND NATIONAL BRAND
Misinformation may garner applause in the short term, but it ultimately inflicts lasting damage. Nations build trust through facts, not factions. Institutions like MIIF form part of the scaffolding for future prosperity.
We should not chip away at that structure with politicisation or partial information. The Ghana brand and its associated institutional brands must be protected by facts, not by alternative facts.
NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, NOT POLITICAL TROPHIES
State institutions are not assets of the government of the day, and they are not trophies for the opposition. They belong to Ghana and therefore to all of us. We cannot spend years building credibility with one hand and then weaken it with misinformation and partisanship with the other.
The public interest is best served when facts lead and when all parties respect due process. Today, former chairs and chief executives may be under the spotlight. In four or eight years, current leaders could face the same scrutiny. All deserve fair treatment.
Those found guilty of deliberate wrongdoing should face the consequences. Accountability must rest on actual facts, not on alternative or self-serving narratives.
GOVERNANCE IS ABOUT CONTINUITY, NOT CONTROL
Governance is not about control. It is about continuity. It is not about who occupies the seat, but about whether the seat serves the people. Leadership is tested not by the defence of power, but by the defence of process. When facts are buried beneath political dust, institutions stumble and nations lose their rhythm of progress.
MOVING FROM HEAT TO LIGHT
Respected newsrooms can help move the national conversation from heat to light. The best journalism promotes understanding rather than echo. A balanced, fact led discussion may not resolve every question at once, but it will sharpen debate, model accountability, and rebuild confidence. This is a service to citizens and to those who carry responsibilities on the nation’s behalf.
RESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM SERVES GHANA
This is not theatre, and it is not trial by microphone. It is responsible reporting in the public interest. It safeguards reputations where warranted and exposes wrongdoing where proven. Either outcome serves Ghana. Standards and fairness are not obstacles to truth; they are the pathway to it.
A SHARED DUTY TO LOWER THE TEMPERATURE AND RAISE THE STANDARD
This is a respectful request to media leaders, public officials, private citizens, and all who care about our democracy. We are duty-bound to help the current administration govern well by doing what is right, because when any government fails, the cost is borne by everyone and by future generations. Suffering does not choose a party.
Let us therefore lower the temperature and raise the standard. Let us listen more carefully, document more faithfully, and verify more completely. Let us invite those who know to speak on the record, and let us publish the full record for the nation to examine. We are one people. We should not allow politics to divide us where facts can unite us.
FINAL REFLECTION AND A HOPEFUL NOTE
Real facts, not alternative facts, must set the pace.
Let documents speak.
Let truth breathe.
Let fairness guide our words and our work.
Ghana has the talent, the institutions, and the democratic culture to get this right.
If we choose patience over haste, evidence over conjecture, and country over faction, we will strengthen trust at home and respect abroad. That is the surest path to shared progress. Ghana deserves nothing less, and with calm minds and steady hands, Ghana will achieve nothing less.
By Professor Douglas Boateng
A haircut I had about a week ago didn’t go down well with many. Someone quite close to my heart saw it, examined it critically and felt dizzy.
“What’s this?” she proceeded to ask me.
“An international hairdo,” I replied.
She was disgusted, in fact disappointed. The problem with the haircut is that the style is neither Punk, Tokyo Joe nor Show Your Back. If anything, it is a combination of all—and I liked it, for a change.
It was when I bounded downtown that someone called me and enquired whether I was no longer a journalist. He said I looked like a well-fed Warrant Officer.
“Class One or Class Two?” I asked.
Another studied my head as if he was studying physical geography and pronounced that I looked like a boxer who can throw dangerous punches. Still, someone was of the opinion that the haircut didn’t quite fit me, but admitted that I looked like a prosperous merchant.
Commendation
I remember some three months ago, I had a haircut that made two girls fall in love with me. In spite of the fact that the barber was not a graduate, the cut was such that they couldn’t help admiring it. One of them actually ‘checked out’ the style and commended the barber.
The other was more bent on the ‘love matter’ but I was too busy to give her any attention. LOVE!
