MEDIA MUST BE FAIR TO TAMALE

TAMALE, the Northern Regional capital, has earned a lot of undeserved negative reportage for some years now. And even though everything about Tamale may not be perfect just as it is in other cities in the country, it is certainly not as bad as a section of the media portray the metropolis to be.
Any little mishap in the metropolis is sometimes blown out of proportion. A minor misunderstanding between two persons at a little corner of a suburb in the metropolis assumes the headline on some radio and newspapers the next day, making it look as if the entire city is in flames.
Tamale occupies a land area of 750km2 or 13 per cent of the entire land area of the Northern Region. It is touted as one of the fastest growing cities in the West African sub-region, according to World Bank reports.
It is, therefore, unfortunate that an incident which occurs at a suburb of the metropolis is sometimes reported as if the whole city has been engulfed.
A recent incident that immediately comes to mind is the May 10, 2008 quarrel between some youth at a night club in Tamale that degenerated into an open fight between their respective sympathisers, leading to the vandalisation of property at a section of a suburb - Changli.
As expected, it became the banner news headlines of some radio and newspapers to the effect that supporters of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the entire metropolis were at each others’ throat.
It would, however, interest readers to know that majority of Tamale residents heard of the news through the media in Accra because normal business and life went on uninterrupted.
Apart from those residents living around the scene of the incident, the vast populace did not even know that anything had happened. Yet it was made to believe that Tamale was on fire.
In a news item on Ghanaweb, two days after the incident, it was reported that there was a raging conflict between followers of the two parties in all the 20 districts of the Northern Region.
A banker, Mr Ben Osei, had this to say, ‘‘I liken what some media houses report about Tamale to the way the foreign press report negatively on Africa; conflicts and hunger. What about reporting on all the positives too.’’
It is interesting to know that after being fed with all such negative reports about Tamale, workers and visitors alike who accept postings, transfers or come to the area eventually leave with a lot of fond memories of the metropolis.
Others eventually refuse to leave when transferred by their various organisations.
It is a fact that Tamale has recorded some ugly incidents since the Dagbon crisis in March, 2002 but that is not to say that positive happenings have not also occurred in the midst of the unfortunate happenings.
According to the Tamale Police, the metropolis has one of the least crime rates in the country. People go about their respective businesses without fear of being robbed, attacked or intimidated by anybody.
Other recent successes Tamale has chalked up include the declaration by the Local Organising Committee of the Ghana 2008, that it was the best among the four venues in the country.
A couple of years ago, it won the best sister-city relationship in the country. It is also the first city in the country to have gone into such a relationship since the 70s.
Most visitors to the metropolis have described residents of the area as the real epitome of the true spirit of the proverbial Ghanaian hospitality, where people are each others’ keeper. Residents naturally offer services to people in need without expecting anything in return. What they cherish is greetings and ‘‘Thank You.’’
Apart from having one of the best road networks, the metropolis was also adjudged the neatest city in Ghana a couple of years ago. And just last weekend at the Ghana Tourism Awards Nite for the Savannah zone comprising the Northern, Upper East and West regions, Tamale won the enviable title again as the Cleanest City for the year 2007.
The metropolis has also gone through significant transformation in recent times with the influx of banks, business establishments and modernisation of the airport that has increased the number of flights to the area, among other developments.
The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, did not mince words when he gave the assurance to patrons at the awards night that, ‘‘notwithstanding anything like news or reports to the contrary, Tamale, our metropolis, is a very peaceful city whose suitability for this kind of event your good selves will acclaim as the most appropriate.’’