Award-winning journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni has been trending on social media but this time, it is not for his work as an investigative journalist but for some comments he made concerning the 5th Africa CEOs Forum.
Commenting on the summit which was being held in Geneva in Switzerland, Azure, in a Facebook post on Tuesday, wondered why such a summit was not held in an African country considering the enormous economic benefits the summit brings.Â
"Why is the Africa CEOs conference being held in Europe? The over 1000 participants will book hotels, eat, shop and move around. So much cash will be invested in Geneva. Why not an African city? Is this rocket science or common sense? Or something I am missing?", he wrote on his wall.
Having carved an image for himself as strong defender of Africa against the West, Azure's sentiments could be described as re-hash of his well known position that Africa cannot rely on the West for its developmental agenda.
But in what could qualify as a sucker punch, one Facebook user who refers to himslef as Nana Kwame replied to the post in the most unexpected manner.
"Why did you choose to do your wedding at Aburi gardens and not your local village, where otabil and others could see the deprived nature of your people. And use your wedding to inspire the up and coming youth to aim high like u. Probably that local plantain sellers goods could be purchased by the city dwellers. Is this rocket science or common sense or something I am missing??", he replied.
Nana Kwame's reply has since gone viral with screenshots of the post being circulated across various social media platforms.
While many have condemend Nana Kwame's reply as uneccessary and infantile, others have commended him for it saying his response was the very best to Azure's comments.
In all the social media frenzy about the comments, one thing that seems baffling is why people would endorse a comment which seems more like a personal attack thinly veiled as an analogy and share it to the point of virality.
Azure has been at the fore fighting corruption through his investigative journalism crusades including the infamous rot at GYEEDA and the Ford Gift Saga and has also been criticial of politicians in general over their committement to devloping Ghana on his social media profiles.
This would have definitely angered many people, especially sympathisers of the previous government which suffered the most humiliation at the hands for Azure through his work and they may have taken advantage of Nana Kwame's comment as a way to mock him.
It's like your little sibling reports you to parents for misbehaving and you cannot touch him or her, but when you get to school and somebody attacks him or her, you refuse to intervene or condemn it  and even enjoy the beating when you know the attacker is wrong.
The Africa CEO Forum is a unique platform, which brings together CEOs the largest African and international companies, political decision makers from more than 40 African countries and the most active bankers and investors on the continent for discussions and debates around the economic and industrial challenges facing the African continent. Organized by the Group Jeune Afrique and rainbow unlimited, in partnership with the African Development Bank, the forum has become the foremost international event dedicated to the development of the private sector in Africa.
Checks reveal that the venue for the summit is not static and that the last one was held in the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan in 2016.
This suggests that Azure may have been too hasty in his criticism of the venue but his sentiments does not sound as one of malice but a genuine desire to see Africa develop and thus Nana Kwame's reply could be best described as too harsh and the seeming endorsement, unfortunate.
So the question is was Manasseh Azure Awuni wrong for asking those questions or were Nana Kwame's reply that infantile?