Ghana's democracy while we slept

Ok, if you don’t like how a news media covers your government and political party, issue a fiat forbidding all your appointees, other public officials, departments and agencies from speaking to that media house. 

You probably can do that (and get away with it) if you run your own small company or fiefdom but certainly not when you’re governing a post-modern democratic state.

But that’s exactly what the Government of Ghana has done. On Tuesday, March 20, the government issued an order prohibiting all appointees from granting interviews to or advertising on the platforms of the country’s leading independent multimedia company, Multimedia Group Limited.

The government’s move came as a surprise to many. Not only is the administration’s action clearly undemocratic, utterly illegal and unnecessary exercise of power, it is also heavily tinged with arrogance.

Ghana’s 4^th republican constitution, in letter and spirit, frowns on this sort of arbitrary use of state power. The constitution guarantees the right of the media, free speech and expressly recognizes the media as the fourth estate of the realm.

President Mills (R) and his veep, John Mahama

According to government, the action is borne out of the fact that it doesn’t like the way the media organization’s networks report on the government and the ruling party.

Multimedia Group Limited owns and operates Joy FM, by far Ghana’s best and indeed one of Africa’s leading radio stations. The company runs the Multi TV network. Altogether, Multimedia Group Limited operates 20 radio and TV channels. 

It also has dozens of affiliates which rebroadcast its flagship programmes right across Ghana and on the internet every day. The comprehensive Myjoyline website is a leader in online news in Ghana.

I’ve a confession to make here: I worked briefly with Multimedia after graduate school but that’s beside the point.

Historically, the NDC has had a rather fractious relationship with the media. In July 2001, the John Kufour NPP administration repealed the criminal libel and seditious laws of the country.   

In the 1990s, NDC government appointees and affiliates had used these laws during Jerry Rawlings administration to bully and jail journalists.

After promising while in opposition to pass the Right to Information Bill into law in 2008, the Mills administration has so far reneged on that promise – with just about eight months to face the electorate again. Ghanaians head to the polls in December to elect a president and legislatures. President Mills won the 2008 election by a wafer-thin margin.

Government’s claim its heavy-handed move is in direct response to Multimedia Group’s supposed unfairness in the coverage of the ruling party is simply untenable and it is also not doing itself any favours in a competitive election year as this.

This action only plays into the hands of the opposition which will no doubt capitalize on it to characterize the Mills administration as intolerant and undemocratic. Ghanaians take their democracy and freedom of speech seriously -- just listen to or watch any of the morning show programmes on radio or TV). 

Therefore, arbitrarily proscribing a major news and entertainment network such as the Multimedia Group from covering state events can only hit the government where it hurts most, public perception and possibly at the polls later in the year. Already political campaigns have intensified.

Ghana’s laws guarantee the right to rejoinder and civil suit against false allegations and unfair media reporting. For the administration to therefore take such a drastic action speaks to how precarious the country’s democracy is.

Ghana is an ‘anchor state’, a shining example of modern democratic governance in Africa but this is clearly under threat. Recording a remarkable growth rate of 13.5 per cent in 2011 and an increasingly vibrant economy buoyed by recent oil discovery and exports, the country enjoys tremendous goodwill in Africa and globally.

The government must step back from this atypical and impulsive exercise of power, retract the order and apologize to Ghanaians for denting their confidence in the country’s democracy.