Press Corps Protest

Members of the Parliamentary Press Corps last Friday staged a one day news blackout on the proceedings in the House to register their protest against what they described as "continuos harassment and embarrassment" of some members of the press corps by MPs. The decision was arrived at an emergency meeting called after an incident, which took place during proceedings on the floor last Friday.

The Minority Chief Whip, Mr. Doe Adjaho drew the Speaker's attention to a publication titled "MP's Expose NDC's 23 billion cedis Waste" carried in the Thursday, June 21, 2001 edition of the "Independent", with the by line of Mr. Edwin Arthur, the paper's correspondent in Parliament.

According to Mr. Adjaho, the said report was false and misleading because the original allegation could not be substantiated by the Member for Nsuta Kwamang, Mr. Osei Prempeh who first raised it in his presentation during a debate on prices of foodstuffs in the country.

Mr. Adjaho after drawing the attention of the Speaker to the matter, then called on the House and the Speaker, Mr. Peter Ala Adjetey to compel the reporter to correct the story in order to disabuse the minds of the general public. Mr Adjaho said "there never was any 23 billion cedis given to anyone in the past government to undertake a youth in agriculture programme as being wrongly reported by the paper and members of the Minority feel very bad about the report".

This attracted the sympathy of the Majority Chief Whip, Mr. Ossei Aidoo, who seconded the claim by his colleague on the opposite side for the Speaker to cause the story to be retracted with an apology published.

Mr. Peter Ala Adjetey who seemed to have been angered by the complaint, retorted, "Who wrote the story?" "Is he here, is he here?"

Members in the chamber which was unusually filled for a Friday sitting, some visibly angry and others looking confused because they possibly had not read the report, started shouting, "That's him, that's him" pointing fingers at the Press Gallery. People in the Public Gallery which included members of the general public and students on excursion to the House seemed bemused by what was taking place in the House.

The Press Corps, with memories of a similar occurrence involving a reporter from the Daily Graphic only a few days before, who the Speaker had asked to stand to receive his warning, then began to vacate their desks and filed out in protest at the incident, leaving behind the GTV, TV3 and GNA crews and correspondents who were later called by the leadership of the Press Corps to join the meeting to draft a protest letter to the leadership of Parliament.

Madam Ruby Amable, the Acting Dean of the Parliamentary Press Corps said the practice where MPs go on the floor of the House to settle their misunderstandings with members of the Press Corps is not healthy for the relationship between the MPs and journalists. "We are not in the position to defend ourselves on the floor of the House and this is not fair," she said.