Incoming reports say Daniel Kenu, the Ashanti Regional Editor of Daily Graphic, has been sacked—and the dismissal is said to be in connection with the fact that he withdrew an assault case he had brought against Baffour Gyan, Asamoah Gyan’s senior brother some few months ago…
Though many stood by him at the time of the assault and encouraged him to see to it that the Gyan brothers and their associates were punished by the law, Kenu chickened out, citing the death of his Uncle and other ridiculous reasons as the motivation behind his withdrawal of the case.
Most of us were disappointed about his disrespect for justice, fearing his action would give certain people the signal that you can attack a journalist and go free—provided you have enough money.
When Daniel Kenu withdrew his case, I wrote an article titled- Ghana, A Journalist Gets Beaten for Asking a Question | He Sues for Assault/Battery & Then DROPS the Case…What Does that Tell You?
In the article, I stated among other things that…
“Money seems like the most powerful tool in our today’s world but there is another salient instrument that can axe down the might of money—that is integrity and justice. So we were looking forward to an interesting battle between money and integrity, to be refereed by Justice.
Before the battle even started, Daniel Kenu gave up and dropped the case, citing several ridiculous reasons for his action to let go the case—when in fact, many of us know that the old game has been played again, money has won.
According to a letter Daniel Kenu wrote to the Circuit Court to withdraw the case, the sudden death of his Uncle and the fear that the high blood pressure of his mother could get worse should he proceed with the case is one of the key reasons why he lost interest in the pursuit of justice for himself.
I think my mother’s high blood pressure will rather go off the roof if she knows that, anyone with money in today’s Ghana can catch her son and beat the hell of him without the law doing anything about it—and more importantly, the son will not even want to go to court and perhaps take some money from his abuser to drop the case.
I am not saying Daniel Kenu took some money from the Gyans and that is why he dropped the case but that is the only plausible inference that could have made him turn on himself like he has done, by slapping us all in the face.
For such people and things, Ghana will continue to be what it is and more relevance will be given to money and those who have it, with the poor having no say and justice.
I understand this happens else where too but the measure of integrity is not how frequent something happens, but the deep pride that sits with the occurrence.”
Surely, Daniel Kenu’s inability to ensure that justice was served was a disappointment to many including myself but I believe that is not a reason to be sacked from his job…
It seems the powers that be at Graphic were not particularly thrilled with the decision Kenu took, and have summarily relieved him of his duties.
The incident occurred at a time of several attacks on media personnel, thus the Graphic Communications group took a strong stance and were ready to stand behind their man to the bitter end. The Ghana Journalist Association also voiced their full support for Kenu, but it all came to nought when he withdrew the case citing health reasons.
A letter issued to him cited a violation of section 22 of a collective bargaining agreement between him and the company.
It further read “You acted out of disloyalty by unilaterally withdrawing the case from the court more especially when the incident happened in the course of your official duty and management had written and assured you of its support and had specifically instructed you to consult it on any move you wanted to take regarding the case”
They also noted the unilateral nature of a decision that affects almost all journalists.
Daniel Kenu got in trouble for asking Asamoah Gyan about rumours of him using Castro for rituals, a situation which did not sit down well with his brother who organised a reply of sorts for Daniel Kenu. He got arraigned before court on assault charges but Kenu withdrew the charges almost without warning a short while later.
hmmm 3y3 asem oh…sacked…surplise surplise…nsem w) Ghana
Hmmmm wat a pitty