The Management of a pro-government radio station has dismissed the News Editor and morning show host, after the latter was found to have made WhatsApp posts deploring the state of roads and the central market in Assin Nyankomasi Ahenkro in the Central Region of Ghana.
Kofi Tutu was sacked on November 28, 2023, via a phone call by the General Manager of Bohyeba FM Nana Yaw Entire. The dismissal followed an impasse between the management of the station and the morning show host over the latter’s social media activism.
The journalist told the MFWA that he was accused of sabotaging the Member of Parliament for Assin South Constituency, Hon. Rev. John Ntim Fordjour and Deputy Minister of Education, who owns the station.
The accusation, according to Tutu, was related to his post on a WhatsApp platform in which he showed pictures of the dilapidated roads and market of the town and called for urgent attention to the situation.
He added the Management also accused him of undermining the ruling New Patriotic Party by his action. These accusations were made some two weeks earlier when he honoured an invitation via a WhatsApp message from the General Manager to report at the office to pick his dismissal letter.
He said he went to the station to pick the said dismissal letter only to be ambushed in a meeting. Tutu said the management asked him to disband the WhatsApp platform, which he had created and stop the youth of the town from carrying out a demonstration which they were planning on the platform.
The journalist told the MFWA he was eventually informed through a phone call on November 28, 2023, that he has been sacked, following his refusal to abandon his social media activism as demanded by the station. The journalist later showed on Facebook pictures of the market as he had published on the WhatsApp platform, and for which he was sacked.
Meanwhile, the management of Bohyeba FM insist that Tutu was sacked for repeatedly violating the company’s code of conduct.
“Kofi Tutu, former staff of Bohyeba FM was sacked after series of warnings and serving suspensions at different times on various disciplinary issues concerning ethical and professional standards,” the station said in a statement released on November 31.
They also deny that the journalist’s dismissal was by, or on the orders of, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, the owner of the station, who is also the Deputy Minister of Education and Member of Parliament for Assin South Constituency.
The MFWA is deeply concerned about the dismissal of kofi Tutu and the casual, totally unprofessional manner of the disengagement. Unless Bohyeba FM admits that they have decided to ignore the appalling state of the roads and the market of their community and have officially barred their journalists/employers from showing interest in the town’s public infrastructure challenges, even on private platforms, this action is untenable. We urge the station to ensure that Tutu receives all benefits due him and also discharge all their statutory obligations to the journalist.
