Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, has refuted claims that the country is slipping into a culture of silence.
Such views, he claims, only come from people who can’t take criticism.
This was stated by the Minister during a meeting with journalists in the North East Region on May 5, 2021, as part of the government’s efforts to strengthen freedom of speech and access to information in the country.
“This argument that this country has a culture of silence cannot be real. There are approximately 500 radio stations, approximately 100 television stations, and millions of social media accounts in this country, and everyone is free to express themselves. Some people can’t take it when they share their opinions and others react by saying they disagree, and they accuse you of silencing them. Respectfully, that is the beauty of our democracy: I will have my say, and you are free to disagree,” Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said.
Sir Sam Jonah, a statesman, said two weeks ago at a public lecture with Rotarians in Accra that a culture of silence was slowly creeping into the country due to comfort, hypocrisy, and parochialism.
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“It seems to me that the courage to stand up for the facts and the resolve to defend the common good has been lacking in recent times in our Fourth Republican dispensation. It is worrying that the voices of intellectuals are fading into oblivion in our country’s darkest hours. Unfortunately, it is a result of our country’s deep partisan polarization, which means that everything is seen through the prism of politics.”
“It seems to me that the silence culture has reappeared. This time, comfort, parochialism, hypocrisy, and a lack of belief prevailed over legal and military influence. He asked, “Where are our Adu Boahens and PV Ansahs?”
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor claimed that his remark should not be taken lightly and should be investigated.
The Minister of Information has previously expressed his opposition to the suggestion that Ghana has a culture of silence.
He said the office, in addition to several other interventions demonstrating the government’s commitment to press freedom and journalist protection, was an additional layer when commissioning the Coordinated Mechanism on the Safety of Journalists in Accra earlier this week.
“It is for this reason that I cannot believe that there is a culture of silence in Ghana,” he said at the time, “because the government is committed to a culture of free media in Ghana.”
Source: ATLFMNEWSROOM
