Tamale North MP Alhassan Suhuyini says he left journalism to contest a parliamentary election without expecting to win, hoping a defeat would give him a clear explanation for why he could not solve the personal problems brought to him by members of the public.
Mr Suhuyini said his decision was shaped by the financial pressures of working in the media and by the widespread belief that journalists who regularly interviewed politicians and business leaders were themselves wealthy, powerful and well connected.
He was speaking at the launch of Newsroom Poverty, a book authored by Abdul Hayi Moomen. The publication examines the economic difficulties facing media professionals in Ghana.
Mr Suhuyini said his profile as a broadcaster led people to approach him continually for financial support, personal interventions and help with a range of problems.
“People sometimes always mistake popularity for wealth and fortune. They listen to you interview businessmen and political actors and in their mind they are your friends, they are people you can ask for anything from to solve their problems and so they come with all sort of problems.”
He said he had effectively been running what he described as a “clinic” while working at Radio Gold, as members of the public turned to him for assistance.
“So I used to operate a clinic at Radio Gold even before I joined politics. One day I sat back and talked to myself about joining politics to wield the power to solve problems.”
According to the MP, he initially considered an election campaign as a way of demonstrating that he did not hold the influence people assumed he had. He expected voters to reject him, allowing him to point to the result when people later asked him for help.
“In my mind, I was hoping that when I come for the elections they will not vote for me so that when they come to worry me next time I will say that is why I said you should vote me and I will help but you didn’t vote for me.”
Instead, Mr Suhuyini won the election and said he has continued to win and remain in Parliament.
“I joined the campaign not hoping to win, I joined to get a message that when people come to me I will use it but I won and I have been winning and I am here. The poverty in the newsroom chased me into the headache of politics and I am happy that we are launching this book that will begin a conversation on this important issue,” he said.
He said the contrast between public expectations and the economic realities of journalism had played an important part in his move into politics.
Mr Suhuyini also argued that the launch of Newsroom Poverty should encourage a wider national discussion about the conditions faced by media workers in Ghana, including the financial challenges that can affect their professional and personal lives.
The event provided an opportunity to highlight how assumptions about journalists’ access to influential people can create additional pressure for those working in the media.
