OPINION:Raymond Archer�s Peacock Journalism

Under normal circumstances, I, your Earth Angel Gabriel would not have taken on a colleague of the inky fraternity. I prefer to mind my own business, instead of wasting my precious time dealing with the wayward and blackmailers. Oh Yes, I would have considered the attempts made by Raymond Archer to besmear the reputations of men of honour in this country as a mere irritation of nuisance value and let sleeping dogs lie. I have decided to step from my track and show this particular journalist that his tricks will not work here in Ghana, where we in the inky fraternity have been able to wean ourselves from the revolutionary days of stultifying authoritarian dispensation. Raymond Archer has been letting loose his mischievous self- vitiating the niceties of journalistic etiquette. It has now become crystal clear that the man is being paid to do a dirty job. It started with the case of Alhaji Mugtar Bamba, the former Minister during the presidency of Mr. Kufuor. Then he focused his lens on Dr. Richard Anane and tried frantically to smear the gentleman with dirt, but he woefully failed in his mischievous agenda. When I saw the picture of Alhaji Aliu Mahama, my role model, and a peacock on the front page of the Enquirer of Friday 6th November 2009 with the caption �Castle Peacocks whisked as ex-gratia�, I quickly went for a copy at the newsstand. After reading the story and opening the subsequent pages, I knew what Archer was doing. Pages 5, 6,7,8,9,10 and 13 were all covered with adverts for the Government of the Republic of Ghana.Ministry of Roads and Highways. Department of Feeder Roads and the Parliamentary Service of Ghana. These government adverts are very juicy and go with huge financial gains. So, to attract people to buy the paper that day, Raymond chose to use the name and beautiful picture of the former Vice President of Ghana, a man who made his mark in life even before he entered politics, and a peacock, a harmless beautiful bird loved by everybody. Raymond has made good journalism go sour. What is a peacock to a man like Aliu? Aliu has told the whole world that the three peacocks in his house were gift from his friend in the Volta Region, yet Raymond insists that what his paper wrote was true. The gift came about three years ago, said the former Veep. Instead of admitting his fault and apologizing to the gentleman, the proud peacock called Raymond is showing his true colours. So has Ghana reached the stage where upstarts dare drag the names of achievers in the mud? Professor Ameyaw Akumfi has about six peacocks in his house at Techiman. Togbe Afede has about twenty of these birds in his house in Accra. There are so many people in God�s own country who rear these creatures simply because they enjoy seeing them expanding their feathers. Yours truly owns two peacocks. If Raymond sees these proud birds as something that is so precious that a former Veep should steal and add to his pet collection, then I am sorry the man is not cosmopolitan enough. Listen to Raymond�s paper: �The Enquirer has learnt that as at 2001, when Ex-president Rawlings left the Castle, there were sixty peacocks at the Castle Gardens, but by January 7, 2009 when the last government exited, many of them vamoosed, leaving behind only seven�. Raymond�s paper said Awudu Karim, who is the Assistant Farm Overseer at the Castle and is also in charge of the Castle Gardens and was strictly mandated by Rawlings to ensure the welfare of the ornamental birds in the garden, including large number of doves, recently disclosed the story to the Enquirer in Accra. Raymond�s paper indicated that the said Karim was invited to the house of the former Veep to feed the three birds, as the household was having difficulties with what to feed them. Habba, Raymond? Do you know a peacock at all? Taking for granted that what Karim told the Enquirer is true, is the paper saying that having stayed in the Castle for eight years the Alhaji and his Aid de Camp do not know what these so called sixty birds feed on? You see, that is why I wrote sometime ago that lies have shorter legs. And my dear reader, do you not think it is time to arrest the so called Assistant Farm Overseer at the Castle who was �mandated by Rawlings, who received the gift of peacocks, to ensure the welfare of the ornamental birds� as the Enquirer wrote? If you entrust your cattle to a Fulani man and later find that the cattle has vanished, who do you arrest? Come again, Raymond, if this is not mischievous, I do not think I will have any other word to describe your story. This one is simply yellow journalism and you have stooped so low for the love of money. No wonder you have joined the club of the neaveau rich in this country, riding flashy cars and having a taste of the good things in life.As to how long you can continue to succeed in your blackmailing is a subject of public interest. The rumour doing the rounds says you are being financed by She-Who-Must-Be Obeyed and the Queen of Nsawam Canary. Since the NPP left office, people like Raymond Archer have tried all means to find something wrong with the former President and his Veep, but thankfully, hard as they tried, the two gentlemen have risen above board and are enjoying their retirement with dignity and honour. They have not been found wanting in anything that could raise high the image of the country they ruled together in eight years.This peacock nonsense has further boosted the image of the former Veep, since the good people of this country can read between the lines. If Raymond thinks by insulting the former Veep he is satisfying his employers, I am sorry he has hit a rock. The other editors of newspapers in this country like the Daily Guide, Chronicle, Crusading Guide and the rest did not come this far by damaging the hard won reputation of people. They have been able to survive the tide by using the truth and investigative journalism as weapons. The newspaper business is like a computer. Garbage in, garbage out. As for Nana Ama Kufuor, I would like to plead with her to treat the story with the ordinary contempt it deserves. She should remember that when they want the father but cannot get him, they will surely vent their anger on the daughter by raping her with a serrated penis. These people seem to believe in the saying that if you miss the ball, don�t miss the man. Nana Ama is a self-made woman like her father and Aliu, hence the sheer, funny jealousy. This archer is not good at shooting with the bow and arrow. He always misses his target. If he had been in the army he would not have been able to be a good marksman at the range. Good Lord, my pen cannot write any more!!!