Komla Dumor, the iconic British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) presenter who joined our ancestors on Saturday, January 18, 2014, was an honest man.
I am compelled by my conscience to make this known to all, especially those who remember the vehemence with which, Ghana News Agency, Graphic Communications and other Chapters of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) refused to recognise him as the GJA Journalist of The Year 2003.
Komla walked to my workstation at the Ghana News Agency Newsroom at the height of the controversy.
He asked: “Mr Boadi, why are you against me?”
I also asked him: “Have you been reading my postings?”
He said: “Yes.”
I intoned: “Dispassionately?”
He stood for a moment and replied: “Not really.”
I immediately realised that I was dealing with an honest man. I told him I had not attacked his person in my articles because I saw him as a victim of the indiscretion of the 2003 GJA Award Committee.
Komla, because of his honesty, had told the Committee that he saw himself more as a Presenter rather than a Journalist, and went further to tell them that he was not a member of the GJA, yet it went ahead to confer the Best Journalist of The Year 2003 on him.
The encounter with Komla ended with a long laughter when I said I did not spare Unilever in one of my articles and he said he hoped that would not make them withdraw the package they had offered him.
Komla grew to become the gem in the crown of BBC, the world’s foremost broadcaster.
Komla, take the lead; we will definitely meet again in eternity.
Mr Boadi was the Supervising Chief Editor and Acting General Manager of Ghana News Agency when he went on retirement in 2011.
