Accra based Starr Fm’s Upper East Regional correspondent, Edward Adeti, has said he does not have any agenda against the Catholic Church in upper east region because he has always been balanced in his reportage on issues relating to the church.
The Catholic Church in a statement signed by the Bishop of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese Most Rev. Alfred Agyenta in response to a report on an alleged “financial scandal” at the Sacred Heart Cathedral asserted that Mr. Edward Adeti has an agenda to bring the Catholic Church to disrepute considering his unbalanced reports about the church.
The statement accused the reporter of misrepresenting events involving the church in previous reports saying “we are still wondering what the reporter of starrfmonline.com is up to with this article about the Catholic Church in the Upper East region. The reporter seems determined to prosecute an agenda of falsehood against the Church in an attempt to bring her into disrepute. We have evidence of instances where the same reporter deliberately misrepresented events which occurred recently in the Diocese relating to death of a student of Notre Dame Minor Seminary Senior High School and that of a religious brother.”
But speaking to A1Radio’s Azongo Albert on the Day Break Upper East show, Adeti indicated that he has no agenda against the Catholic Church and has always given them a fair playing field in all his reports about it.
According to him, after he had been contacted by his source on the alleged financial mismanagement in the church, he tried his best to reach the leadership of the church but that could not yield results hence he going ahead to publish the report.
“If you look at the report, I indicated that I made attempts at reaching people who have been indicted in the report. After several calls to the bishop which went unanswered, I sent him a whatsapp message which indicated that he had read but he never replied. I called father Ezekiel who told me he wouldn’t speak to me and the tone of his voice was harsh indicating that I would not have been welcomed if I had gone to their office. The only person who tried to defend the church was Madam Grace Abagre who said she was not a signatory to the account.”
He questioned why the office of the Bishop failed to answer calls to him but have decided to come out to talk after the report was published indicating that his informants were also brushed aside and that led them to come to the media.
He expressed his respect for the church and indicated that he will not plot any agenda to put the church in a bad light adding that he expected the release from the church to address the issues raised in the report but that was not done.
“What agenda do I have against the catholic church? When I am even passing through the Catholic Church I see it as a holy ground. I have a great deal of respect for any church even the churches in the classroom because I know the God who gave me breathe built the church. I expected the release to address issues raised in the report but it didn’t but rather it calls on members to stay calm and disregard a reporter who has set out to denigrate the Catholic Church.”
Adeti Edward called on the church to address issues raised in the report and stop attacking the reporter because journalism is not public relations which will favor someone.
By: Offei-Akoto Ayeh | A1RADIOONLINE.com | GHANA
