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TO WHOM IT MAY INTEREST
With great disappointment, I wish to inform all and sundry that I have resigned as an employee of the Daily Graphic (Graphic Communications Group Limited), effective Tuesday, February 10, 2015. It was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to take in my life, but it was a necessary bitter pill to swallow.

An article I wrote that was as tasteful as milk and honey to many readers, turned out to be as piercing as thorns and thistles, badly prickling the conscience of some others. And so what happened? The axe must fall on me for destruction in Malcolm X’s fashion – “By any means necessary”. My response? I quit.

I did not resign because I have a new job; neither did I resign because I have secured a five-year multiple American visa to escape the ‘dumsor’ and the seemingly state of hopelessness in a country blessed with the abundance of gold, oil, cocoa, timber, foodstuffs and water resources, but shuttered by lack of foresight and some self-serving leaders of every description! I resigned, in my bold and avowed commitment to defend forever the sanctity of free speech and professional journalism. It is my way of defending cherished principles of journalism from strangulation. It is my way of denouncing hypocrisy and double standards in journalism practice. So in the face of the present harsh economic conditions, when even people with monthly pay cheques are struggling to survive, I find it most expedient to sacrifice my job for the sake of professional journalism.

Some people have described my action as madness and/or paranoia. But I call it principle: for, it is Dr Kwame Nkrumah who once said, “Principles are either wholly kept or wholly abandoned”. Since I could not abandon my principles wholly, I had to keep them wholly. Yes, I know I cannot ‘chop’ principles, but I also know principles will never kill me; they will rather make me a better person and set me at peace with God.

Others have also branded me arrogant just because of my resolve to pursue and defend a worthy cause, even against ‘powerful forces’ who rule by intimidation and incrimination. But far from arrogance, I am held captive by good conscience that will not permit me to blink an eye on all that defiles good. I would rather starve than abandon my conscience!

In almost 11 years, I made sacrifices in service; I went the extra mile to deliver on every task and assignment. I am very much content with the modest contribution I made to Graphic. It is not how long one serves that matter; indeed, what matters is the depth of the impact one makes in service. It is also not what anyone proclaims that may be justifiable in this matter. Posterity and our individual conscience will be the better and true judges.

In the workplace culture, there are four main exit routes, and every member of staff will surely travel on one of them in due course. These are retirement, resignation, dismissal and death. I have set off on one, and all others, whether by choice of by fate, will surely travel on one of those four routes now or in the future. But for me, the way we exit is not as important as the memory or legacy we leave behind. In that regard, I wish to share an inscription I once came across in an office at one of the Ministries in Accra: “Everyone brings joy to this office; some when they come, others when they leave”. I don’t know where anyone will place me. But what I am certain about is that those who appreciated me are far more than those who despised me.
One lesson I have learnt from my recent experience though is that, all that glitters is, indeed, not gold, and people are not what they openly profess to be. They preach virtue on the rooftops but in their closets they practice vice.

Throughout the history of man, oppression and suppression have never survived in any environment where the people thirst for liberation and freedom. Needless to say, history is only a matter of time!

To my colleagues, I know this is not the best way to part company. We had been friends and even a family. But circumstances beyond my wish required me to peel off. It’s been great having you around for all these years. I can only leave you, and anyone who may be interested, with the words of Apostle Paul in Philippians 4 : 8:
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things”.
AMEN!