A scheduled interaction between journalists in the Upper West Region and Mr Dan Abodakpi, an aspiring national chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress, became a fiasco, as the media personnel abandoned the show.
On two different occasions, meetings scheduled at the instance of the former minister of state were delayed and then postponed, but the journalists lost patience when the third meeting � on the same day � was delayed by one hour with the excuse: �I will be with you in a moment.�
Political aspiration
Mr Abodakpi, one of two names interested in the incumbent Dr Kwabena Adjei�s position, was in the Upper West Region to solicit the support of delegates for his political ambition.
His itinerary on this leg of the campaign had included an interaction with the media at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 17. That meeting, scheduled to have been held at the party�s regional office, was cancelled without prior notice after journalists had waited for more than one hour and 30 minutes.
His campaign co-ordinators rescheduled the meeting for 11 a.m. He later emerged from a meeting with party executives, only for the interaction with journalists to be postponed after the journalists had waited for him for more than an hour.
Rescheduled meetings
The rescheduled event, at a different venue later in the day, received full media presence, including the Upper West Regional chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr Bajin Pobia. But when one of Mr Abodakpi�s aides emerged with a note that he would soon finish with a meeting with delegates an hour after the meeting with journalists was to have started, the media practitioners were irritated and left to undertake other businesses in town.
Mr Pobia later said Mr Abodakpi had shown gross disrespect towards the journalists and �we could not contain the insult any longer.�
�For someone seeking the top office of a serious political party such as the NDC, Mr Abodakpi�s attitude towards the media is unbecoming of the office he is seeking to occupy,� he added.
<<Print>>