If
Ghana wants peace in 2012…
By
Evans Tawiah
Like many Ghanaians, I
have been blaming the two main political parties; NDC and NPP, for persistently
sounding the unseen war drum. The sound of the drum that shakes our peace.
In 1corinthians 13:11, the
Bible says, “when I was a child, I spoke as I child, I understood as child, I
thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Indeed,
I thought as a child in blaming only our politicians for shaking Ghana’s peace.
Until I got admission into the Ghana Institute of Journalism, I never thought a
section of the Ghanaian media carried the war drum our politicians beat.
Certainly, one cannot
discourse the issues of peace in any country without mentioning the roles its
media play in it. The media has the role of disseminating good information and
reporting on the activities of the politician to the general public.
Unfortunately, the
media which should have checked and monitored the politician has become feeble and
cheeps about like a brood of ducklings. Their morning shows and front pages
have become law courts where verdicts are given on political issues. Accusations
and counter-accusation are traded like tomatoes on Makola Market. They give
room for unnecessary discussions creating fear and panic among the citizenry.
“All die be die” and “Dzi wo fie asem” get months of publicity while our lights
keep blinking on and off like Aphrodisiac’s disco light.
Perhaps, the media has
forgotten that it took some journalists a word of mouth to set their countrymen
into killing themselves. Yes. The pens and microphones of the journalist have
an enormous power that our media should desist from uncultured utterances.
We often say God is a
Ghanaian, for his mercies shown us. But we should not forget Ghana is not
Heaven Annex.
Minaj is a Liberian
refugee in Ghana. He paints to me the gloomy picture he saw during the Liberian
war. “Guns were fired and stones were thrown and blood shared like a widow’s
tears,” he told me. “Mothers were killed and fathers were not spared. The Children?
They were merciless,” he added.
We are left with few
months to the pools and the government and other stakeholders are doing all
they can to make sure Ghana has a free, fair and transparent election in 2012.
But of all such efforts, we must not forget to tap the shoulders of our media
to wake up from their slumber if Ghana wants peace in 2012.
It is about time the
Akan radio stations (some I must say) realized that they are causing more harm
than good. Their cantata show which they call news is nothing but cacophony of
the same war drum some unscrupulous politicians beat. Not only are the
proverbs, anecdotes and the like they use in their news is uncalled for but,
create tension among electorates especially the foot soldiers.
Whereas we caution our
media to be circumspect, the politicians should as well know that much is
expected of them in making election 2012 peaceful.
We never pray or wish hearing
“se wagye w’ani so,” to our media when we wake up to see that Ghana’s peace is
no more. Rather, we pray for an election devoid of violence. Long live the
peace of Ghana.
The writer is a student-journalist
at the Ghana Institute of Journalism.
Writer’s Email: faudpe@yahoo.com.
good work..... we need more of such minds......
ReplyDeleteTHANKS BRO!
ReplyDelete