Mills Runs To NMC

President John Evans Atta Mills has finally turned to the National Media Commission (NMC) to help curtail the insults eating deep into the country’s political and media fibre.

He invited members of the Commission, chaired by Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, to the seat of government, the Osu Castle, last Friday, with one request- stopping the insults on the airwaves.

Sources at the Presidency said the ‘old man’ was prompted by last week’s encounter on Accra-based Asempa FM which nearly resulted in a clash between supporters of his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), after heated exchanges on a political programme on the station.

The meeting was attended by the new Information Minister, Fritz Baffour who, until his appointment, was a member of the NMC, with one of his two deputies, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

Interestingly, at the time the President was fashioning out ways to curb the prevalence of ‘politics of insults’, his henchmen, including National Youth Organiser of the NDC, who is also an aide to the President, Ludwig Hlodze, Deputy Information Minister James Agyenim Boateng and foul-mouth Felix Kwakye Ofosu were in the Volta Region denigrating the Presidential Candidate of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo.

Kwakye Ofosu was quoted to have described Nana Addo as a ‘wee smoker’.

Political observers and analysts believe President Mills has not shown much leadership in this direction since some of these insults emanate right from under his nose at the Presidency.

“He had not been able to succeed because most of the attacks are orchestrated from Castle,” an observer said.

Analysts are wondering whether there is much the NMC can do to salvage the deteriorating situation as there appears to be no end in sight to politics of insult, with the likes of Kwakye Ofosu and Peter Boamah Otukunor still in the ruling party’s communications team.

The NMC members told the President point blank that there was little they could do since they had no logistics to carry out their assignments, unlike other bodies like the EC, NCCE and CHRAJ.

Meanwhile, the ‘Ekosii Sen’ Asempa FM programme, which nearly resulted in the clash between supporters of the two main political parties, was back on air yesterday but without its regular host Kwabena Bobie Ansah, who has been linked to to a new radio station, XYZ. The station is owned by a known NDC financier and businessman, David Lamptey, and Bobie is being offered a mouth-watering package.