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Renowned broadcaster Kwami Sefa Kayi, host of the popular morning show “Kokrokoo” on Peace FM in Ghana, has advised journalists against spreading unfounded speculations regarding the death of Deputy Finance Minister John Kumah.
John Kumah left behind a wife and six children when he passed suddenly last Thursday while traveling to the hospital.
Many rumours concerning the cause of his death have been going around since his passing.
According to certain accounts, most notably from Presenter Captain Smart on Onua TV’s morning show, the late Deputy Minister’s food poisoning death was supposedly planned as a ploy to stop him from rising in the New Patriotic Party.
Kwami Sefa Kayi condemned the tendency of journalists making assertions without supporting data, especially when it comes to delicate subjects like someone’s death, without naming specific individuals.
He asked if individuals making the claims of food poisoning had thought about the hurt their remarks could cause to the bereaved family, especially the widow and her kids.
Sefa Kayi voiced alarm about the decline in journalistic ethics, pointing out that some have a propensity to play both pathologist and prophet while debating the reasons behind a person’s demise.
He underlined that before making such grave accusations, proof must be presented.
As a result of the circumstances, John Kumah’s widow filed a lawsuit against Captain Smart and is requesting that the claims be verified in court.
She beseeched authorities to hold Captain Smart responsible for disseminating false information, expressing her anguish and aggravation over the unfounded allegations.
“If it is true that a person who is not dead but alive claims that he knows how my husband (John Kumah) died and that he was poisoned, and that person is still moving around for the past three weeks, it hurts me, it saddens me and I do not know how best to express my frustrations about these false claims by Captain Smart”, the widow lamented in an interview on Asaase radio.
She added; “If there are laws in this country concerning such false claims, I think this is the time for the leadership of the land to bring that wicked person (Captain Smart) to book to prove his false claims and to point out the persons who were involved in the poisoning of my late husband.”
“This is why I am saying the National Media Commission, GJA, Media Foundation for West Africa, as for this, I plead with you to say something because we are the journalists doing the work and we should be able to look at ourselves and say these are low, low dirty standards.”
Sefa Kayi urged the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the Media Foundation for West Africa, and the National Media Commission to address the matter on his show, stressing the significance of upholding strict journalistic standards.
“Journalists have now turned into pathologists and Prophets…We’ve lost ethics as human beings. Someone is dead and in no time, people are on radio and TV discussing the cause of his death. His wife has filed a complaint. If right now, you who claim to know he was poisoned is asked to provide evidence, where are you going to get the evidence?”, Mr. Sefa Kayi admonished.
“Why is it that someone (referring to Captain Smart) has been this bold to claim that he knows for a fact that a person like John Kumah who has served his country virtually all his life, was poisoned, while he was working for his country and party (New Patriotic Party, NPP), why should we sit down and not bring that person to book.
credit;tigpost.co
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