Affail Monney
Would you believe that it was journalists who advocated the closing down of the Press Club after the Kwame Nkrumah government had been overthrown in February 1966?
The political activism of the
‘socialist boys’ who dominated the media scene in the years 1960-66 had so
antagonised some people – including people in the civil service ‒ that some
people were determined to ‘smash’ the ‘journalists’.
Well, they chose a
clever way to do it. They tried to ‘kill two birds with one stone’.
First, they drove the
Ghana Association of Journalists and Writers out of the beautiful premises that
the Nkrumah Government had presented to the Association as its ‘Press Club’ premises.
Now, when I say ‘beautiful premises’, I mean precisely that. These premises had
huge grounds, adorned with well-kept carpet grass.
To sit under the shade
of a tree on chairs placed on the green grass and drink cold beer on a hot
afternoon was blissful. Apart from the grass, the garden had pots in
which nice roses were growing. Jasmine plants also filled the air with
exquisite fragrance‒ especially in the
evening.
To make it impossible
for the journalists to protest at the seizure of their premises, the idea was
somehow conceived that the Press Club House should be turned into a
journalists’ training school!
Now, no journalist
worth his/her salt would disagree with anyone who said that our journalists
could do with better training. But who is it that drives out the parents‒ in order to accommodate their own offspring?
The Ghana Institute of
Journalists, thus, had beginnings that could have been disastrous, with
journalists boycotting the Institute or treating its products with scorn.
But good sense
prevailed. Sam Arthur, in particular, former editor of The Ashanti
Pioneer, deserves great credit for creating a bridge between the journalists
and the Institute.
Meanwhile, trust
journalists ‘without a home’ to carry out a magnificent coup of their own. They
somehow persuaded the poshest hotel in the country at the time, the Ambassador
Hotel, to give them a spacious, well-furnished room in its penthouse, to serve
as an ‘International Press Club’!
This place was posh,
but it could not recapture the popular ambience that the old Press Club House
had transmitted. So, eventually, the ‘International Press Club’ died.
Quietly.
But thankfully,
something new which holds the promise of providing as stimulating an atmosphere
as the International Press Club has now grown in its place. This is called ‘The
International Press Centre’. Praises must go to
ex-President John Kufuor for having recognised the need to help journalists
secure such a commodious ‘home’. Compare his gesture to that of a former
President, whose officials seized the Club House of the Ghana Broadcasting
Corporation because they apparently thought ‘the Club House was too close’ to
the presidential offices. What was once the GBC Club House now provides
accommodation for officials! I hope President Akufo-Addo will emulate
ex-President Kufuor and replace the GBC Club House with a new, decent
home.
I am afraid I was not in Ghana when the
GJA was reviving itself into the cohesive force it has once again become. Certainly,
all the officials who ‘held the fort’ and turned the organisation into the
formidable entity it is now, can hold their heads high.
I have remarked before
that not too many journalists go to the International Press Centre. This is
probably because the facilities are not attractive enough. For instance, its
most useful facility as far as news circulation is concerned, the Internet
Room, has been ‘disabled’ for too long. And the much-awaited proper library is
still much awaited!
I know there are
plans to remedy all these things, but plans should not take too long to
implement certainly, the organisation whose members never cease to take
governments to task when governments appear not to be implementing plans they
have announced, cannot, in its turn, be as tardy in implementing plans as
governments do?
No ‒ the GJA executive
should hurry up and turn the International Press Centre into a ‘home away from
home’ for all journalists.
The GJA should
assist the Skuup catering franchise to modernise its facilities at the
International Press Centre, so that when journalists want to entertain their
friends, they can take them there and have confidence that they will not only
get good food to eat but be provided with an opportunity to meet some of the
names they only see in print or on the screen.
An inviting and
vigorous Press Club House is as important for members of the GJA as it is for
the visitors they bring. Even normally reticent people feel free to talk to
newsmen and women, when they are in a friendly social setting. In a glamorous
setting, people can relax t and engage in profitable social intercourse with
others.
“You know something? I
didn’t like the way the panel on Channel So-and-So was chosen to discuss
Subject This-and-That!”
“Why not?”
“I thought the panel
was biased! On such an important issue, the producers should have tried harder
to achieve balance!”
“Ah, look! There’s one
of the producers! I shall introduce you and you can tell him your piece of
mind. Your words will help him when he’s choosing a panel on another
day!”
“Oh no! Don’t do that.
He might get offended!”
“Nonsense! I know him
well. He’s got a tough skin!” And the introduction is made. That’s how really
stable nations are built. Through give and take!
So, then, Congrats
GJA! Many happy returns!
Buck up so that by the
time you reach 80, none of the above suggestions would be relevant to your
state of being!
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