One man?s will versus the sovereign good

In a front-page comment, the Ghanaian Chronicle says that news of the arrest and detention of several journalists from "The Statesman" and the Accra-based popular radio station, "JOY FM", is one of the bad news to add to the pressures that the good people of Ghana have been subjected to in these days of deepening economic and moral crisis.

The paper says the panic reaction from the government has not helped at all as it serves to inflame matters and raises even more eyebrows. According to the Chronicle, the primary irritating question that must engage the minds of Ghanaians is the conduct of the security agencies on issues that involve the President, his spouse and his close associates.

The paper says if it is the President and/or his spouse, then everything must be put on hold and all agencies of security must be mobilised for "His Imperial President?s despotic interest". The Chronicle remarks that Ghanaian are now being told that the Ghana Police Service and the Ministry of the Interior possess the capacity and ingenuity to move with such dispatch.

It says put in context with the Ablekuma murders (of our mothers and sisters) and the "Kumepreko" killings, the colonial management of priorities and subjugation of public interest in favour of "His Excellency?s fancies and pleasures" become so evident it hurts.

The Chronicle, within 48 hours of the "Weekend Statesman" publication, the usually plodding, hamstrung Tinganaba Nanfuri and the government have established that the controversial recording of a conversation between a lady and a man called Albert, is a "crude forgery".

The paper says the tae contained confessions of acts of bombing and murders at someone?s behest. It questions how the police established that and why does the government state that Ghanaians feel insulted by this so-called "crude forgery"?

"What is the Inspector-General of Police going to investigate when the Interior Ministry has already stated and ?established? unequivocally that the tape is a forgery?"