In Ghana Something Is Mightier Than The Pen Website
The saying “The pen is mightier than the sword” has sustained many journalists in Ghana in difficult times. But these days, something else has become mightier than the pen. The popular saying “The pen is mightier than the sword” was coined by Edward Bulwer-Lytton for his play titled ‘Richelieu’ or ‘The Conspiracy” in 1839. The following lines in the play capture the power of the words: “True, This! Beneath the rule of men entirely great, The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold The arch-enchanters wand! — itself a nothing! But taking sorcery from the master-hand To paralyse the Cæsars, and to strike The loud earth breathless! — Take away the sword States can be saved without it!” For centuries the saying became the bulwark for most of the world’s journalists and the teeming populace of emerging nations who were so unfortunate to find themselves under the crushing clutches of tyrants and merciless dictators. During the struggle for independence, Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah used the press to fight a fierce battle for liberation from the colonialists. He established newspapers and used these to make a point for independence. Ably supported by people like Ako Adjei, Dr. J. B. Danquah and so on, they fought on, using the might of the pen to win freedom from the British. In latter years in the history of this country, a dictatorship was foisted on Ghanaians. The pseudo-military regime of the Peoples National Defence Council (PNDC) which was the longest serving military imposed regime in the history of the country ruled – and the regime ruled with an iron fist. Indeed, latter events, such as the National Reconciliation Commission sittings revealed some of the gory horrors that were perpetrated under the regime. As a matter of fact, it is these revelations about the era of that regime that make any human rights infractions in our current democratic dispensation unacceptable, inexcusable and unpardonable. Under the regime, freedom of speech was legally barred. Most who dared to speak, did so at the peril of their lives. I remember the gallant John Kugblenu of the Free Press newspaper. He died one month after he was released from prison in 1984. His arrest and detention and suspected torture which was suspected to have led to his death, were related to his work as a journalist. His publisher, the indefatigable Tommy Thompson also went in and out of prison for the same reasons under the PNDC regime, before his death. Fear reigned and indignities became the lot of many Ghanaians. Despite the obvious dangers that journalists were exposed to, the belief that the pen was mightier than the sword, kept many going. Kabral Blay-Amihere, the Late T. H. Ewusi-Brookman, Kwaku Baako Jnr., Kwesi Pratt and some others went in and out of prison for writing. To practice their trade, following the newspaper licensing law of the era, which effectively stopped any one else from publishing anything that is deemed political or counter to the ‘revolution,’ they resorted to the publishing of sports newspapers, and wrote copious social commentary in columns in these sports publications. Gradually, the laws were relaxed, and then entered the ‘Enfant Terrible’ of Ghanaian journalism, Nana Kofi Coomson of the Ghanaian Chronicle. Kofi and his crew of dedicated young men and women, made Monday mornings in this country a day to wake up to with some hope of what could be considered the truth, at a time when the establishment tightly controlled the state-owned media. The Late Prof. P. A. V. Ansah, also made the pages of the Ghanaian Chronicle to breathe, making Monday mornings worth waking up to. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity I had to sit under the feet of this remarkable professor of Mass Communications in the 90s to learn some lessons in journalism. Sad though, that Kofi has joined the bandwagon, he wants to go to parliament. My heart bleeds for this country. I had hoped that Kofi would retire from active journalism, write a few books and then sit back to watch the many young people he had trained and inspired continue from where he had left, boy!, because ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ isn’t it? May be not, because these days it appears it is only those who wield political power that matter. So at all cost, everyone must get a bite at political power. Indeed, while most of us can not afford medical treatment in this country, despite the respite brought by the National Health Insurance Scheme, some politicians are reported to go to top range hospitals in the UK to treat gout! The adage has been rendered powerless and meaningless. The days when the truth can be found in the press or media, seem to have eluded us. We hardly can depend on the media for even the most simple of facts. Those who have political clout, now control the media and the press. True, pure and professional journalism has been emasculated and strangulated. The few who dare to remain professional are hardly making it. All manner of pretenders who can wield any pen of any colour are doing journalism, not the way it ought to be done though, but the way they choose to do it – and no one can call them to order. Recently in the United States, the Governor of New York, Elliot Spitzer was forced to resign when the press and the media brought his sexual indiscretions into the public domain. The exposure clearly showed that, his private attitude under all circumstances ought to be in line with his public position, because the American public did not take kindly to it. Indeed, he resigned himself, as he sought for a plea bargain, in case his conduct had legal ramifications. What was his crime? He was caught patronizing the services of a high-priced prostitute. That act was incompatible with his public office and especially for some one whose rise to prominence was on the back of fights to uproot corruption and bust prostitution gangs. The pen became mightier than the sword and he shamefully, bowed out of public office. And then there was Finland's foreign minister who was also forced out of office after a tabloid newspaper published a suggestive text message he had sent to an erotic dancer. Ilkka Kanerva sent about 200 text messages to Johanna Tukiainen, 29. Even though he claimed the text messages were related to her performing at his 60th birthday party, it didn’t wash with the public. He had no choice in the face of overwhelming public opinion against him, he resigned. Welcome home to Ghana. Show me any public officials, even those who were caught red-handed in sexual escapades who have resigned? They would scream to the sky, “It is my private life!” And there are those who would argue and say, “but everyone does it.” Now, who says in the US and in Finland ‘everyone does not do it?’ Of course, ‘everyone does it’ in these countries, but you can’t use the cover of public office to do it! You are answerable to the people and to your family! Dr. Richard Anane ‘did it’ and had a child with a woman out of wedlock while he was on state assignment, and it is okay in Ghana. Despite what the press and the media have to say on the matter, the rest of us are being told to be happy and thankful for our kind of democracy, where indeed, “the penis is mightier than the pen.”
Source: MJFM
