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Eugene Arhin has advised a former Kingdom FM presenter who claims President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo instructed her bosses to dismiss her from the media establishment that she is free to trend but she must do that using journalism ethics as her guide.
According to him, the radio presenter known as Gh Mouthpiece has been described by her former employers as having peddled nothing but falsehoods in the matter of her dismissal.
Arhin, who is the Director of Communications at the Presidency was reacting to a GhanaWeb publication where GH Mouthpiece alleged that the President sent a message via phone to the CEO of Kingdom FM, Jonathan Kwame Amofah to dismiss her over her demands that Akufo-Addo should fix the country.
Eugene Arhin said the President never spoke to the CEO of Kingdom FM, Jonathan Kwame Amofah, who has stated categorically that he has never received a text message from the President before, and has never received any directive from the President to dismiss anyone.
He stated categorically that the President is not on WhatsApp, nor does he send text messages to anyone, “let alone stoop so low as to demand that a journalist be dismissed from her employment.”
“Anyone who knows President Akufo-Addo knows that he is not on Whatsapp, neither does he send text messages to anyone, let alone stoop so low as to demand that a journalist be dismissed from her employment.
“Indeed, I have spoken to the CEO of Kingdom FM, Jonathan Kwame Amofah, who has stated categorically that he has never received a text message from the President before, has never received any directive from the President to dismiss anyone and goes on to describe “Gh Mouthpiece” as peddling nothing but falsehoods.
“If this “journalist” wants to trend, she is free to do so, but she should be guided by the ethics of journalism, which are truth, accuracy and objectivity. As the President has always said, he prefers, on any day, the noisy, boisterous, sometimes scurrilous media of today to the monotonous, praise-singing, sycophantic one of yesteryear. He will not be the one to ask for the dismissal of a journalist who criticizes him,” Eugene Arhin wrote on his Facebook timeline, Saturday, October 15.
What Gh Mouthpiece actually said:
Gh Mouthpiece alleged that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo pressured her director to sack her over comments made against his government and economic hardship under his leadership.
Speaking on Accra-based Neat FM, she said, “I just reminded the president of his statement ‘we are blessed with resources but the citizens are suffering’. That was my offence…I said that Ghana has become worse under his leadership. I said Nana fix the country. That was all, I didn’t insult anybody but I got dismissed.
“I said fix it because we are suffering…I didn’t make those statements on the radio. I recorded it on my phone and shared it on my Instagram page. I did it as a citizen of Ghana, I am not a spectator. We have rights and freedom of speech…I was sacked from work because I had expressed myself. I didn’t use the radio station’s platform or record the video on their premises.”
She continued: “I was playing drive…I had reported to work, done my introduction and even dropped my motivational message. 15 minutes into the show, I saw our manager had opened the door signalling me to come. I was confused because I was seated behind the console and speaking live. My producer told me that our Director had asked for me. Honestly, I become scared.
“When I got to his office, I wanted to sit but he told me to stand. He asked what happened yesterday, he showed me the video I had made together with the president’s chat and asked ‘what is this?’. The chart was with Ghana’s sitting president, Nana Addo.
“The president had sent my video to my director. I told my director that I was part of the ‘Fix The Country’ campaign. I was just expressing my opinion…my directed said I exposed the company I am working for. He said I claimed our salary can’t cater for our transportation…I defended myself and made it clear that my statement was the true state of the nation, the voices of Ghanaians.”
“He said ‘akora’, that is the president, could not sleep throughout the night and had texted him at 1:00 am. He sent him the video I had recorded. My director told me that he was under pressure because of my video…I respect my director so much, he moved me to the main station…he is someone who has supported my career, so when he said the was under pressure to remove me, I understood him…he had every right to stop me from going live that morning but he didn’t. I think people called him to complain after hearing my voice on radio that morning, the reason he took me off,” she stressed.
