Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says he is unfazed about the repeal of the criminal libel law in 2001in the country, despite being suffered by irresponsible media reportage.
According to him, “one of the greatest victims of irresponsible sections of the media, and I refer to those who have created an industry from spewing calumnies, falsehoods and outright fabrications against my person, I do not regret…my role in the repeal of the old discredited law.”
Nana Addo who was the Criminal defense lawyer under the John Kufuor government spearheaded the repeal of the criminal libel law under which some journalists were arrested and detained by government.
He touted his efforts as the Justice Minister who liberated the practice of journalism from the shackles of the feared criminal libel law in 200, the step to take is to work with professionals like criminal lawyer Melbourne for cases like this.
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said, “the repeal has inspired the Ghanaian media to be one of the freest and most vibrant on the entire continent of African if not the world.”
President Akufo-Addo alluded to the “noisy, boisterous, sometimes scurrilous media of today, to the monotonous, praise-singing, sycophantic one of yesteryear.”
He maintained that the media has enriched Ghana’s democratic credentials through their investigations and curiosity and commended the media for holding his government accountable and publishing its policies for the benefits of the people.
The president said, “I cannot complain about the lack of exposure of my thoughts, statements, or policies since I became president.”
He commended the presidential press corps highly “whose duty it is to cover the presidency; they should know that their work is appreciated.”
Today’s encounter is his first media encounter since his inauguration on January 7, 2017. After more than six months in office, President Akufo-Addo faced a barrage of questions from journalists in his first media encounter that has become an entrenched feature of Ghana’s 25 years experiment with democracy.
Excerpts of the questions and answers
Adom FM: Are we safe following incident of bugging of a minister’s office?
Answer: You have to ask Inusah Fuseini whether we are safe. [Laughter erupts]
EIB Nana Aba Anamoah: Your MP Kennedy Agyapong has been very critical of the government. How do you feel about his comments and internal wranglings in the party.
Answer: NPP internal wrangling is as old as man. He is not surprised about the direction of Kennedy Agyapong’s views.
EIB reporter: Is ENI under investigations after the NPP sent a letter to Italian government about the cost of the John Agyekum FPSO?
Joy FM Evans Mensah: How many jobs have you created in the last six months?
Answer: I would be surprised if I would be able to answer the question. But if you ask me in 18 months I would be in a better position to answer. We all have to be very frank. I am thinking more about private sector jobs, not the public employer.
Bawumia answers a question about the Vice-President’s $14m mansion. “I have not been there. I don’t think there is any work going on. It probably does not make sense to leave the project idle. We are negotiating the contract sum from the position that the quoted amount is too much,” he said.
Bloomberg Ghana reporter: How much of a blessing has the IMF program been in the context of building Ghana without aid yet you accept aid from China?
Answer: The IMF program will not be extended after it expires in 2018. There is going to be no question after the end of the IMF. We would then be on our own. He says Ghana will continue to use aid but the goal is to grow beyond aid, he corrects Bloomberg report.
Abusua FM Kwame Adinkra: likes the announcement that capitation system of healthcare will be ditched. Roads in Kumasi are in a terrible state. He praises the President’s fabric.
He says government has decided to end it. But ‘the when’ is for the Health minister to announce.
GTV Moomen: Almost nothing has been said about free SHS today. There are concerns that there is a grade cut-off point for students seeking admission into SHS. If you don’t make the grade you may not benefit. Is there any goal-post shifting going on?
Answer: No comment today because the program has been spelt out in series of public engagement. The minister will once again set out the modalities in some 10 days time. The policy is for those who are accepted in the senior high schools. There is nothing about cut-off points. Get admission, benefit from the policy – simple.
I am not a hoodwinker. I am not a con man. I am an honest person.
Insight Kwesi Pratt:[ There is laughter] Will your government bow to Moroccan pressure to join ECOWAS despite it being a colonial power?
Answer: Ghana supports Morroco’s bid to join AU. The matter to do with ECOWAS is the issue now. It has not happened before to have an application such as the Moroccan one. We will make our voice heard at the proper time.
Kencity media: Is there anything in the NIA system that will allow people to vote without moving across the country to vote during elections.
Answer: Everything about voting systems are not in my hands.
Daily Guide: I have not seen a single person prosecuted since you took office. Are you waiting for the creation of the Special Prosecutor or you are still gathering evidence.
Answer: There are a lot of allegations about people in office. If we are to go along with allegations, the courts may expose them in court as hollow. I will not accept prosecutions to satisfy political purposes but only those with strong evidence the lawyers can use to secure a conviction. There is a lot of work being done. It will see the light of day. They will not be flimsy exercises. There are several in the pipeline that I am aware of.
