Ursula: 'Stan countlessly embarrassed presidency'

Presidential staffer Stan Dogbe has brought embarrassment to the presidency on “countless occasions”, Ablekuma West MP Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has said, and wondered why President John Mahama has treated him with kid gloves.

Citing examples, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the president did nothing to reprimand Mr Dogbe when he brought shame to the presidency by smashing a reporter’s recorder last year.

Mr Dogbe seized and destroyed Mr Yahayah Kwamoah’s recorder at the 37 Military Hospital, with the excuse that the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) journalist had secretly recording him.

Some 155 journalists from over 40 media organisations across Ghana joined the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) to petition the president to punish Mr Dogbe for his aggression.

Mr Kwamoah had gone to the Hospital to report on an accident in which a member of the presidential press corps, Mr Samuel Nuamah of the Ghanaian Times, lost his life.

In their petition, the 155 journalists said: “It is important to point out that the aggression by your staffer happened at a sad moment for journalists when colleagues covering your office had been involved in a serious accident that resulted in the death of one colleague with others sustaining serious injuries. We are concerned that over a month after the incident, and despite the several pleas from many people and organisations, your office has not acted on the matter. It is our considered view that the conduct of a staff of your highly esteemed office has a direct bearing on the reputation of the office. We, therefore, call on you to show personal commitment to the rights of journalists and your intolerance of acts that may bring your highly esteemed office into disrepute.”

Mr Dogbe, a former journalist, who produced the late Komla Dumor’s morning show on Joy FM, also, in October last year said some media houses were “irresponsible” for reporting that there had been another accident involving the presidential press corps, barely weeks after the one that killed Mr Nuamah.

Following reports of the accident, Mr Dogbe responded thus on his Facebook wall: "There has been no accident involving the Flagstaff House Press Corps or any vehicle from the Flagstaff House in the Western Region. The team with the President on his ?#?Changinglives? tour of the Western Region has long arrived in the Central Region. At least, as leader of the Communications Team on this trip, none of the media houses engaged in this irresponsible reports have contacted me or the Minister for Communications, Edward Omane Boamah to verify the story".

His comments sparked ire among journalists, especially those in the Western region, who covered the president’s event when the accident occurred. They said even if they were not part of the presidential press corps, as had been reported by some media houses, they still were reporters, who got involved in the crash while covering the president, and so found it “insensitive” for Mr Dogbe to have made those comments.

Mr Owusu-Ekuful also made reference to the recent packing of journalists in the bucket of a truck, to cover the 59th Independence Day anniversary, as another embarrassing incident for which she held Mr Dogbe responsible. In her view, instead of the president punishing Mr Dogbe, he has been given another “cosy job” at the protocol department, she bemoaned when she appeared on Joy FM’s news analysis programme Newsfile on Saturday, March 12. She wondered why the president has kept Mr Dogbe close to him despite the numerous embarrassments his actions have brought the presidency.