Manasseh Azure Awuni Defends His Professional Journalistic Integrity

Journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni recently addressed claims about his career. He is defending his professional journalistic integrity. The claims, attributed to Beatrice Annangfio from the Office of the President, suggest he “created a career out of criticizing Mahama.” Awuni responded to this on social media. He acknowledges his role as a critic. He states that he welcomes criticism of himself as well. However, he wants to correct the record. He stresses that his work does not focus on criticizing President Mahama. Instead, he focuses on holding power accountable. In addition, his career success came before Mahama’s presidency.

Awuni explains his motivations for his critiques. He wants President Mahama to succeed. In fact, he believes if the president succeeds, Ghana will prosper. Awuni feels a duty to “prompt him when he’s headed in the wrong direction.” He believes he cannot lie. Awuni sees himself as a truth-teller. He compares himself to the child in “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” The child shouts out when the emperor is naked. He says this is especially important when close advisors are afraid to speak up.

He further addresses the claim about his career. Awuni denies that he built his career on criticizing President Mahama. He references a question posed by Dramani M. Frank. The question asked if Awuni was a “truck pusher” before Mahama’s presidency. Awuni points out that his career was already successful. For instance, he won Ghana’s overall best journalist award in 2011. He was just 26 at the time. He had already won seven journalism awards by then. Importantly, none of those stories were about the government.

Awuni says criticizing President Mahama is a small part of his work. His main job is investigative stories. These stories expose corruption and wrongdoing. He notes that the opinion pieces and social media posts are a small part of his work. He adds that he won only one award during the Mahama presidency. Awuni also points out that he won over 90% of his international awards during the Akufo-Addo era. These awards were for stories he did during that time. His work during that period led to Ghana saving millions of dollars. He also highlights his critical journalism during the Akufo-Addo era. His work exposed corruption in the assemblies and SML. These stories, he says, disprove the claim that his criticism is only active when Mahama is in power.

In a show of fairness, Awuni also notes that he has been one of Mahama’s most consistent cheerleaders. For example, he praised Mahama’s tolerance. He also praised his promotion of press freedom. Awuni also stated that Mahama had “dwarfed” Akufo-Addo in the fight against corruption. He has made these statements in interviews and books. Therefore, Awuni concludes that those who say he criticizes President Mahama must also recognize that he praises him when it is due. We must remember Awuni’s professional journalistic integrity is paramount.

Source: Manasseh Azure Awuni’s Facebook post