There is an Akan adage “se wokum owo a, na woatwa ne tiri preko”, meaning, when you kill a snake, cut off its head, to ensure that it is dead. The Akans also say that se “wowo babonea, daabiara woko dwanetoa”, to wit, if you have a bad child, you never stop going on your knees to beg. What all these mean is that when we see wrong, we must deal with it firmly and uproot it, but not just plead for those who behave negatively. The Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, my roommate, at the weekend brought dignity to his office by travelling to Sunyani to assuage the bruised and battered ego and sensibilities of journalists in the Brong Ahafo Region; who had come under unjustifiable and violent attack from some hoodlums, during the awards ceremony that was Part of the 50th anniversary of the creation of Brong Ahafo. Once the journalists in the region have given their word to the Vice President, I would not want to undermine that. However, if I were them, I would have given a condition that the Sunyani Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) be removed while his driver prosecuted. I would also have demanded that the medical bills and the cost of property lost in the mayhem be paid to the victims of the needless assault before the decision would be rescinded. But, the journalists have, in recognition of the nationalistic approach taken by the Vice-President, given their word. They must be faithful to that. However, if at anytime in the deliberations the journalists agreed that on the payment of their medical bills and restoration of property the matter must end there, that cannot be accepted; The point is that there has been too much impunity from party supporters that it does not make sense to leave them free. It is precisely because such deviants, at the end of the day are set free on political reasons; they are emboldened to continue with their nefarious activities. Therefore, I urge the national executives of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to ensure the prosecution of all those who took part in the assault on the hapless and innocent journalists, something which has been described as job hazard since the Regional Co-ordinating Council has to date not come out to openly condemn the act. The statements attributed to the Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye Marfo and the Regional Congress (NDC) abandoned their jobs and fled for fear of their safety and security will continue. History has to be made once. That the Vice-President travelled to Sunyani to meet the journalists to empathise with them is historical. But it would be better celebrated if those involved are tried in the open to tell the world that a new chapter has been opened in the political discourse of the country, where government or party machinery would not be used to shield deviant party supporters or activists who take the law into their hands. We have complained fruitlessly against impunity in the name of partisan politics. It is thus a shame that since the complaint was made nobody from the Brong Ahafo Regional Coordinating Council has openly come out to condemn the dastardly act or to sympathise with the journalists. The long silence shows utter contempt, especially in the face of the claim that when informed the Sunyani Municipal Secretary brought oil to fire when he said something to the effect that the journalists had suffered from their foolhardiness. For as our elders say, the lizard says that its anger or anguish is more directed at the one who commends its shooter as a good marksman. That is why the MCE must go to give meaning to the enterprise undertaken by John D. By Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo Source: Daily Graphic