I was reminded of this when I viewed a premier showing of the latest Sikaman film titled THE POWER OF LOVE. The film kept me thinking. Some of us have long forgotten about what it is like to be head-over-heels in love. When we were students, we had such experiences because there was nothing doing anyway.
We were either learning how stylishly to smoke ‘jot’ or how romantically to fall in love. Anyhow, I was intrigued by this latest movie because of the way love unlimited was portrayed on screen. It took my memory back many years to relive those youthful days when we felt we’d really die if jilted by our lovers.
The storyline of THE POWER OF LOVE is really an exciting one. The combination of love, treachery and intrigue made me feast my eyes intently on the screen, unbelieving the extent the force of love can reach.
Ama and Afua are good friends. But when it comes to matters of the heart, they have different tastes; Ama is content with only her boyfriend (a student) and Afua samples the bigwigs around town. Afua, not satisfied with the shots in town, wants Ama’s boyfriend Joe in addition. She lies to Joe that Ama has often been picked by a man on four-wheels, whereupon Joe dismisses Ama and takes on Afua.
Ama doesn’t realise that it is her best friend Afua who is destroying her relationship with Joe until she catches her having sex with him. She collapses and goes out of her mind from the broken heart. But before then, she had been made pregnant by Joe.
Having escaped from a psychiatric hospital, she roams town murmuring Joe’s name. Heavily pregnant now, she espies Joe boarding a mini bus and runs towards him. Joe, seeing her approaching, quickly disembarks and takes off.
Ama pursues him furiously, and he runs to his home where he finds his bosom friend Frank making love to Afua. He immediately realises the treachery of Afua who instigated him to leave Ama.
He intends leaving the home in disgust and meets mad Ama at the door and embraces her despite her madness. Instantly, she regains her sanity.
Love indeed heals the wounds of the mind and it is the greatest positive force in the world. Incidentally, the greatest negative force is hatred.
Greatest force
Now coming to talk about love, I reiterate it is the greatest force imaginable. That is why a man will butcher his rival to death if he catches him climbing his wife without asking permission; and a woman will go mad if jilted.
It is also for this reason that a young boy who is scared stiff of cemeteries and under normal circumstances would not dare go near one, will this time walk boldly through a cemetery at midnight if that is the only way to his lover’s abode.
The Bible describes love for our neighbours as the surest way to heaven: Love thy neighbour as thyself.
Unfortunately, what Ghanaians are more interested and skilful in is loving the opposite sex. Romance under the cover of darkness is what we understand love to be all about. When it comes to loving our fellow human beings, we are found wanting.
People hate others just because they are of another tribe and do not speak the same native language. Too much grudge-bearing that does not augur well for national development.
War in Liberia, carnage in Rwanda are the results of the absence of love for one’s fellow being. If everybody could express a little bit of love for his fellow being irrespective of tribe, race, politics or religion, Sikaman—and indeed, the world—will be a more habitable place.
This article was first published on Saturday, October 29, 1994
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“Sir,” Ms. Odame said when David Asante answered the call, “my name is Victoria Odame. I’m a teacher at Research School in Koforidua. I would like to come and see you concerning a student called Sarah.”
“Okay, madam. I would be very glad to meet you. How can I make your trip easier?”
“I was going to join a bus to Accra.”
“Here’s what we will do. Take a taxi and ask them to bring you to Accra. I will speak to the driver, give him the directions, and pay him when you get here.”
The taxi stopped in front of the house. The gate opened, and the driver moved to the long driveway and stopped.
“What a beautiful house,” he said.
David and Adoma came out to meet them. Adoma paid the driver as David and Sarah stared at each other.
“Please come in and sit down,” Adoma invited. She served them water.
“You are welcome,” Adoma continued. “We have been waiting anxiously since you called this morning. So please, let’s hear you.”
Before she could open her mouth, Sarah rose, moved to David, hugged him, and sat on his lap. They both broke into tears. Adoma and Ms. Odame also broke into tears.
“Sorry, madam,” David said. “This whole episode has been a very difficult one. But let’s do the proper thing. Let’s hear you first, and I will also speak. I’m sure we need to answer some questions immediately.”
