Stan Dogbe, a presidential staffer, has incurred the wrath of residents of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis for his alleged comment on the accident involving journalists from the Western Region, which occurred Monday evening.
The journalists were returning from President John Mahama’s commissioning ceremony of a new community senior high school at Bamiankor in the region when the accident occurred.
One of the vehicles in the president’s convoy was said to have run into the vehicle carrying the media practitioners.
However, Stan Dogbe saw the accident differently and described reports relating to it as ‘irresponsible.’
Commenting on his facebook wall, he said: “There has been no accident involving the Flagstaff House Press Corps or any vehicle from the Flagstaff House in the Western Region.
The team with the President on his #Changinglives tour of the Western Region has long arrived in the Central Region.
At least, as leader of the Communications Team on this trip, none of the media houses engaged in this irresponsible reports have contacted me or the Minister for Communications, Edward Omane Boamah, to verify the story.”
Stan Dogbe’s purported comment has been received by some residents with remonstrance.
Speaking on various radio stations in the metropolis, most of the callers castigated Stan Dogbe and described what he did as a big disservice to President John Dramani Mahama.
“We are not happy about his choice of words. Stan Dogbe should have cross-checked with his party members in the region before commenting on the issue,” some of the callers indicated.
According to the residents, the utterances of Dogbe about Ghanaian journalists “were unbecoming of somebody in public office.”
“I think the appointment of Stan Dogbe as a presidential staffer by President Mahama was a wrong move and he needs to be sacked,” one of the callers indicated.
Benjamin Peters, Joy Fm correspondent who was among the affected journalists, narrated to DAILY GUIDE that the press men were about 12 in the vehicle when the accident occurred.
Peters said the vehicle, a Toyota mini bus, was hired for the journalists in the region by the regional communications officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to take them to Bamiankor.
He explained that when the commissioning ceremony was over, the journalists decided to head back to Takoradi.
According to him, on reaching Biaho, near Apowa in the Ahanta West District, the journalists realized that the president’s convoy was behind them and so their (journalists’) vehicle stopped for the convoy to pass.
Peters noted that after a number of the vehicles had passed, the one carrying the journalists decided to follow them, not knowing it was left with the last vehicle in the convoy.
“So when our vehicle was about to join the convoy, it was bumped into by the last pick-up in the convoy,” Peters maintained.
The accident happened at about 7:00 pm between Beahu and Akowen.
No fatalities were recorded, but some of the journalists sustained varying degrees of injury.
A Citi FM correspondent, Obrepong Yaw, whose injury appeared to be quite serious, was rushed to the hospital.
When DAILY GUIDE visited the injured at the Kwesimintsim Hospital yesterday, Obrempong was in neck POP sleeping.
The nurse in-charge of the male ward said the reporter was responding to treatment.
This is the second time in two months that journalists covering the president had been involved in an accident.
The first happened on the Afienya-Dawhenya road in August, claiming the life of a Ghanaian Times reporter, Samuel Nuamah. He was buried last month.
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