Opinion: Stanislav Dogbe Has an Anger-Management Problem by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD

Stanislav “The Bully” Dogbe

It took him about four years to come out to publicly deny that he had smashed the government-owned digital audio-recorder of the young broadcast reporter with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), the state broadcaster; so one, naturally, also expected the former Mahama Communications Director, Mr. Stanislav Xoese Dogbe, to also deny that he had violently reacted towards that Scottish journalist working for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), who had reportedly attempted to quiz then-President John Dramani Mahama about the shabby treatment of gays and lesbians in Ghana in or about 2016, when Little Dramani was invited to address the Scottish Parliament (See “Stan Dogbe Blocks Scottish Journalist from ‘Grilling’ Mahama” Ghanaweb.com 5/8/20). He has not, however, denied that he brutally beat up the young broadcast reporter with the GBC to the level of near unconsciousness.

Asia 728x90

The man, obviously, has an anger-management problem that is clearly incongruous with the portfolio of a Presidential Communications Director. His behavior also does not positively reflect the image and reputation of the Presidency of any postcolonial major player on the international diplomatic scene. As well, the danger here is that in the highly unlikely event of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress’ being returned to the John Agyekum-Kufuor-constructed, or reconstructed, Jubilee House, the Presidency would, once again, be in the global spotlight for all the wrong reasons. I will be coming back to the other Dogbe-generated violent incident involving the young GBC radio news reporter in a separate column in due course; in the meantime, what is equally significant to underscore here is the fact that it has taken the clinically cantankerous man whom Second-Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Alban SK Bagbin once described as the de facto President of Mahama’s Ghana four years to deny ever smashing the digital camera of the Scottish-born BBC reporter. Four years, by the way, is a very, very long time for any highly placed government official to take in addressing the criminal violation of the professional and the fundamental human rights of a major media operative – even a minor media operative – least of all, a journalist on the staff of a globally renowned multinational broadcaster like the BBC.

Which makes it rather comical to hear the former President brag, as he did recently on the anniversary of World Press Freedom Day, that under his watch, Ghana was ranked the Number One media-protective country on the African continent. Ghana was ranked Number Six in Africa under the watch of Little Dramani which, I sincerely suspect, was probably cooked up by the Journalists Without Borders Monitoring Team on the African Continent. You know, Dear Reader, how these rankings tend to be very politically charged and heavily influenced sometimes. Even so, it was quite elating to see the Mahama Posse get immediately fact checked by Ghanaweb.com and other Ghanaian media portals and promptly exposed for such electioneering campaign mendacity. Now, it predictably turns out that President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Ghana’s ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) may very well sport Ghana’s best media-freedom record in the country’s Fourth Republic on the African Continent, at Number Two, directly behind the Sovereign Democratic Republic of Namibia, in southern Africa. Even Nana Akufo-Addo’s worst global media ranking of 30, out of some 200 countries, is ages ahead of the of Mr. John Mahama’s at 41, out of the same 200 or so number of countries. There is absolutely no way that the administrative caliber of Little Dramani could be compared to that of the proverbial “Giant Dwarf.” Nana Akufo-Addo is in a class all by himself when it comes to Media Freedom in Ghana.

As I was saying before, there is a real, serious problem here, which is the fact that Mr. Dogbe has an anger-management problem that the dude needs to be studiously working on with at least a brigade of clinical psychologists or even crackerjack shrinks or psychiatrists. His recent writings pertaining to the conspicuous absence of Comrade Mahama from Kumasi, during the country’s most recent annual independence festivities, as well as Candidate Mahama’s flat and adamant refusal to respond to an official invitation from President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to Jubilee House, for an emergency crunch session, in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, readily gave him away and clearly attested to the fact Mr. Dogbe may still be stuck in his funk of intemperate temperament and morally unacceptably crude behavior.  

In the Kumasi incident, the prime Mahama spokesman claimed, rather farcically and lamely, that his nominal boss had deliberately refused to put in a presence because it was widely known that President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo did not feel comfortable in the presence of his predecessor in public spaces. This lame and patently asinine pretext convulsed yours truly with uncontrollable laughter because it is Mr. Mahama who has scandalously demonstrated time and time again that, like Shakespeare’s MacBeth, the Presidency may very well be too huge a burden for the Bole-Bamboi, Savannah Region, native to carry or shoulder. And it equally clearly appears that Mr. Mahama’s Chief Communicator very well appreciates this problem, which was precisely why during the 2016 Ghana’s independence anniversary festivities, it was Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta who was deliberately listed on the program brochure by Mr. Stanislav X. Dogbe, the Program Director, as the bona fide President of the Sovereign Democratic Republic of Ghana.

There is absolutely no record in Ghana’s 63 years of postcolonial existence in which such epic blunder was committed by any Protocol Officer or Presidential Communications Director. An even more curious fact to note and/or pointedly underscore here is the fact that the Mahama Communications Directorate, or whatever it was called at the time, had an entire year – that is, 12 long months to put these festivities together. They may very well choose to facilely attribute such flagrant and gross incompetence to Dumsor, but that would only be making matters worse for themselves, and be providing an even more tangible reason why these two rascally pair ought to be kept as far away from the Presidency or Jubilee House as long and conveniently as possible which, of course, is in perpetuity.

Now, On a Very Sad Note:

The sudden death of Mr. Richard Kwame Mensah Nyanyo, 80 years old, was reported in Accra, Ghana, on Thursday, May 7, 2020. He was a retired Engineer with the Ghana Posts & Telecommunications Corporation (P&T). Mr. Mensah Nyanyo, an Accra-born native of Abutia, near Ho, in the Volta Region, was also the father-in-law of Prof. Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., and the father of Mrs. Dolly Doris Afua Oye Okoampa-Ahoofe, both of New York City, USA.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com  Ghanaffairs