Vociferous showbiz pundit and politician, Kwame Asare Obeng known in showbiz circles as A-Plus has conveyed that if provided the chance again, he would tear the letter that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) penned to the Management of United Television (UTV) in which they put forward concerns over the configuration of the United Showbiz Saturday night show.
A-Plus indicated that he has the liberty to protest as enshrined in the Constitution hence his earlier action of ripping apart the letter on live television.
Granting an interview to Media General’s Broadcast journalist, Johnnie Hughes on the Sunrise show on 3FM on Tuesday, October 10, the aspiring Gomoa-central Independent MP hopeful expressed that he got access to the letter online and printed it.
“I think everybody has the right to feel how they want to feel. There is nothing wrong with people criticizing people for their actions. However, it doesn’t change the fact that if I get that letter now, I will tear it again,” he spoke out.
He summed up “I found that letter online, it wasn’t presented to me, I went online and got the PDF of it, printed it and as a form of protest I ripped it apart. That is my right enshrined in the Constitution that I can protest and for this kind of protest, I was not going to disturb public order. So. I did not need a police permit. It is fine, anybody can criticize me,”.
However, the Head of Media Studies at the University of Media, Arts and Communication (UniMAC), Dr Paul Anzah Ackah Herzuah, sounded the ripping of the letter by A-Plus was as wrong as the attack of the station by the youth presumed to be members of the ruling NPP.
Dr Harzuah enunciated although the invasion on UTV was awful and pathetic, the Management of the station should have deterred A-Plus and ceased him from tearing up the letter.
Uttering on Accra-based 3FM on the Sunrise Show with Johnnie Hughes on Monday, October 9, Dr Harzuah uttered “It was unfortunate, given the fact that it involved a top political party like the NPP. The invasion was a despicable act, it can be condemned in no uncertain terms, but looking at what happened before the invasion, A-Plus tearing the paper or that communique live on TV, was also not the best as far as I am concerned.
“We have freedom of speech and freedom of action granted, he can defend himself. But I think that the media also have a responsibility of really checking certain things. We are all aware that this country is polarised in terms of NPP and NDC and so if you are a media station and you profess to be neutral, what happens is that you have viewership that comes from both sides of the political divide. So, if something happens and some of your viewership realizes that it didn’t go well, then you the media station have the responsibility to put certain things in place.
So I thought that UTV could have reined in a little bit, the actions of A-Plus but again A-Plus also thought that he had the right to do whatever he did. But I think it was a very despicable act by those who invaded the premises.”
Before destroying the letter, A-Plus had implied on one of the editions of the show, “This letter is appalling because we have received threatening calls from people plotting to disrupt the show. NPP members should refrain from such actions and should not write such letters again. This is an absurd letter.”
He proceeded by affirming, “No one in this country can dictate what we do on this show, especially when the President is a seasoned lawyer and someone who believes in the rule of law.”
Following the attack, one-time Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has expressed that it suggests how the government has permitted impunity to blossom.
He mentioned that identical actions were taken in the past when the youth of the NPP pounced on state officials, but measures were not taken by the Nana Addo-led administration to discipline them.
“Perhaps, these thugs have taken cue from how the government and the party have allowed impunity to fester and grow in the NPP.
“If I recall, no one was allowed to be punished when similar groups went to the seat of government in the Ashanti region to attack the then-national security coordinator. Again, no one was made to face the law, when these brutes attacked a court in Kumasi making the lady judge who was sitting on that case run for her life in the full glare of the public,” he uttered in a remark.
In the meantime, the NPP has distanced itself from what transpired in the studios of UnitedTelevision.
The Director of Communications of the party, Richard Ahiagbah in a communique uttered “It has come to the attention of the leadership of the New Patriotic Party an unfortunate incident that occurred last night at UTV involving some sympathisers of the NPP who went to the studio to raise a protest against the United Showbiz programme.
Writer’s email 📥 : edemlatsu093@gmail.com
