Journalist of the Year Row Exposed!

- The inside story, the antecedents, the acts of 'omission

INFORMATION available to The Chronicle indicates that officially, the person who won the 2003 coveted award on offer at the Ghana Journalists Association organised event, is not Komla Dumor, but Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, one of only three men - no woman - nominated for the prize.

The other person nominated is Mr. Nanabanyin Dadson of Graphic Showbiz.

The host of 'Front Page,' the hugely successful Joy-FM programme, which is produced and owned by Kwaku Sakyi-Addo himself, in partnership with Kwasi Twum's Multi-media broadcasting organisation, dramatically wrote to the eight-member panel of the GJA award committee, to withdraw his name because in his opinion the award should go to someone else, having won it twice

"In my opinion the purpose of an award is to encourage the winner and I felt I had been encouraged enough and so the award should go to someone else," he explained, adding that the prize that comes with the award, which is an advanced course in journalism, he did it in Cardiff some years ago.

"I don't think there is the need for me to go back to study advanced journalism again," he concluded.

His wishes were respected and only two names were left on the table for the panel to consider, including Mr. Komla Dumor, who is also a very well known broadcast journalist/presenter and the former host of the popular 'Morning Big Breakfast' show.

Faced with the choice between Komla Dumor and Nanabanyin Dadson, whose claim to the title may be difficult to rationalise because of the subject he writes about - Western Diamonds and the odd vignettes on show business personalities and events. Komla Dumor, despite serious doubts about him, emerged as the better option. The rest is modern history.

On hindsight, the committee headed by the 'strong'-willed Audrey Gadzekpo, may have erred. Audrey, a lecturer at the School of Communication Studies, is a journalist too - she edited a black community newspaper, The Indianapolis Recorder, in the US, edited The Chronicle while writing a column - From a Distance- for a brief period, (She was implored by childhood friend Kofi Coomson to help out) and also later set up and published a woman's magazine, 'Awo,' which unfortunately collapsed after a little over a year.

The criterion for journalist of the year was not made known. The journalist who demonstrated courage in holding public office holders accountable to the public was the key criterion. On that basis, Nanabanyin Dadson did not have a chance.

The option of looking beyond the three names and considering the scores of other journalists who had only been nominated for other categories, like news reporter of the year, investigative reporter of the year or to the star female reporter, and 'habitual' award winner Isabella Gyau of Public Agenda, did not hit the panel. If they did, they would have found some material to work with.

The choice of Komla Dumor was instantly problematic, and it has nothing to do with whether he is a trained journalist or not. He is a Ghanaian with a sound mind and a sound body who writes and talks in the media - the only criteria to qualify to be a journalist anywhere in the world - the Ghanaian, British and American constitutions guarantee that. Full stop. Not even the GJA or the National Media Commission can structure a qualifying criteria for journalists- the constitution supersedes all codes of conduct that are always hortatory.

The choice of Komla Dumor as journalist of the year has been roundly condemned and rejected by almost every major media institution in Ghana - private sector and state owned - making it the most worthless award in history.

Currently on the internet, the world-wide-web, there is a posting with the picture of Komla and the allusion to his award being a joke. It is a shock that Komla, who has just graduated from Harvard Kennedy School of Government with a Masters in Public Administration, would even accept the award.

The media houses that form the overwhelming membership of the GJA - Ghana News Agency, Ghanaian Times, Daily Graphic, and the Public Agenda (which may have an axe to grind) have gone on record to reject Dumor of deserving of the award. It is almost total repudiation by his peers.

GNA man also lost the elections for another office on offer and may be griping that GNA is under- represented at these awards though - and rightly so. They have the best crop of journalists in town. Kwaku Sakyi-Addo won while he was a journalist at GNA, and also won when he was a columnist at The Chronicle. The issue is whether GNA has been applying for these awards since their stories usually do not come with by-lines, an issue that may need a closer introspection.

Facts available - which may or may not have been known to Audrey Gadzekpo and her team - should have persuaded the committee, which included Sydney Abugri and GBK Owusu, to reject Komla's nomination.

One of the reasons may definitely not be known to the panel, but Chronicle is aware that under Kabral's GJA Presidency, another controversy was sparked when the sponsors of the 1995/6 GJA awards night, M-NET, managed to get the overwhelming choice of Journalist of the Year, dropped in a secret meeting alllegedly chaired by Kabral and substituted by the runner-up Mr. Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, current editor of the Daily Graphic.

Key journalists in Ghana are aware of this including Mrs. Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, Ben Ephson, and significantly Ivor Agyeman Duah, press attach? in the Ghana embassy in Washington. Ivor is a noted author, journalist and one-time senior reporter of The Independent, and editor of the Ashanti Independent. Kofi Coomson is also in the know.

The argument was that The Chronicle was too hot and controversial and had too many legal fights in court with the NDC government. It therefore looked unpalatable if MNET would sponsor an award in which a major opponent of the then ruling government would be the star. Surprisingly, that argument won the day and the rules were subverted. The victim fully aware of the plot - did not protest- it was too late.

And in fact he saluted the award 'winner.' As events showed, almost all the suits were political gimmicks, because one by one, the legal suits evaporated, failed or drpped like dominoes.

In Dumor's case, there are many active legal cases in court challenging not only Komla Dumor, Sonny Decker and Joy FM over the SSNIT reports, which have been adjudged by Audrey and her panel as evidence of someone "holding public official or institution accountable." SSNIT itself has been sued by Lexcom and represented by Shadrack Arhin in an action taken by Mawuli Ababio, one of those named in the Kwame Addo-Makola property stories.

Still in the high court, Kwame Addo, now in Law school in England, has filed action to challenge the CHRAJ findings, and Akuffo-Addo, Prempeh and Co. chambers man, Mr. Atta-Kyea, who has recently left to set up his own practice, holds the brief.

Edward Annan, represented by Tony Lithur, has initiated a major suit that is claiming damages for defamation and loss of business, following Komla Dumor's famous Joy FM broadcasts.

The CHRAJ probe which went into the Dumor allegations issued a report which is fundamentally flawed - the report was not written by any of the top legal minds or very senior directors at CHRAJ - Emile Short or Angelina Domakyeerah, but by the over-enthusiastic Dr. Ken Attafuah, currently the executive secretary of the National Reconciliation Commission.

It was a tawdry job.

None of the recommendations of CHRAJ has been respected. In fact, both Charles Asare and Henry Dei have rejected and condemned the report, and the legal action is only in abeyance because of the legal vacation.

That someone who produced a report that is so questionable and is being challenged in court should be named a journalist of the year, is a sad commentary on the panel and not on the poor journalist who, mistakenly, or out of sheer naivet? thought he was doing a good job. There are many more relevant details.

Unilever may have to seek legal advice and review their generosity whether they would lend their good corporate name to such a deeply stained award after checking these factual representations.

As to the other matters cited by the GNA chapter about the 'ridiculing of his guests,' it may be a style that may have been imbibed by the acerbic American presenters, like Jay Leno, who represent the quintessence of American cultural imperialism.