A Second Open Letter to Paul Adom-Otchere of Good Evening Ghana

On 21st May, 2021, I wrote you an open letter even though you do not know me. I took inspiration from the adage that if you want to speak to God, you simply speak into the air.

In that letter, I commended your oratory skills, confidence, and research ability, noting that compiling documentaries and blending them with personal opinion is a daunting task. I also acknowledged your influence on public perception, especially among people who do not read or research on their own, and described you as an enviable public speaker.

However, I criticized what I saw as a decline in _Good Evening Ghana’s_ credibility. I argued that you had veered into “pedestrian propaganda,” directing your research and platform against the NDC while acting as the “last defender of the NPP and its government.” You deserted the ordinary citizen amid hardship, high taxes, corruption, illegal mining, and a rising public debt fueled by reckless borrowing. I questioned why you used your platform to settle personal scores and push a political agenda instead of speaking for the voiceless. I ended with an admonition: "power is transient."

See... Check this out on GhanaWeb: https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/An-open-letter-to-Paul-Adom-Otchere-of-Good-Morning-Ghana-1267183

Dear Paul, today I am back with another piece building on that maiden letter. I wish to commend you for a few changes I have noticed, and also draw your attention to the continuing decline in the credibility of Good Evening Ghana.

In my last piece, I told you to be bold enough to represent the NPP on platforms openly, and not hide under the cloak of journalism to churn out propaganda cooked in the dark rooms of your party. I wish to commend you on this. You now boldly represent your party, directly and indirectly, and you make a better argument than your National Communications Director. You even sound more logical than Dennis Miracles Aboagye, the de facto communications director of the NPP. You need to do more — be consistent and push forcefully. You may also consider running for the position of National Communications Director. You would serve better.

Paul, what is very worrying is your continued attempt to present yourself as a professional journalist. Yes, by profession and training, you are a journalist. But by practice, you are neither ethical nor professional. What you engage in is better described as political gangsterism, where you use your platform to attack, insult, and defame only politicians who are not members of your party. You spend all your time attacking people affiliated with the NDC. Throughout the NPP regime, you never saw anything wrong with any member of government. You only defended their actions and never questioned them. It is understandable — perhaps because you were also a member of the government — but true professionalism does not permit that selfish excuse.

Dear Paul, constructive criticism is encouraged, but you seem unable to criticise without emotion. Almost every time, you get so emotional that you display images of your targets and bark at them with passion. In the words of Shakespeare, you become a “green-eyed monster” — so resentful and spiteful that you forget people are watching the show. I know you are intelligent, but too much hatred is germinating not comedy in you, but extreme “political madness.” Yes, you go mad and unrestrained at your victims. You have done this to many NDC officers and members: the National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketia; the Deputy General Secretary, Comrade Gbande; Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa; the current Attorney General; the Ashanti Regional Minister; and now the CEO of YEA, Comrade Malik Basintale.

I am not in a better position to admonish you to desist from such unprovoked attacks, but you need to give reason a chance in your actions. Even though it has become obvious that you are engaged in a “trade” from which you have profited greatly, you must respect the intelligence of your audience. Indeed, some of the people who listen to you are a hundred times more intelligent than you. The fact that you have access to a microphone does not place you above all the citizens of Ghana. Interestingly, you are not better than any of those you constantly target. You called the Ashanti Regional Minister a “small boy” and claimed he was not a medical doctor. His response later buried you in shame. You are not more educated than the “small boy.”

The fact that you are in opposition should not make you focus on personal attacks. There are so many topical issues begging for attention. Criticise issues  and stop projecting pictures and acting funny.

This extreme absurdity you display, while your production team looks on, has far eroded the credibility of _Good Evening Ghana_ and, by extension, affected the image and reputation of Metro TV.

Is it not intriguing that your show does not elicit diverse perspectives? You do not give people the opportunity to tell their side of the story. You tell the entire story and persecute your offenders. Terrorising people — even though they are your political opponents — in such a monologic style only betrays your inability to speak truth to power and tolerate dissenting views.

The ordinary NPP communicator does better. They tell their story and listen to the story of their opponents. You are in a better position to appreciate things and act with decency. Do not allow extreme partisanship to make you act like a mad man. Embrace tolerance, civility, and learn to control your emotions on set.

You see, it was this same arrogance you displayed on set while you were in power, and I told you that power does not last forever. If you had listened, your bitterness now would have been minimal.

Paul, it is quite ironic: anytime you are given a dose of your own medicine, you wail like a wounded wolf. If you live in a glass house, you don’t throw stones. You may attack all these people and go free, but you may “meet your meter” one day. Desist from attacks and use policy discussions to advance your political agenda. That was what we did — we did not go about projecting images, pointing at them, and acting funny. Political opposition goes beyond emotions.

I shall keep being your ardent follower on Good Evening Ghana, and I wish you would change a bit and keep the government in check.

I wish you well in your trade and hope you can help your party unite and offer credible opposition. May time heal this bitterness and help us live in peace and decency.

Thank you.

Denis Andaban

_The Village Boy From DBI_