Minister of Youth and Sports, Mamaha Ayariga has responded to criticism over his claim that journalists ask “useless questions,” saying the conduct of journalists in the interviews with government officials determines the responses that are given to their questions.
A peeved Ayariga responded to a query by a journalist on Adom FM earlier this week about the amount spent on feeding the players at the AFCON saying that instead of journalists asking questions about the development of sports in Ghana, “sadly you are asking me about…the money that was spent on food.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”Uhe8iqQKEGXIt6IXj4aQ4MFTeTvMGyMY”]The comments sparked widespread criticism from the public but the Minister has defended his actions, arguing that journalists have a tendency to focus on unimportant aspects of issues and getting their facts wrong, while ignoring the more salient issues.
Mr. Ayariga said on Citi FM‘s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday:”People were asking, ‘we hear you were in Equatorial Guinea [for the AFCON] the whole period.’ And I was like if I was there the whole period, and so? And in any case I wasn’t there the whole period, I was only there for the matches after the first match and each time I tried to find my way back [to Ghana]. Then they said I went to Spain, But I didn’t go to Spain. They said I sent supporters [to the AFCON], but I said I didn’t send supporters. You can’t force me to know what I said I don’t know.”
He lamented over what he said was the media’s determination to focus on the negatives and not the successes and “achievements” of the players in the issues.
“When you have a media that has chosen that they will not inform, that have decided that that they will never spend their time discussing progress, achievements and positive things, they will not use the platform to raise the hopes and aspirations of people when people achieve, they will not spend time to acknowledge the achievements and encourage others to die for their country,” he said
Mahama Ayariga added that the attitude of journalists has compelled government officials, including himself to exercise caution and restraint in responding to questions posed by the journalists.
“If you choose that every time that government does something, you are going to look for the negative side instead of the positive, then those of us in government will also choose who we will respond to and who we won’t respond to. I have decided that in dealing with some media houses, I will restrict myself to what is allowed by law and what is not allowed by law. If you treat me well I [will] treat you well, If you don’t treat me well, I treat you in the same measure. For me that is the bargain. I have taken a decision, that if you are a journalist and you call me, what you are entitled to by law, I will give you.” he added.
Mr Ayariga also downplayed the Media Foundation for West Africa’s call for him to apologise for his comments, calling on the foundation to show similar interest to insults directed at the President and Ministry officials on the radio.
“The Media Foundation should apply the same standards to everybody. When you go on radio and insult Ministers of state and government appointees and insult the President and his team, The Media Foundation should also listen to those ones and be asking them to withdraw those statements because we are all human beings, we have families and friends who listen and get offended by the words that are used. They get offended by how we are depicted on a daily basis. The Media foundation should be interested in those things. They shouldn’t just be interested in one person’s use of the word useless,” he stated.
The Youth and Sports Minister, revealed that the Ministry spent $4,774,519.19 on preparation and GHC 3,242,580.00 on Ghana’s participation in the AFCON.
Mahama Ayariga added that the Ministry spent $4,774,519.19 on preparation and GHC 3,242,580.00 on Ghana’s participation in the AFCON.
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EdKwakofi