Respect the presidency, insulting Manasseh

Dear Brother Awuni,

I have been around and observed how you insulted and denigrated Former President John Dramani Mahama, Mrs. Charllote Osei, Adwo Sarfo (Hon) before and now you run your mouth at our President H. E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

I noticed that you like proverbs a lot just like me but sometimes you use them out of context. But seriously, sometimes I feel pity for your father (you said is or was a watchman) so I pity your watchman father, mine was a farmer. He may have concentrated so much on his watchman business so much so that it didn’t occur to him that he needed to scold you to learn how to speak to adults. Perhaps he couldn’t get the chance to understand the Biblical quote “Spare the rod and spoil the child”. He would have concentrated on your bad manners and you would have been a great person with your ability to write today.

In Yoruba, there is a saying that “He la ti n ko eso re ode” to wit ‘Charity begins at home’. Your bad or uncultured attitude towards adults in town is a reflection of your behaviour towards your own parents at home. When they talk you shut them up, I wish your father stayed at the north to give you some Bongo training even without the formal education he gave you amidst the mosquito and serpent battles at work at night. At least with the Bongo training, you would have been more respectful to the elderly which is a symbol of wisdom and better still be working responsibly as a kebab roaster and seller or a fufu pounder. This you would have accosted some respect for your father than making people mention his name in vain today.

Let me tell you the meaning of your surname courtesy my friend Ayindoo. Azure means “Tail” and so shall you remain if you ever compare yourself with John Mahama or Akufu-Addo or the man you have so much hatred for Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong. Your maiden name Awuni means God or above a name that can carry you to places but you deserted that name stupidly and chosen to go with the tail which is full of pride and pomposity. You think that because you can write gibberish so when you cough everybody should run to their mother, isn’t it? That Azure is more or less a curse on you if you do not wake up from your chronic slumber and redeem your image.

Now I read through the yesterdays’ edition of Manasseh’s folder and it was illogical and lacked coherence, as a self-acclaimed senior journalist and self-branded investigative one, I added that because I notice you are fixated when you are tagged investigate journalist.

Your title was “Charlotte Osei’s standard and Akufo-Addo’s double standard”. Your masters in communications studies don’t even reflect here reading through the document because your headline does not march with your content. You were to write on Mrs. Osei’s dismissal, unemployment, cedi fall, floods, healthcare systems and tax increment and all of a sudden Zoomlion became your subject matter in order to please your paymaster for the bribe you have taken from them to continue to taint the Zoomlion man’s name. It feels like somebody who is travelling to Aflao from Accra and decides to go through Kumasi, Tamale and Ho before you get there. That smacks of a stupid driver, he/she would have found another day to go to Kumasi, isn’t it?

Well, am not even your editors so I will not deviate, I will let you understand how your formal education has become useless. When we go to school to help build nation, when we receive education to teach the young ones to respect the elderly, when we get opportunities as a result of our education to help build our nation and we rather destroy the core fiber of the economy, when we after all the formal education we received using the taxpayers facilities we use language that is undeserving at people whose contributions have made the country which it is today and run down statesmen because we have learned how to read and write than our education is completely useless. Manasseh I believe you agree with me that you are nothing more than the description above.

You are so vindictive, selective, bias and self-seeking all the time. I don’t know if it is greed or stupidity or once it will make people criticize you then you are fine to go. Let people criticize you in a just manner, don’t draw people who would have to give you thumbs up for some work to insult you. Use your education and ability to write for development of your country if you want your education to be useful otherwise you are not a joker, you are not better than Lil-Win who jokingly names a dog Manasseh and insults it in his movies to get at you.

DISRESPECT TO THE PRESIDENCY

As a Ghanaian, my stomach ached when I read your article, it was addressed to the President and courtesy didn’t coach you to be respectful if not to the President sitting on the throne, to the seat of power? I said each time you write or talk you draw your parents’ name to disdain.

If you were cultured or traditionally upright you would have known that children seek permission from the elderly before speaking but you were quick to tell the President how you will not have time to exchange pleasantries. Oh like seriously? And who do you imagine you are at all? Let me tell you if nobody has told you at least today I am making it clear that you are disgustingly disrespectful and that has made many of your admirers feign over your writings these days.

If you can speak like this to the President, if you spoke to the Former President in that manner who else will be spared? In our traditional settings even when you are right before the elderly, the convention is that you must choose your words carefully so as not for people to mention the name of your father and say negative things about him but I know you don’t care so many people will insult you and your father if care is not taken.

Of course, you have a trademark of insulting by asking whether there is something in between one’s chin and forehead and even calling the one person that has given food to thousands and paid taxes in quantum Dr. Agyepong a crook in you earlier write ups. Is that what your watchman father thought you? To sit in your comfort and pass your own judgement on people and start disrespecting them. I am cautioning you to stop throwing stones at the market, one day it will hit your father.

DISCRIMINATION

You do selective writing and speaking, I can tell you for a fact that two years running your journalism has been at the presidency and Jospong check your own pieces to update yourself and tell me I am not being factual. If it is not the President’s wife it is his nephew or brother or friend. When will you go out and nose for pieces of information to write a story and stop sitting and doing the arm chair journalism.

When the Ghana Football Association and its President’s corruption scandal hit town by the Ace undercover Journalist Anas Aremeya Anas, what support did you give to him? Did you write anything about that in solidarity of your colleague investigator, I thought you shied away because of the booty you have been enjoying from the GFA Boss in the past?

Let me make it categorical again here that you never investigated any GYEEDA issues. The auditor General’s report which triggered the then President, H. E John Mahama to commission a committee to investigate the findings of the report. So Manasseh, you picked a report and claimed ownership as being your investigative piece?

Is that what makes you think you are an Investigative Journalist? Then am sorry you have to get back to school and learn the basic tenets of Investigative Journalism. I even know that you demanded money from the Zoomlion Boss Dr. Siaw Agyepong to keep quiet and he told you he had nothing to hide so you could go ahead and you turn around and call him a corrupt person. Who is more corrupt than you?

Deny the fact that your wedding was sponsored by a clergyman and those your diabolic underground masters. I know so well, deny and I will make public much more about your wedding. Sorry to draw your lovely wife in. No wonder you write praising articles about people and their dressing styles.

I don’t understand how such a corrupt person like you will turn around and call others corrupt. You behave like the proverbial strange leper who dips his hands in the water and cautions his colleagues not to come near less they will contaminate the water.

No wonder your ignorance and selfishness exposed you at the IMANI Africa sanitation forum at British Council when you said you hated the Jospong monopoly. Why have you been touting yourself investigative journalist if you hate African monopoly? I am telling you that you are none near investigative journalism if you have prove let’s have it.

If Jospong is doing so well by constructing factories and installing plants of various kinds in Ghana to address the sanitation needs and his services patronized widely in Africa why should Ghana Government sack him just to satisfy your vampire egoistic appetite?

By the way what is your entrepreneurial competencies and you sit on radio and use pen and paper to run the long standing entrepreneur down with impunity? This is onion seller journalism and you must stop it. I am around let’s go to the market. Any time you write turning your guns against the Jospong man I will be there to meet you. You can call it whatever whether I took money from him or not we shall lay flat on our bellies together.

I will leave you with this Burkinabe proverb “When a drum sounds kill him, kill him please dance with caution”

This is a word to the wise from Ghana.

Sincerely

E. J. Kwabena Badu Agyemang

ejbadu@yahoo.com