President John Dramani Mahama has warned journalists against what he called an unnecessary hunt for scandals, saying excessive media confrontation could divert his government from pursuing its development agenda.
Speaking at the 30th Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Media Awards in Accra on Saturday, November 7, the President urged journalists to distinguish between holding public officials accountable and practising what he calls adversarial journalism.
He criticised what he described as excessive media zeal, especially when journalists publicly challenge ministers to explain alleged discrepancies.
“We must also draw the line where journalism becomes adversarial. As a trained journalist myself, I believe that it pushes the limits of media zealotry when a journalist publicly challenges a minister to call into his show to expose him over a so-called discrepancy that the journalist has discovered.”
Mahama said journalists and government officials should work together in the public interest, while emphasising that his administration would continue to uphold the media’s watchdog role.
“This government that I lead will uphold the media mandate to hold government to account. But it distracts attention from the people’s business when we split hairs in a deliberate search for scandals where none exist,” he said.
His remarks come amid controversy over the government’s GH¢49.7 million expenditure to evacuate 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa after renewed xenophobic attacks.
The Minority in Parliament has challenged the spending, alleging discrepancies in payment records for the GH¢5,000 reintegration grant and GH¢500 transport allowance provided to each evacuee.
It has called for an independent audit of the operation and demanded accountability from Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
