AG drags Kojo Yankson, Multimedia to NMC

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong, has dragged the host of Joy FM Super Morning Show Kojo Yankson and Multimedia Group Limited to the National Media Commission (NMC).

The decision to drag the two to the NMC comes after Yankson reportedly made some “false” comments on air after a conversation with the Attorney General.

The AG is seeking an apology and the retraction of comments allegedly made by Yankson, that she (the A-G) had said she was not involved in the arrangements relating to the two ex- detainees of Guantanamo Bay.

According to the AG, the publication by Yankson and Multimedia was untrue and a calculated attempt to mislead the public.

Background

the AG giving a background on the issue in a letter to the NMC stated that “On January 12, 2016 after a Press Conference by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana at the Flgstaff House 'a gentleman walked up to me and asked me about the specific law under which the Government of Ghana was keeping the two detainees of the US government from the Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba'.

According to the A-G, her response was that he should 'speak to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration on the matter'.

The AG states in the letter that the person neither introduced himself, nor did he indicate that he was an employee of Multimedia Group or state that he was conducting an interview, but subsequent events pointed to the fact that the gentleman in question was Mr Yankson, the host of the Super Morning Show.

She said during the January 13, 2016, edition of the Joy Super Morning Show programme, Kojo Yankson and Multimedia Group broadcasted and published words which were misleading and calculated to mislead the public.

He is alleged to have said, 'I just want to share a piece of information from yesterday. Actually, I have been thinking about whether to share but I think I should because it wasn't given to me in confidence. I walked up to the Attorney-General and asked her this same question: Under what law can we stop these two individuals if they decide that at any point they want to live elsewhere and are leaving before the two years is up?

'She told me that she was not involved in these arrangements and that if I wanted to know, I ought to speak to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that dealt with this matter.'

'She, the Attorney-General, the lawyer of government, was not involved in the arrangements. I mean I wasn't speaking to her off record, so I feel absolutely fine sharing that the A-G of Ghana was not involved,' the A-G quoted Mr Yankson as saying on the show.