It is not a question of waiting for the Special Prosecutor. But making sure the cases are strong.
BBC World service: Are you not concerned about the size of your government?
Answer: He is not worried about it. The real issue of the capacity of the minister to take hold of the ministry and get it to work to improve the lives of the average Ghanaian. It is about results.
Adom FM Captain Smart: Only 31 ambulances work in this country. We are losing lives because of the lack of ambulances. What are you doing to save the situation and finally when is the Woyome money coming back.
Answer: He says the day of reckoning will come for Woyome
OMAN FM: Some Ghanaian are unhappy that appointees of the previous government are still at post.
Answer: He says those hindering his vision, obviously must leave. But for him, if you are there in the public service it is because the appointee despite his political background is working with the vision in place.
Asempa FM KABA: A lot of your critics and admirers say you are a very wild person. That wild nature about the President seems to have been fizzled out?
Answer: There is nothing wild about me. Kwesi Pratt is here. Yes, a man of strong views as small as I am. [Laughs]. If that is the idea of a wild person then it has not changed.
Metro TV: What is the gov’t doing about open defecation and encroachment on public lands. [To summarise a long winding question]
Answer: The President wants the Railway Development Minister, Joe Ghartey, to engage communities where railway areas have been encroached upon by residents. The attitude is not to use force.
Citi FM Bernard Avle: Gov’t has gone for 1bn cedi bond. $2.5bn, $2.4bn bond to clear legacy debt, 17.4bn cedi bond totalling 40bn cedis in six months. We have borrowed almost half of our GDP. Why are we borrowing this much? Where are our internal resources?
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia: Deficit was 9.4% GDP n 2016. Defict is expected to reach 6.5% GDP which brings down the debt stock. From 2012 to 2016, gov’t was adding 6.5% of GDP to debt stock. After inheriting 72% of GDP to debt ratio, the government wants to bring it to under 71% in 2016.
He says the GIFMIS system is ensuring that government does not spend on projects it has not planned and budgeted for. The debt stock in terms of its impact on the economy is not increasing also because government is not borrowing domestically which would have affected interest rates. But the rates are dropping.
EIB journalist: Law schools writing exams. There is a turf war between law students and the law school. What can the President do to intervene?
A-G comes in to answer: She says judges and criminal defense attorney firms threatening to strike are entitled to their allowances as directed by the National Labour Commission. What was not clear was the exact increment they are asking for. We needed to ascertain the level of increases. We have been able to obtain that and we have passed that on to the Finance Minister. They are challenged by some demands.
There is only one school of law yet accreditations is given to many institutions. It is not possible to absorb a large number of LLB graduates seeking to enter law school for a professional qualification. We need to open up without sacrificing quality
Peace FM journalist: In your view what did you think you did to win a Gender champion award
Answer: I forgot to pose the same question to the AU commissioner. This is an area I want to do better. I have not been able to reach the 30% bench mark for the appointment of women in his government. He says his appointment of a first-ever female Chief of Staff could be a part. But the award is to inspire him to do more.
Question: TV3 journalist: How critical is galamsey to you especially since you have put your political career on the line?
Answer: The question provides its own answer. He says the destruction caused by illegal mining is obvious to everyone. It is simply his duty to do something about it. His alarm reached a tipping point when a chairman of a sub-committee in Cabinet Prof. Frimpong Boateng went to a meeting in Ivory Coast and returned with a message that galamsey in Ghana is affecting water supply in Ivory Coast.
In answering the question, the President rejected threats that his fight would cost him votes in 2020. He went ahead to say that he his photo may not be on the ballot sheet come 2020.
The President talks about some pitfalls of his government and points out stories of vandalism of vigilante groups aligned to NPP namely, Invisible Forces and Delta Force.
“I wish that voluntary groups that helped my campaign would not have gotten into trouble giving his government ‘bad publicity’. He says the security agencies are dealing with the excesses and the groups have also shown remorse.
The President says the minister for sanitation is working to aggressively evacuate refuse dumps across the country starting from Accra.
He talks about the BOST saga in which 5 million litres of contaminated fuel ‘spilled’ into the media space for intense debate. He says a committee headed by Prof. Danquah is investigating the matter.
He talks about empowering Ghanaian businesses to expand into a 350 million West African market. “These market represent immense opportunity to bring prosperity to Ghana”. This explains his trips to ECOWAS member states.
He identifies galamsey as the headline issue in his government’s six months in office. Repeats vows to stop it and assures, the fight does not target Chinese nationals believed to be the most rampant participants in illegal mining.
“The greatest challenge we face is creating jobs”. He assured that job creation will determine his government’s success.
African Eye Report
