By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
His abject and pathological penchant for treachery always lurked on the surface; and the studious observer never missed that half-sunny and half-suspicious mask in constant wear. Nonetheless, this aspect of his apparent proclivity towards mischief did not become practically evident until shortly after the second election of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) by the party’s remarkably expanded electoral college.
Needless to say, his above-board clinching of the presidential nomination of his party resoundingly put paid to any doubts as to whether Nana Akufo-Addo was more of a compromise candidate than the popular leader that he had all along been known to be by keen observers of the Ghanaian political landscape. And yet, ironically, this most auspicious achievement would come off to the candidate’s own protocol officer and trusted friend, at least that was the general and palpable impression at the time, as a fluke.
Mr. Mallory would shortly pen and publish an article in which he would clearly and roguishly suggest that “Whoever won the most recent New Patriotic Party presidential primary bought it.” Confronted with the stark nudity of his treachery by the New Jersey chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), “Spiv Steve” would vehemently protest that he had been grossly misunderstood and woefully misrepresented. The fact of the matter is that the man does not appear to have quite had the chance to acquit himself of such veritable slander until his latest public dishing of muck at the candidate who once rescued “Judas” Mallory from the deadly tentacles of Capt. Kojo Tsikata, the Anlo-Ewe clansman of former President Jerry John Rawlings and the latter’s longtime National Security Adviser.
The reader can bet his/her proverbial bottom-dollar that Capt. Tsikata must be laughing his grizzled head off silly at the evidently gaping naivety of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. One prayerfully hopes that this is an epic lesson learned the most painful way by Ghana’s former Foreign Minister and heroic architect of the Repeal of the Criminal Libel Law/Code.
Anyway, before we proceed further, I hereby acknowledge the quite constructive admonishment by my brother and journalistic colleague, Mr. Kwabena Sarpong Akosah, that I ought to have conducted a little background research regarding the academic and professional training of the eponymous subject of this discussion. We learn from Mr. Akosah that, indeed, Mr. Mallory “was not trained at the Ghana Institute of Journalism; [and also that, indeed,] He [Mr. Mallory] went to work for [the celebrated] Ashanti Pioneer (in Kumasi) right after the sixth-form [at the Konongo-Odumase Secondary School, I am informed by a different source], which [means] that he trained on the job and not in a journalism training institution.”
And to further clinch his authority on this aspect of Mr. Mallory’s life and career, Mr. Akosah further observes: “I got to know this while I was reporting for The Pioneer in the early 1990s. I think for the very simple reason that Mr. Mallory did not receive formal media training[,] he needs to be applauded for the waves that he has been making in the world of journalism” (See the “Comment” section of Ghanaweb.com under the feature article captioned “Steve Mallory Owes ‘Credibility’ Billions of Dollars – Part 1” 8/20/11).
Well, I don’t know, or believe, that I can wholly concur with Mr. Kwabena Sarpong Akosah that merely because a “wave-making” journalist did not formally attend a journalism school does not necessarily mean that the controversial subject of our conversation ought to be applauded. First of all, the moral validity or edification of such “wave-making” ought to be objectively evaluated before any such judgment and/or observations are passed or made.
In essence, what I am directly suggesting here, by way of a riposte, to Mr. Akosah, is that it is precisely because Mr. Mallory did not attend a journalism school, like many of us, that the man appears to be so sorely lacking in the kind of ethical scruples that come with being a journalist worthy of such designation. Which is also why when Mr. Boakye-Agyarko, the manager of the Akufo-Addo Campaign, calls Mr. Mallory “a veritably obnoxious mercenary,” one would be hard put to attempt to contradict the former branch vice-president of the Bank of New York. Perhaps he would have turned out to be a more levelheaded and self-respecting, as well as respectable, journalist if Mr. Mallory had attended a reputable journalism school and studied the central tenets and ethics of the trade.
Ironically, the Ashanti Pioneer (now simply called The Pioneer), where Mr. Mallory is supposed to have acquired his journalistic skills, has a longstanding reputation and celebrated history of having fearlessly and bravely and objectively taken on and caustically condemned the untold brutalities and excesses perpetrated against responsible and law-abiding ordinary and distinguished Ghanaian citizens, and respectable immigrants, by the Nkrumah-chaperoned Convention People’s Party (CPP). The Pioneer was also the last formidable privately-owned and opposition newspaper to be proscribed and shuttered by the African Show Boy. And once this last bastion of justice and representative of the voice of the oppressed and down-trodden was rudely silenced, in 1962 or thereabouts, it was only just a matter of time before Mr. Nkrumah’s neo-fascist regime came tumbling down like the Boti Falls.
*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is Director of The Sintim-Aboagye Center for Politics and Culture and author of 22 books, including “Ghanaian Politics Today” (Lulu.com, 2008). E-mail: [email protected].
###