Broadcast Journalist, Afia Pokua, popularly known as Vim Lady, has revealed how she had to vacate her home for a year for fear of being killed.
“I had to leave my house and lodge with my big brother in 2016 for a whole year because some politicians were after my life…we had to change all the locks, install security cameras and wires so I could feel safe” she said.
The outspoken journalist says, it is not worth losing her life for Ghana.
Pokua, before leaving Multimedia’s Adom FM, was the host of ‘Burning Issues’ a political show, where she questioned and criticised politicians for their actions.
Speaking on ‘BO ME NKOMO’ hosted by stand-up commedian, KSM ,the outspoken radio presenter, who is considering quitting active journalism, said the nature of her job made her a target for most politicians and people who have ulterior motives of milking the country of its resources.
“My life has been at risk, I get people attacking me every day, sending me threats on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. This is why most young female journalists are not willing to report on active politics. They would rather stay with entertainment, lifestyle and the soft news”
“I am going to stop doing active radio very soon. I want to teach because I have notice that it is my family I will lose if anything should happen to me…..see what happened to the Abuakwa MP, Late J.B Danquah Adu, a whole member of Parliament and we still do not know who murdered him” she said.
Loved and hated by political party supporters because of her aggressive questioning style, Pokua is also involved with social change through activities such as helping to build school blocks for school children in deprived communities and advocating about such matters through her own channels and others available to her.
At the recently held MTN Heroes of Change, she was crowned Media Personality of the Year for her philanthropic work through her Vim Foundation.
Among other things, through her initiative, hundreds of primary school students who attended school under trees had their situation changed after her Foundation built a classroom block for them at Amenam in the Eastern Region.
She also helped to paint 12 blocks of four basic schools in Kwahu in the same region including a school built in 1917 but had not seen a new look for more than 25 years. Apart from painting a six-classroom block for a school in the Kumasi-Amenam in the Ashanti Region, her foundation also donated books to Jacobu Methodist Primary and Junior High School (JHS) in the Amansie Central District of the Ashanti Region.