Bribery Tape Is Concocted - Journalist

The Journalist alleged to have organized his colleagues at a secret meeting at which a Deputy Information Minister, Mr. Baba Jamal, allegedly tried to bribe them with monies from the National Youth Employment Programme, has denied participating in any such meeting. Samuel Abaana, Upper East Regional Correspondent for Raymond Archer�s Enquirer Newspaper, told Citi News the supposed tape is a fabrication meant for propaganda purposes. Eric Kojo Amoh, the Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association, together with Mr. Samuel Abaana Anaba, and several other journalists, met Mr. Baba Jamal at a press soiree in the regional capital a couple of months ago as part of his tour of the region. However there are widespread allegations that Mr. Jamal later held a follow-up secret meeting with selected journalists who were promised mouth-watering financial rewards through the Youth Employment Programme if they were able to promote Government�s agenda and image ahead of the 2012 elections. Some voices of persons purported to be part of the group of journalists who were bribed, are heard on the said audio recording which has been aired on several radio stations. The Upper East Regional GJ Chairman, who said he did not take part in the said follow-up secret meeting, has told Citi News one of the voices on the supposed tape is clearly that of Samuel Abaana Anaba, who is the Regional Correspondent for the Enquirer Newspaper. �I have heard the voice and I don�t think that it is wrong to point out clearly that it is the voice of Samuel Abaana. This is the same journalist who had in the earlier press meeting with Mr. Baba Jamal, asked for assistance in getting scholarship for journalists in the region. He raised that point and I think I supported him because it was very good. Apart from that, the other tape I am hearing is very different from that meeting held with the Deputy Minister. It was not an occasion that I was present. And it was not an occasion within which the Deputy Minister met the press in Bolgatanga. It was an occasion of perhaps different people supposedly benefiting from his efforts� he noted. Samuel Abaana has admitted proposing to the Deputy Minister at the press soiree to consider scholarships for journalists in the region. He has however denied organizing any follow-up secret meeting with selected journalists at which they were influenced by Mr. Baba Jamal. He told Citi News that the voice on the tape identified as his, is not his voice. �This so-called tape that people are spreading around in media houses is a figment of people�s own imaginations. And I believe some people have sat somewhere and orchestrated this tape to malign me or Hon. Baba Jamal to suit their agenda of promoting falsehood that something like that happened which never happened at all". "I have heard the tape and I can tell you that it�s not my voice. Someone has decided to mimic my voice because we now have computer softwares that can be used to programme people�s voices. We even have situations where somebody can even speak like President Mills, Mr. Kufuor or even Akufo-Addo. And I believe strongly out of some people�s own mischievous agenda, have decided to do this to create the impression that I conveyed a meeting which was graced by Hon. Baba Jamal and all that. That tape is a concocted tape� he stated.