REJOINDER: Ken Kuranchie’s Conviction Justified – Otiko Bjaba

My attention has been drawn to a publication in the Ghanaian Lens Newspaper and subsequently republished in several online news outlets with the headline “Ken Kuranchie’s Conviction Justified – Otiko Djaba.”

The paper reports that I repeatedly stressed, on Net2 TV in the morning and also on Multi TV’s Minority Caucus programme on Wednesday evening, that “the Supreme Court should have started cracking the whip starting with Sammy Awuku.”

The story further adds that I “adopted an unsympathetic stance against the convicted journalist who has been one of the staunchest defendants of the Akufo-Addo cause”, on both platforms.

This is a total lie and a story cooked in the dilapidating kitchen of falsehood and served on the cracked plate of malicious assassination of character. I am, however, not surprised that this publication emanated from the Ghanaian Lens, a paper which is remarkable for its absolute creativity and total disregard for the key journalistic ingredient called, truth.

I made it clear throughout both TV programs that the Supreme Court was to be commended for stamping its authority in ensuring that sanity prevailed on the airwaves. This has resulted in the silencing of war-mongers who predicted civil war in the aftermath of the verdict being delivered by Supreme Court in the election petition.

I further indicated that the care must be taken, as per the Supreme Court’s directives, not to reintroduce the culture of silence among the Ghanaian media and the general Ghanaian populace as a whole.

Never was there a moment during both TV programmes did I state that the Supreme Court’s cracking of the whip should have started with Sammy Awuku nor was I unsympathetic towards the plight of Ken Kuranchie.

I am, by this rejoinder, asking for an apology and a retraction of the said article from the Ghanaian Lens, a paper situated deep in the partisan stable of the ruling party and dedicated to publishing false stories. I am appealing to the general public to, once again, ignore this false story.

Ghanaians want practical remedies to the ailing Better Ghana Agenda and not practical, ugly jokes thrown in the public arena in the forlorn hope of diverting attention from the crass incompetence, economic hardships and growing unemployment being endured under this current administration.

……signed……

Otiko Afisa Djaba

NPP Women’s Organiser