Renowned journalist and media personality, Kwame Sefa Kayi, has criticized what he describes as unprofessional reporting surrounding the tragic death of John Kumah, the Deputy Finance Minister.
He noted that the bereaved family has been ambushed and has not been given the privacy to mourn their loss.
According to him, journalists have taken on the role of pathologists and failed to live up to standards as expected.
“It’s not even been a week, we have not thought of his family, six children but we have turned radio into a pathologist. Journalists have become pathologists. Some have even become prophets. Now as I am condemning what is happening, you’d see the insults that will be hurled at me. We have lost ethics as humans. Someone is dead and in no time people are on radio and TV speculating what killed him.
“Now we are asking, you that said he died due to poisoning, bring the evidence. Where will you bring it,” he said on the Kokrokoo show.
The Ejisu Member of Parliament, Dr John Kumah, passed away on Thursday, March 7, 2024. Since news broke, there have been contradictory reports on the cause of his death.
However, the widow of John Kumah, Apostle Lilian Kumah, has stated that her husband did not pass away from food poisoning as alleged by Blessed Godsbrain Smart, commonly known as Captain Smart, a journalist working with Onua TV and FM.
Instead, she clarified that he bravely fought a severe illness for over a year. Apostle Lilian Kumah explained that her late husband had been struggling with a terminal disease for almost a year since it was diagnosed by his doctors in Germany.
She emphasized that this illness is what ultimately led to her husband’s passing on Thursday, March 7, 2024, and not food poisoning.
Throughout the banter on what exactly killed Dr John Kumah, the National Media Commission, Media Foundation for West Africa, Ghana Journalist Association have all remained silent.
While hosting the Kokrokoo show, Kwame Sefa Kayi also called out three reputable media institutions over their defeaning silence over reports on the cause of Deputy Finance Minister, John Kumah’s death.
The three are the National Media Commission (NMC), Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA).
He implored these institutions to come out and condemn the unprofessional actions by some journalists.
“It is quite interesting that the National Media Commission, Media Foundation for West Africa, Ghana Journalist Association, these three institutions have said nothing. These are organizations I am aligned with. It is quite interesting. I don’t listen to the comments. We Ghanaians like some of these things.
“National Media Commission, GJA, media foundation for West Africa, I’m begging you, say something. We are journalists working, we should be able to look at ourselves and say these are low low dirty standards,” he said.
On the other hand, Captain Smart has responded to the Apostle’s recent remarks made during an interview on Asaase radio.
In one of his Maakye shows on Onua TV, the journalist asked the widow about the period in which John Kumah contracted the said illness.
He sought to find out whether the late Deputy Finance Minister and Ejisu Member of Parliament contracted the said ailment before or after his marriage to Apostle Lilian.
“You said a terminal illness killed John Kumah. This terminal illness, was it present before you married him or he contracted this terminal illness after your marriage.
“Did he already have this illness or a bad food he ate brought this about? You are very person who said you cooked for him. Dear widow, when you were going to marry John Kumah, did he have the terminal illness? Go for another interview,” he said.
Meanwhile, Apostle Lilian Kumah has urged the authorities to swiftly take action against individuals such as Blessed Godsbrain Smart, commonly known as Captain Smart, who has publicly asserted that her late husband was poisoned.
“Why is it that someone (referring to Captain Smart) has been this bold to claim that he knows for a fact that a person like John Kumah who has served his country virtually all his life, was poisoned, while he was working for his country and party (New Patriotic Party, NPP), why should we sit down and not bring that person to book.
“If it is true that a person who is not dead but alive claims that he knows how my husband (John Kumah) died and that he was poisoned, and that person is still moving around for the past three weeks, it hurts me, it saddens me and I do not know how best to express my frustrations about these false claims by Captain Smart,” Apostle Lilian Kumah said.