ONE of the beautiful things about democracy with a pluralistic and vibrant media is the provision of a platform for the vigorous discussion or debate of issues of national concern.
Through such exchange of diverse and often conflicting opinions, a synthesis of ideas is attained, from which society, particularly policy makers and implementors, will draw useful lessons to help enrich the content of legislation and national programmes.
In yesterday’s issue of this paper, we published on our front page the tragic report of the death of 18 people, most of them women, in a galamsey operation that went tragically wrong.
Along with the report was a picture of the victims of the disaster.
Since the publication of the picture, we have received mixed reactions from the public, ranging from commendations by individuals to loud protestations from the regulator of the state-owned media — the National Media Commission (NMC) — and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).
The NMC, in stating its displeasure at the publication, described the picture as gory and its publication as a product of bad judgement and unprofessional conduct.
The GJA, on the other hand, described the picture as gruesome.
While we wish to respect the views and opinions of all in respect of this subject matter, we nevertheless wish to set the record straight regarding the charges of unprofessionalism and unethical conduct levelled against us by the NMC and the GJA.
Even as the pictures may appear to be tragic, with the capacity to shock many, it cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be described as gory and gruesome, as alleged by the NMC and the GJA.
In using the picture, care was taken to select one that did not openly show the faces of the victims so that they could be easily identified.
Again, the picture used did not display the tragic details of the accident involving the victims as other pictures in our possession did, for which we exercised the judgement not to use them.
Furthermore, in using the picture, we never sought, even remotely, to offend the sensibilities of the general public, let alone those of the families, relatives and well-wishers of the victims. Far from that.
This incident, by all accounts, represents a monumental national tragedy in which the government, state institutions, individuals involved in the galamsey business, mining concerns, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders have an interest.
Our prime consideration here is to prick the conscience of society and propel and galvanise the stakeholders to stop the endless talk of the menace of galamsey and act together in a more scientific and mature fashion to find amicable and lasting solutions to the matter to forestall another tragedy and further loss of lives which could be avoided.
If, in the course of our well intentioned action, we have offended the sensibilities of the bereaved families or some of our readers, we are sorry.
This, however, is not to say that it was recklessness or unprofessional conduct on our part, as some of the charges seem to suggest.
We wish to take this opportunity to reiterate our call to the government, the Minerals Commission, galamsey operators, NGOs and other stakeholders to act now and with a sense of urgency to find a durable and amicable solution to the problem of galamsey and thus prevent the recurrence of tragedies of this nature.
If this is done, we would have paid proper tribute to the victims, rather than persist in our inaction for more such tragedies to afflict us for us to engage in another round of profuse mourning and philosophical debates and the blame game as to who has done right or wrong and where.
We once again extend our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and pray and hope that our contribution to this discourse will yield fruitful dividends for the benefit of the entire nation.
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