The President of National House of Chiefs (NHC) Togbe Afede XIV has condemned the growing level of insults in the country, especially in the media, which has escalated to the presidential levels and also called for unity and consensus building among Ghanaians to help speed up the nation’s progress.
He therefore appealed to the media houses to be wary and circumspect in their reportage adding that objectivity, circumspection, carefully choice of words, tact and diplomacy should be the hallmark of our media houses.
Addressing the 3rd annual General Meeting of the National House of Chiefs in Kumasi on Wednesday October 10, 201, Togbe Afede XIV said " I want to caution against all actions that threaten our peace and unity, the insult is growing and are being escalated to the presidential levels” he said.
According to him Serial calling has now become a profession. More worrying are calls for the formation of vigilante groups.
"The use of indecent or intemperate language among the populace in both print and electronic media has unfortunately become the order of the day. It is very appalling to listen to certain provocative statements which are made on the airwaves which can cause panic and create a great deal of concern to many peace loving Ghanaians. The unfortunate events of 1994 in Rwanda should serve as a lesson to us’’, Togbe Afede XIV said.
The NHC therefore, condemns in no uncertain terms all the unfortunate statements made by, and activities committed by, some members of political parties in recent times.
For instance, the attacks on personalities and the incitement of clashes by some people which have of late characterized the biometric registration exercise should be condemned by all Ghanaians."
He therefore, called for unity among Ghanaians to work hard, plan and be innovative in order to build the nation and abandon all kind of things suggest a fight over the control over the nation's limited resources.
Lamented on how the youth are crying for jobs, Togbe Afede XIV said “let's join hands, work hard, plan and innovate, in order to build our nation's wealth, and abandon what looks like a fight over the control of our limited resources," he said.
Togbe Afede also used the opportunity to advice the media on their reportage.
“sometimes the media put things in quote which speakers have not said and please your headlines should reflect what the speaker have said and the situation where he said it because those are very important in the society and what you report does matter” he said.
He added; you recalled when I spoke about the 275 buses, the headline was “Togbe Afede calls for investigation on Freddy Blay” and that was not true.He urged the media to learn how to report accurately because it is extremely important and I advice that when ever the media have some doubt they should not report,report what you are certain and also report nothing but the truth”.
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