Journalists fight Konadu boys

Drama unfolded at the Ghana International Press Center (GIPC) headquarters of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) on Wednesday when a group of young men supposedly from the Volta region was held hostage by some journalists.

This was when leadership of the group, which identified itself as Network of Patriotic Volta Youth (NPVY), called a press conference to articulate its concerns about ongoing developments in the Volta region which it said was affecting development of the area.

The group, among others, made allegations of a deliberate attempt by some political parties, particularly the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), to continue to use and dump the Volta Region in each political season.

Leadership of the NPVY also talked of a ploy by the NDC to use money to win votes and an attempt to run down former President Jerry John Rawlings by spreading vicious propaganda about him and his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings.

But moments after the convener and spokesman for the group, Michael Mawunyo Tettey-Milligan, finished delivering his written speech and opened the floor for questions, he was held hostage by two journalists, Pete Dela Tengey, formerly of Metro TV, who is now with The Finder newspaper and his colleague, Frank Warlonyo of Metro TV.

Dela and Frank seemed to have been provoked by the allegations and thus subjected the leadership of the group to a barrage of questions.

The two appeared emotional to an extent that they could not hide their biases, with each of them first introducing themselves as people from the Volta Region before mentioning the media houses they were representing.

They subsequently subjected them to a barrage of questions, raising doubts about the credibility of the group with an allegation that the group was sponsored by the National Democratic Party (NDP) to organize the press conference.

The suspicion could be partly been informed by the fact that prior to the start of the programme, two or so NDP branded vehicles dropped people off at the event venue and left.

Tempers flared to an extent that a veteran journalist who was observing proceedings had to intervene to restore calm, upon realizing that the two journalists had taken the issue too personal.

At a point, an obviously enraged Dela Tengey rose to his feet, mentioned his full name and walked out of the press conference.

Not long after that, his colleague Warlonyo also followed suit, asking his cameraman to round up for them to leave.

He proceeded to confront an Administrative Secretary at the Press Center, Fiifi Nettey, who sent out the invitation created the impression that the flag bearer of the NDP and former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings was the one going to address the media.

This brought proceedings to an abrupt end, preventing a number of journalists from asking questions.