THE Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, is reported to have said on an Accra radio station that he has empirical evidence that directives have been issued to heads of the state-owned media, including the Daily Graphic, to refrain from giving prominence to the sittings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament.
He is also said to have contended that the government has been embarrassed by the revelations of misappropriation and disregard for due process by public officials in the Auditor-General’s Report for 2004/2005, hence the so-called directive.
We would like to state categorically that Mr Bagbin got it all wrong. The Daily Graphic, indeed, challenges him to substantiate his allegations or render an unqualified apology to the management and staff of the Graphic Communications Group Limited for imputing their integrity.
The Daily Graphic, however, assures Mr Bagbin and people who think like him that we totally support the efforts of institutions like the PAC to enhance accountability and transparency in the management of public funds by public office holders, but we will not allow anybody to dictate the way we should discharge our duties as professional journalists.
We believe that the work of the PAC is a serious national exercise and nobody should endeavour to situate its deliberations in partisan politics.
The issue at stake is not whether a group of people is “feeling jittery about corrupt revelations at the hearing” but how collectively Ghanaians can learn useful lessons from the hearings and take steps to avoid the spillage of public funds in future.
The exercise by the PAC must be supported by all because if in the past the Auditor-General’s Report had been scrutinised in like manner, the rot in the public service would have been placed at the bar of public opinion, thereby making it difficult for the revelations to be swept under the carpet.
Journalists are mindful of Article 162 (I) of the Constitution that states that the “freedom and independence of the media are hereby guaranteed”, as well as Article 163 which says, “All state-owned media shall afford fair opportunities and facilities for the presentation of divergent views and dissenting opinions.”
Just as the Constitution has defined the role of Parliament to include the scrutiny of all revenue and expenditure of the country, it equally charges the media to “at all times be true to uphold the principles, provisions and objectives of this Constitution and shall uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people of Ghana”.
The Daily Graphic extends a warm welcome to Mr Bagbin to observe proceedings at our editorial conference to appreciate that journalists are not subject to control and interference by government officials, political, business and religious interests. As a state-owned newspaper, the general good of all is our goal. We may have our disagreements in the selection of stories, but we do so with the strong conviction that whatever position is canvassed by any member of the Editorial Board is based on strict journalistic principles of fairness, balance and accuracy.
To us, what is happening at the PAC is a testimony to the fact that there is a systemic bottleneck that must be addressed to ensure transparency and accountability in the use of public resources.
The Daily Graphic knows that the media, in addition to stating the truth and reporting on it, must play an active role in influencing and shaping public opinion in order to change society for the better.
It is in this vein that we take the criticism from Mr Bagbin as part of the cross we bear in seeking to discharge our responsibility of seeking the truth in line with the definition of the role of the media as offered by Dr Bo Ho Pak of the Unification Church when he said at the Sixth World Media Conference, “Our God-given mission is to uncover the truth and shout it to the world; not a double-standard truth, not a distorted truth, not a self-serving perverted truth. Just the truth.”
This will forever remain our pledge.
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