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The Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jr. has questioned the audacity of Good Evening Ghana host Paul Adom Otchere in his criticism of Togbe Afede XIV, the paramount chief of Asogli State.
He said Adom-Otchere’s would dare not criticize some other chiefs in the country like he did to Togbe Afede.
Speaking on Metro TV in Accra, Mr. Pratt said all paramount chiefs should be treated equal in the country.
He insisted that “if we come to the conclusion that chieftaincy will be tolerated, we should tolerate it in equal measure.”
The veteran journalists lamented the barrage of attacks Togbe Afede has been subjected to questioning whether it had an ethnic bias.
“Some of the things being done to Togbe Afede, also [what] are being said about him would not be said and done about other chiefs and that’s my worry.
“Some of the people who are castigating him publicly, dragging him into the mud and so on, they dare not do it to other chiefs…what is the reason?
“Is it because we consider some paramountcy inferior to others? Does it have in it some element of ethical bias? I don’t know but these are things we need to interrogate. If you decide to put chieftaincy on a certain pedestal which I refuse to do then please put everybody on the same pedestal,” Kwesi Pratt admonished.
Paul Adom-Otchere had called out Togbe Afede for rejecting an ex-gratia that was paid to him as former member of the Council of State.
He said the return of GHS350,000 by Togbe Afede which was paid to him as ex-gratia for being a member of the Council of State is not genuine.
Speaking on his programme, Adom-Otchere said the revered chief should have returned more than the ex-gratia.
He argued that Togbe Afede XIV only attended 16% of the meetings as Council of State member yet he collected all his salaries.
“Of the 48 months, the Council of State held 242 meetings of which Togbe Afede XIV attended 39 [meeting]; it constituted 16 percent,” Adom-Otchere said while doing a touchscreen analysis of Togbe Afede’s letter explaining why he rejected the inappropriate ex-gratia paid into his account.”
