Broadcast Journalist with Accra-based Citi FM and Citi TV, Umar Sanda Amadu has admonished supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) against attacking media houses and journalists over the party’s defeat in the December 7 election.
According to Umar Sanda, the media only performed their duty in the general election and therefore cannot be blamed for the party’s defeat.
Mr. Sanda, who alleged that leaders of the NDC are inciting party’s supporters against the media, urged them to rather hold their leaders responsible for their defeat in the election stating that the alleged instigation of the supporters against the media is an attempt by the NDC’s leaders to absolve themselves from blame.
For him, the current crop of leaders of the opposition party failed to implement stringent mechanism that could have protected the NDC’s interest during the election hence, they must be held responsible for the party’s defeat.
“Media houses are not by law, entitled to copies of the pink sheets. Your party agents are. It is therefore shocking that your leaders are inciting you against us.
They are simply passing the buck and I urge you not to pay heed. Hold your party leaders responsible for your defeat (albeit disputed). If there is anything we learnt from the 2012 Election Petition, it is that ELECTIONS ARE WON AT THE POLLING STATION,” he stated in post on social media.
The host of Eyewitness News argued that the inability of the leaders to adduce evidence to support their allegation that the election was rigged is an indication that they had not put in place any proper system to monitor and record election results and thus, smacks of leadership failure.
“It turns out, your party leaders haven’t learnt from 2016. So they keep screaming that they’ve been cheated, yet, there is no hard collated results to prove this. That’s disappointing for a party that ushered us into democracy,” he added in the post.
Some media houses have come under attacks by supporters and leaders of the NDC after they projected the December election in favor of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Some of the party’s members alleged that the media had connived with the Electoral Commission and the NPP to rig the election in favor of president Akufo-Addo and his party.
This allegation was reaffirmed by the party’s General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nkteiah. Mr. Nketiah at a press conference accused some media houses of churning out “fake figures” and challenged them to produce the source of the said figures.
But Umar Sanda contended that the media only report and project the winner or loser based on election results which are declared and records of same given to political parties’ representatives including that of the NDC at the various polling centers and thus, cannot be made to account for records of election results.
