So close and yet so far - Lessons from the Flagstaff House
Reporting from the Flagstaff House taught me the lesson that you can be so close, and yet so far from the President. As I sat glued to a television set with some friends watching Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia speak on the 100 days of the Akufo-Addo presidency, I made a joke that I was also marking 100 days of my exit from the presidency.
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“What exit?”, my friend asked me. “Exit, not as a political appointee but as a journalist who covered the presidency for three years in the John Dramani Mahama administration,” I replied, and all of us laughed over it.
In Ghana, presidential reporters are changed immediately there is a change in government. It has become an unfortunate convention that is difficult to fathom.
So, after three years on the beat, I had to withdraw for another journalist to take over.
But something pricked my mind as I tried to reflect on developments that took place over the period, especially those that had direct bearing on my work. It bordered on the relationship between the former President and the press corps that covered him while in office.
Distant relationship
It was a distant relationship that never helped anyone. Was it a deliberate disrespect of the media practitioners and their organisations, mistrust or
what? I still cannot understand. The presidential press corps could have provided a vehicle for the presidency to improve public access to information about its work but the presidency woefully failed to take advantage of the opportunity.
In South Africa, the presidential press corps are seen by the presidency as a conduit to improve the flow of information between the presidency and the public.
Launching the South Africa presidential press corps in Pretoria in 2003, President Thabo Mbeki is reported to have said that it was in the interest of the government to have an active relationship with the press.
“I would hope that from our side, there would be difficulties in terms of access and that indeed we would be open as we can.” Mbeki said.
Incredibly Mr Mahama never sought to make use of the news media that were with him daily and, he paid dearly for it.
Never on a single occasion did he meet the presidential reporters – very alien of a man who before becoming President, was said to be media-friendly.To the best of my knowledge, the only time that reporters met him as a group was when we called on him at his office to commiserate with him on the death of his mother.
Various attempts I made to have a one-one-one interview with the President was deliberately frustrated.
As an individual, the only time I had the chance to speak with the President was in Doha, Qatar, about two years ago. Even then I was in the company of two other colleagues who went to the presidential suite in our hotel to have a conversation with him after completing an international assignment in the small but mega-rich Gulf nation.
The relationship between Mr Mahama and the press corps was more distant than some may have thought.
Many of us believed that someone made it his or her preoccupation to draw a wedge between the press corps and the President.
I remember when I wrote an article in the Daily Graphic sometime in 2015 mounting a measure of defence for a presidential staffer, Stan Dogbe, on his leadership style, I was castigated by some colleagues for defending
someone whose leadership style was nothing but appalling. I accepted the criticisms wholeheartedly.
But, one key point in that article was overlooked by my critics. I poured out my disappointment about the former President's failure to meet the Flagstaff House reporters , a development that took the shine off a man who is a communication person.
Human barrier
A human barrier was mounted between Mr Mahama and the press corps which made it impossible for the men and women who covered him to have access to the number one man.
I am reliably told that President’s before him – Rawlings , Kufuor and Millsoccasionally interacted with the press corps. In our case, it was the opposite.
In established democracies like the United States, the presidential press corps can be hostile to the President.
Donald Trump has run into trouble with the White House Press Corps - a very powerful group - since he assumed office as US President.
President Trump wanted to clip the wings of the reporters that cover the presidency and at a point called them “ opposition party.”
Ours has not gotten to the level where reporters can be hostile to the President and still operate from the presidency. But mutual respect is key in all matters.
Some level of decency started creeping in when Mr Ben Dotsei Malor took over as head and presidential advisor on media relations. His exit from the Flagstaff House turned the tables down again.
Press corps accident
The darkest moment in my assignment at the presidency was my involvement in the presidential press corps accident.
On August 20, 2015, some of us accompanied President Mahama to Ho where he opened the E.P. Church’s Convention. While returning, the old rented Ford Bus in which we were travelling burst a rear tyre.
The driver lost control of the vehicle and it somersaulted several times before landing in a muddy pool of water, killing 36-yearold Ghanaian Times reporter, Samuel Nuamah.The rest of us sustained various degrees of injury. I lost everything on me, including an iPad, cash of GHc1,350 and two mobile phones.
The accident sent shock waves through the country, especially as many questioned why journalists who covered the President should travel on assignment in a hired rickety bus. Surprisingly, the presidency did not demonstrate the kind of interest in the welfare of the injured. No compensation was received. As I write many of the survivors carry one form of defect or the other.
For instance one of the reporters currently has a metal fixed in his leg, another has a deformed hand, while one has a waist problem.
Our predicament was compounded by the fact that the vehicle in question was quickly towed away after the accident by the National Security and it has become difficult for police investigators to trace it so that we can pursue insurance.
The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Affail Monney, recently stated that the police were reluctant to release the report of the accident, a claim I found extremely repugnant and unfortunate.
I would want to see our current President and future presidents develop fruitful relationship with the reporters that cover them because of the benefits to both sides. It is also one sure way to effectively drive the progress of the country.