“Okay, sir. I have been taking an interest in Sarah because, although she’s brilliant academically, she seemed to be troubled. Following my discussions with her and some whispers I had been hearing, I went to Aboso Senior High School and spoke to your former colleague, Mr. Hanson. He told me that you were an exemplary teacher who was loved by all, and he also told me about the unfortunate events that caused you to leave for Germany. So I returned to Koforidua with the view to finding the appropriate means of helping to solve this problem.”
“Great. Ms. Odame, I have to thank you for finally helping us to solve this problem. Now, let me state the facts. This is what happened.
“Gladys and I met and got married whilst we were both teachers in the school. Some months into our marriage, she told me that she needed to spend some days with her parents, and I agreed.
“It turned out that she was actually spending time in a hotel with her ex-boyfriend, Simon. This happened again after Sarah was born. I got wind of this and told her that I was no longer interested in the marriage.
“I started preparing to travel to Germany. She pleaded for forgiveness, but I stood my ground. Then she told me that she would punish me for rejecting her.
“She came out later to say that Sarah was not my child, but Simon’s. She went and hid her somewhere, obviously expecting that I would fight to take my child. I was actually going to do that, but my parents advised me that it was almost impossible to win such a fight.
“They advised that, difficult as it sounded, I should leave the child with her because she would come back to me eventually. I have absolutely no problem taking care of you, Sarah. I am taking care of quite a number of kids who are not mine. So that is what happened. My hands were tied. I have been trying to find out how you are doing.
“I kept hearing that you were doing well at school. I also heard that Gladys and her husband were having problems, but I kept hoping that my daughter would at least be okay till it was possible for me to go for her.”
“Sarah, now you have met your dad. You will be free to—”
“I’m not going anywhere!” she declared as she held on to him.
“You don’t have to worry about that, Sarah,” Adoma said. “We have been looking forward to the day you come home. This is your home. Now, you have to meet your siblings.” She called Abrefi and Adaawa.
“Girls, we told you that you have a sister who would join us anytime. Now here she is.”
“Sarah?” Abrefi asked.
“Yes,” Adoma replied. The girls hugged her and took her away.
“Now,” David said, “I think it is time to call Madam Gladys.” He dialed the number.
“My name is David Asante. I’m here in my house with my daughter Sarah. I hear you have told her all sorts of crazy stories about me. I could make life very difficult for you, but I won’t.
“You are your own worst enemy. I don’t think you should be expecting her anytime soon. What do you say?”
Gladys stayed silent for over a minute, then cut the line.
“Food is ready,” Adoma announced. “Everybody, please come to the table.”
Sarah chatted excitedly with her siblings as Adoma and David spoke with Ms. Odame. She kept staring at her father.
“Now, Ms. Odame, after you have brought such joy into our home, should we allow you to go back to Koforidua today, or should we wait till we are ready to release you? I could call your husband and ask permission.
“And please don’t tell me you didn’t bring anything for an overnight stay. There are several supermarkets around here. We can fix that problem quickly.”
“I will beg you to release me. Now that I have been so warmly welcomed here, I already feel part of this home. Koforidua is not that far away, so I will visit often.”
“Well, let’s see what the kids have to say. Ladies, shall I release Ms. Odame to go back to Koforidua?”
“No!” they shouted, and all broke into laughter.
“Ms. Odame, I will have mercy on you. But we are going to do something to make it easy for you to visit us. My wife wants to show you something. Please follow her.”
Adoma led her to the driveway as the others followed. They stopped in front of the car.
“This is a Toyota Corolla 1600. It is very reliable and good on petrol consumption. We are giving this to you in appreciation of your help in getting our daughter back to us.
“And here in this envelope is a little contribution to help you with maintenance. And here in this other envelope is a gift to help with your children’s school fees.”
As she stood, stunned, and stared from the car to the envelopes, David put his hand around his family.
“Let’s leave her to take a look at her car. Ms. Odame, one of my drivers will drive you to Koforidua and leave your car with you. We are waiting inside.”
By Ekow de Heer
