President holds maiden press interaction

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday answered questions from a cross-section of the media in the country as a way of accounting for his stewardship since assuming office on January 7, 2017.

The event, which took place at the Flagstaff House, came off six months after the President assumed office.

It was not the first time a sitting President had taken the bold decision to show concrete evidence of his stewardship to a cross-section of the media.

It was started in 2001 by former President J. A. Kufuor, who christened it “Meet the people’’. It was adopted by the late President J. E. A. Mills, who called it “Media encounter’’, which was sustained by his successor, John Dramani Mahama.

Diverse issue

President Akufo-Addo, sporting his usual colourful African print, was quizzed on diverse issues, ranging from the galamsey scourge, his recognition as a gender champion, borrowing by his administration, projects, interest rates, domestic debt stock and its impact on the economy, health, education, to efforts being made to retrieve Wayome’s money, corruption, among others.

In answering the questions, the President (standing most of the time) left no one in doubt that he was on top of the issues.

However, a few of the questions were half answered. Whiles some of the questions from the media were critical few others were not properly thought through.

Worthy exercise

Present at the event to provide moral support for the President were the Vice-President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia; the Senior Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo; Mr Alan Kyerematen, the Minister of Trade and Industry; Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister of Communications; Mr Boakye Agyarko, the Minister of Energy, and New Patriotic Party (NPP) bigwigs, including the acting National Chairman, Mr Freddie Blay, and Sheikh I. C. Quaye, a former Greater Accra Regional Minister.

The well-attended event was moderated by the Minister of Information, Mr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid.

During the nearly two-hour interaction, the President was supported by his Vice to answer some of the questions, particularly those bordering on the economy and finance.

Reactions

Throughout the exchanges, the media showed great enthusiasm in asking the questions.

Because of time constraints, some ministers who were present took turns to answer follow-up questions from the media after the event.

Some media personnel who spoke to the Daily Graphic lauded the exercise and underscored the need for it to be sustained.

Other media personnel advocated the broadening of media participants in the event. They were of the view that the use of accreditation for media institutions would address the problem of some media house representatives being always absent from such important national events.

On why he put his job on the line in his fight against galamsey, President Akufo-Addo reminded Ghanaians about the threat galamsey posed to the future of the resources of the country.

He described the impact of the menace as enormous, as it affected water bodies, forest cover and agriculture.