Journalist demonstrates for Kojo Yankson’s recall

A journalist based in the Upper East region, Senyalah Castro Cazo, has staged a one-man demonstration on the premises of Ghana’s Multimedia Group Limited for the reinstatement of famous broadcaster Kojo Yankson as the host of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show (SMS).

It has been about four months since the ‘Morning Man’ exited the ‘morning seat’ for a colleague broadcast journalist, Daniel Dadzie, amid snowballing public speculations that Mr. Yankson has been given the pink slip by his employers for not living up to expectations.

Whilst some believe the smooth-talking heir of the seat once occupied by Komla Dumor and Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has only gone on a break, others are of a counter opinion that four months is too long and too vague a break for him to stay away from a preferred microphone that for many years carried the baritone voice of Bernard Nasara Saibu to the masses.

Castro, a devotee of Mr. Yankson, is one of those who believe the management of the Multimedia Group Limited has done away with his mentor. And unable to bear any longer the void he feels months after the voice of his icon was taken down, he travelled Sunday afternoon on his own by road from Navrongo to Kokomlemle— an 815-kilometre distance— with a placard to express his disapproval Monday morning.

The placard reads in bold letters: “Please, bring Kojo Yankson back on the Joy SMS.”

Kojo Yankson, who was around as a dissatisfied-looking Castro held the placard in the sight of Multimedia staff and passersby, came out of the office building for a forecourt interaction with his distant admirer.

“As someone who has been inspired greatly by some of the stories shared by Kojo Yankson, I listen to him greatly on the Super Morning Show. He has been of great inspiration to many young people across and beyond Ghana.

“I’m not privy to the contractual bond between the management and Kojo Yankson, but I expect that someone of Kojo Yankson’s status deserves better than he’s being treated. Whatever he might have done wrong, whether he has lived up to expectations or not, I’m very sure he has learnt his lessons by now,” Castro said.



We’ve not taken Kojo off air completely— Multimedia Management

Castro is well known in the Upper East region for standing up for people when they are down. He prepares food every month for mentally ill persons found in the streets of Navrongo and the nearby border town of Paga.

He said the employers of Kojo Yankson held a meeting with him shortly after his interaction with the suspended broadcaster. The management, according to him, said it had not relieved Mr. Yankson of his position as host of the Joy’s SMS.

“The Director of Programmes at Joy FM, Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Ansah, received me. I had a meeting with the management. They said they had not taken him (Kojo Yankson) off completely but they wanted him to right certain wrongs [with regard to the morning show programme].

“There was a staff, a woman, who was very, very happy that I had come. When I asked why she was happy, I was told that she was one of the workers who had been voicing out their views that Kojo Yankson deserved a better treatment. Those workers say, ‘Kojo is very good; he just needs a little support’. The management was appreciative that I had come all the way from the Upper East region to share my concerns,” stated Castro.