Listening to a sizable number of the public officials in Ghana, especially when responding to public criticisms, you wonder if these policymakers understand the pivotal role critical thinking skills play in any position of responsibility. A deal of them can’t think creatively and critically on their feet by generating well-thought out responses to inquiries from the taxpaying Ghanaians, including the media. The result is that whenever these leaders are asked to account for or justify their public deeds, all that we often hear from them is that: “Ghanaians and the media talk too much” or they “ask unnecessary questions.”

These contemptuous, ignorant, and non-critical perspectives by many of the Ghanaian public officials run counter to any civilized democratic society that thrives on transparency and accountability. Vibrant media and “inquisitive” citizenry, tremendously, help ensure transparency and proper bookkeeping of public funds. Hence any taxpayer-supported public entity or figure such as the Minister of Sports, Mr. Ayariga, who seems to be having issues with the Ghanaian media for fulfilling their constitutional role as the watchdog of the society, needs to be condemned and shamed for the disrespect for representative democracy.

The Ministry of Sports or GFA belong to all the citizens of Ghana; hopefully, Mr. Ayariga and those public officials who have attitudes like him understand this undisputable fact. The media all over the world have every right to question their respective government officials. Irrespective of what many of us think, the media in many ways represent and speak for the larger segment of the population. Without discerning media, contemporary democracy as we know it will fall over the cliff into the sea of tyranny. That is why one of the most important roles of the modern media is to hold the policymakers’ feet to the fire, by questioning how the taxpayers’ money is spent with the view to ensuring accountability.

Judging from the sloppy pronouncements of Mr. Ayariga and many other Ghanaian public figures of his ilk, it is obvious these officials feel nostalgic for the dark days in Ghana’s checkered history in which restrictions on the press freedom were the order of the day. According to Mr. Ayariga’s paranoia world, any legitimate question raised by the media is seen as irrelevant to his warped definition of democracy. His interactions with the Ghanaian media are nothing but another cynical opportunity to demonize the proverbial “Fourth Branch” (media) of the government. He characterizes the media/Ghanaians who question his leadership at the sports ministry as too talkative or the “media dictatorship, media tyranny dwelling on useless matters and rather ignoring important issues”. What does he actually mean by “important issues”?

It is difficult to understand Mr. Ayariga’s thought process as public official in that if it is “useless question” regarding the media’s attempt to find out how the taxpayers’ money was spent during the just-ended AFCON 2015, then nothing else is “useful question.” Clearly, responsible and efficient leaders are not only guarded in their utterances, but also they are creative and show high-level critical thinking skills in their engagement with the public. Keep in mind creativity and critical thinking are complementary. Human mind, according to most studies, generates (creates) a bunch of ideas and judges (critiques) them continuously and at the same time.

Mr. Ayariga may have limitless ideas about the so-called “media dictatorship” but his critical thinking acumen is suspect. He talks as an incompetent bureaucrat put in his present position on the basis of his political connections as opposed to meritocracy. Anytime the current sports minister opens his mouth, he hardly articulates any substantive viewpoint or shows an in-depth understanding of macroeconomic and political dynamics of a growing democratic nation such as Ghana. Absence of his deeper understanding, including lack of critical thinking skills, he has wryly devised a line of defense to come across as one of the victims of unfair media target. This means his assertion that “As a people we must stand up against media tyranny. We’re fighting dictatorship of the Military…” borders on calculated attempt to take Ghanaians for suckers and in the process cushion his corrupt activities against the media.

In fact, if Mr. Ayariga honestly believes Ghana is a “paradise” for many foreigners but Ghanaians don’t appreciate this development, it is because most Ghanaians are too sophisticated and smart enough to tell the difference between mediocre “paradise” and the real one. By the way, which “foreigners” are we talking about here? Maybe many foreigners from other sister African countries are flocking into Ghana because for them in the “community of the blind people the one-eyed person is the king.” Ghanaians, including the media, are not stupid to sit back and shut up while accepting “dumsor, dumsor” as a hallmark of a “paradise.”

Moreover, a country that is generally viewed as a “paradise” does not have a currency that is so depreciated against the major currencies in the world. It is frustrating that monies many of us living abroad remit to our relatives back in Ghana can’t even sustain them for two weeks. Ghana’s K-12 educational system is virtually in shambles. There are more youth unemployed graduates than available productive jobs. Most of the Ghana major roads are still deplorable and dangerously accident-prone. Corruption in high places is in vogue in Ghana; that probably explains the reason behind Mr. Ayariga’s nervousness when confronted by the media. In that regard, well-meaning Ghanaians will keep “talking too much” till they also start enjoying comfortable lives as Mr. Ayariga and his family do.  

In short, for all the Ghanaian public officials out there thinking that Ghanaians and the media “talk too much” and ask “useless questions,” no one forces you to serve in the public office and use Ghanaian taxpayers’ money for your official duties. People who don’t want to get burned try to stay away from the kitchen. If for some reasons you believe the media are asking “useless questions” and they bother you, the best advice is resign honorably and settle into private life where the media may have no business getting into your personal life. How about that?