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| Jerome Otchere says wrong quotes were attributed to him. |
Last Saturday morning as the soothing hands of a pretty massage
therapist moved gently on my back at East Legon, Accra, 24hours before my first
wedding anniversary, I saw my mobile phone ringing. In order not to be disturbed,
I put the phone on silence and under the massage table.
I picked the phone after an hour to see 88 missed calls.
I was totally shocked. Why I would have that number of calls within an hour
sent me thinking. Never had I seen that number of missed calls on my cell phone.
I kept wondering why. I went through the missed calls list and easily, I
suspected something was wrong relative to Kotoko.
Among my missed calls were phone numbers of some of the
powers that be Kotoko as well as presenters and producers of sports programmes from
more than ten Kumasi radio (FM) stations. One of the first numbers in the list
was that of General Manager, Opoku Nti.
“What’s wrong sir?” I asked as he answered my call to his
phone. “I’ve seen numerous missed calls on my phone including yours. Has
anything happened?” I asked again. “Have you granted any interview on
management, describing us as incompetent?” Opoku Nti demanded. My quick response
was an emphatic no.
“I know you won’t pass such a comment” he continued. “But
that is the report in Kumasi and that’s why I called you. Perhaps the radio
stations have been calling you because of that. I’ve heard some of them
discussing the supposed interview you granted” Opoku Nti added.
I made a series of telephone calls including one to
Communications Manager, Kwaku Ahenkorah. I indeed got to know of reports that, I’ve
granted an interview to Thomas Freeman Yeboah of Allsports.com.gh, saying: “The
bane of [Kotoko] is the incompetency of the current management…”
I was amazed. In fact, my amazement shot up when I read
the story myself. I had neither spoken to the writer of the story nor
any media house making that statement. I called Freeman, who is a friend. He
conceded he’s not spoken to me but he claimed, I had spoken either on
Kessben FM or Fox FM, when in fact, I’ve not spoken any of these FM stations
saying what he courageously quoted me as saying.
Freeman, later told me my comment on the current
management were on a recording in his possession. I was still amazed. How Freeman could
make those claims against me? I allowed him and demanded a copy of the
recording. It turned out that, even though he had a recording of an interview I
did with a television station April 5, 2015 after Kotoko lost 2-1 to Eulma in the
Champions League, the quotes he attributed to me were fabricated if not
imagined.
I spoke in clear English. So why did Freeman quote me
wrongly? I accept his private apology. I say private because his media house
promised to publish an apology but as of the time of writing this article, that had not be done. I
acknowledge my brother and editor of Allsports.com.gh, Dr. Godfred Akoto’s decision
to pull down the concocted story immediately it was established that his reporter
attributed wrong quotes to me.
If I had said what Freeman quoted me as saying, they wouldn’t have done that.
The ease with which the story was deleted from the respected
website is worth commending but the absence of their apology nearly 72 hours after the publication is unfortunate. I’ve restrained myself from descending on Freeman purely
because of friendship but next time, I will not.
The quotes he used weren’t what was captured in the recording.
Why he went ahead to write all that he wrote confounds me. I can’t tell whether
what Freeman did was deliberate. I can’t explain what his motives were but his
was a horrible, unpardonable error.
I won’t assume a Journalism-Teacher position to teach
Freeman anything but I will advise him: next time he shouldn’t forget that, paraphrasing
one’s thoughts isn’t the same as quoting. I accept his private apology because
I'm human and I'm a journalist too. I also make mistakes but please, Freeman, quotes
are quotes. They are exactly what have been said and not anything else.
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