[ 2011-04-21 ]

Eastern Regional Minister, Dr Kwasi Akyem Appea-Kubi

Minister goes beserk on journalists
THE EASTERN Regional Minister, Dr Kwasi Akyem
Appea-Kubi, has attacked journalists in the region
and threatened to show the ‘bad’ side of him
if they continue to do what he describes as
‘stupid’ journalism to create problems for
him.

“The fact that you have a camera, a pen and a
piece of paper does not make you a superior
person. You think you know it all but you don’t
know.

“The idiocy of tiny minority of you is creating
chaos and anarchy everywhere. And I am telling you
I will not take it. You can record it and play it
as many times as you like. I mean every word that
I am using today,” he stated.

According to him, journalists have been accusing
politicians of using insulting words on their
opponents but they use worse language on air.

“I am serious person and I don’t want to
involve myself in gutter politics because I am not
a gutter politician. You think you are following
me so that you can get foul words from me, it will
never happen,” he said.

The Minister gave the warning on Tuesday after
almost all the media houses in the region reported
on a ‘turbulent’ meeting between himself, the
NDC regional executives, all constituency
executives as well as party elders at his
residence on Monday that nearly resulted in
fisticuffs.

DAILY GUIDE, Chronicle, Enquirer, Adom FM, Peace
FM, Happy FM and Asempa FM had all reported on the
acrimonious meeting where majority of the
constituency executives in the region’s 28
constituencies who attended the meeting took the
regional chairman of the NDC, Julius Debrah, on
for insulting the Rawlingses on radio and also the
regional executive for allegedly ‘seizing’ all
contracts that came to the region.

They expressed their anger that people at the
Castle were the people who would cause the
downfall of President Mills because they had been
receiving financial favours from him and refused
to tell him the truth.

They also refused to pledge their support for
President Mills, saying that the Castle people
were fooling the president.

However, the regional minister said he would not
take any of that from journalists.

Dr Appea-Kubi therefore descended on journalists
who accompanied him to inspect projects in the
Akuapem North district on Tuesday, the day the
newspapers published the story.

He said journalists who attended the meeting could
not write anything sensible apart from what he
said were ‘few skirmishes’ that happened at
the meeting.

“Since yesterday and this morning, do you know
the number of calls I have received from everybody
in government, asking me what is happening and
what I am doing here?” he queried.

He picked up copies of DAILY GUIDE, Enquirer and
Chronicle and said angrily that whatever the three
newspapers published was absolute rubbish.

According to him, he goes to work at 6am and
returns home at 8pm and nobody sees that as news
but journalists are quick to write on only
negative things and sensational news.

The journalists, from both the public and the
private media, who followed the Minister, got so
offended that they decided to boycott the
programme but it took the regional organiser of
the NDC and the District Chief Executive (DCE) for
Akuapem North, George Opare-Addo’s interventions
to convince the journalists to stay with the
minister.

A reporter from Peace FM was said to have been
sacked from the press corps that toured the
region.

The minister’s verbal attacks came after threats
from supporters of the NDC to beat up some
journalists they accused of false reportage.

Some journalists interviewed in the region said
they would also advise themselves accordingly if
the minister attacked them again.

They threatened to boycott all his programmes.

They wondered how accurate reports on developments
at a meeting could result in such attacks and said
“when Nana Akufo-Addo came here and we reported
on his ‘all die be die’ comments, no-one from
his party threatened any journalist in the
region”.

Source - Daily Guide

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