The Minister for Information, Mustapha Hamid has said Journalists who were stranded on the Bolgatanga-Bawku road were not accredited for the President’s visit to the Upper East region.
Some Journalists from the Upper East region were left stranded on the Bolgatanga-Bawku road after their rickety bus got broken down. As a result the team could not catch up with the President as he inspected the progress of work on the Bolgatanga-Bawku
But in a statement, the Minister for Information indicated that “The Minister for Information merely chanced upon their broken down vehicle because he attended hospital and, therefore, did not join the official convoy. They were in the company of Godwin Nkunu who was at that time making calls to get them another vehicle. Even so, the Minister stopped and also asked that a vehicle be procured from Bolga to pick them up. But, the journalists themselves said that it will be difficult to get any good vehicle in Bolga at the time.
“The Minister who had room in his vehicle for three people, picked three journalists and proceeded while instructing the PRO of the RCC (Godwin Nkunu) to stay and find a vehicle for them to catch up with the Presidential team”.
The statement further said “the group of journalists who are said to have been stranded were not part of the official presidential press team. Apparently, the Public Relations Officer of the Regional Co-ordinating Council, Godwin Nkunu, hired this bus for some other journalists chosen by him and unknown to the Presidential Communication team”.
“the vehicle that broke down was NOT the vehicle that was hired for journalists in the region by the Director of Communications at the Presidency. The Director of Communication has a dedicated corps of journalists in every region who cover presidential trips. In the Upper West Region, they were transported in a Nissan Coaster bus. In the Upper East Region they were given a Hyundai H1 bus”.
But one of the journalists who was part of the team in the vehicle that broke down insists he was accredited for the President’s visit to the region.
In a Facebook post, he displayed his accreditation tag indicating that he was part of the official presidential press team.
source:a1radioonline.com
