The Vice President of FIDA International, Ms Ursula Owusu, has described as unfortunates exchanges on air between Member of Parliament for Assin North Kennedy Agyepong and Alhaji Bature of the Bilingual Free Press newspaper.
Ken Agyepong is on record to have used uncouth language and threatened to kill the journalist twice on radio. This was because the MP had been slandered by the journalist as a cocaine dealer, an allegation Alhaju Bature was not able to substantiate when asked to do so.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme Monday, Ursula who is a staunch member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) stated that though she finds Ken’s outburst unfortunate, it is important that no one loses sight of the fact that he was provoked by the journalist who made a serious, unsubstantiated allegation against him.
She stressed the need for all who get the opportunity to speak on air to exercise some decorum, bearing in mind that children who look up to adults to mould their character are also listening. “We need to teach our children who are listening to us some wisdom, some knowledge, those of us who are on air should see it an opportunity to educate the populace…”
She stressed: “Threatening to kill somebody isn’t decorous language…”
Meanwhile, Mr Kodwo Twum Boafo Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Free Zones Board, who was also on the programme, called on the police to arrest Mr Ken Agyepong for threatening to kill a journalist. He also called on the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) to support the calls for the MP’s arrest.
According to Mr Twum Boafo, the impudence with which the MP issued his threat, not once but twice, indicates that he is responding to the NPP flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo’s statements ‘all die be die’. “And Kennedy Agyepong was the first person to run away from this country after the (2008) elections…” he claimed.
However Ursula Owusu who disagreed with the position of Mr Twum Boafo, said she was amazed at the NDC’s reaction to the ‘all die be die’ comment since it was said in a context – that NPP supporters should be vigilant and defend themselves at the polls when they are attacked by supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
She noted that the party’s extreme overreaction to Nana’s statement is an indication that the ruling party had other plans other than supervising a peaceful free and fair election in 2012.
“…because really, if you have no intention of using force, violence and intimidation at the polls why will you be upset when somebody says that we are going take steps to ensure that nobody uses force, violence and intimidation on us to scare us from casting our ballot in peace?
“So it is just clear to all objective observers that the good Lord himself has exposed the evil plans of the NDC [in] the way they want to conduct the 2012 elections.”