Miss Rockson (not her real name) was a newly trained teacher, assigned to teach Form One C in St. Jude’s JHS.

There were forty-five students in her class – all very bright – but her instant favourite was young Philip Awuni (not his real name). Philip was not just intelligent, but helpful, hardworking, and trustworthy. She made him Class Captain.

Soon after that, things started to disappear mysteriously. First, her earrings. She had taken them off and placed them in her top drawer halfway through the day when they started to weigh down her delicate earlobes. By closing time, they had disappeared. Next, her Gucci sunglasses case.

Then some pens and books went missing from the stationery cupboard. Chalk, a phone charger, more pens – all mysteriously disappeared from Miss Rockson’s class. Eventually, she decided enough was enough. During break time, she called Philip over. “You are the only one I trust. Help me catch the thief”, she said.

By the end of that day, Philip thought he had a fair idea who the culprit was. He had noticed his classmate Dora acting quite shifty around her locker. Most students don’t lock theirs, but Dora’s had a fresh padlock. She had flinched and slammed it shut when Philip tried to get a peek at the contents.

“What are you hiding?” he asked her point-blank. “Are you the one taking things from the classroom?”

“None of your business. Leave me alone”, Dora retorted as she hooked in the padlock and locked it in place with an angry click. Philip shrugged and walked away. He decided to try and catch her red-handed instead.

The next day, Miss Rockson’s bracelet went missing. When the kids came back from break, she lined them up against the wall. Philip was not there. Probably not back from lunch, the teacher thought. She would just press on until he got back. “I am going to search each and every one of you and check your lockers one by one”, she announced. We will catch the thief today”.

Suddenly, young Dora put her hand up. “I know who the thief is, Miss Rockson”. It’s Philip”

The teacher shook her head incredulously. “I’m sure you’re mistaken”

“Madam, I swear it’s him”, she said with conviction. “I saw him with my own eyes. Just wait and see. He will rush in here and say he was in the washroom. That’s where he hides everything he steals”.

Right on cue, Philip burst into the classroom. “Where have you been, Philip?” Miss Rockson asked cautiously.

“I was in the bathroom”, Philip said, wondering why everyone was staring at him so intently. The classroom erupted with exclamations of “oooh”, and “wow”, and “oyiwa”. Miss Rockson didn’t know what to think. She decided the problem was above her pay grade. It was time for her to hand this over to the headmaster.

She told everyone else to stay put, and marched Philip out of the classroom, down the corridor to the head’s office. He wasn’t there, so they sat in the outer room to wait. “Philip kept muttering “it wasn’t me, it was Dora” under her breath, and the teacher was inclined to believe him, even though the evidence pointed to him. He had proved himself trustworthy on countless occasions, but what had he been dong in the washroom for all that time? Besides, what would anyone gain from falsely accusing Philip? Who would benefit from such a thing?

Eventually, the headteacher came back and beckoned them into his office. Just then, Miss Rockson shot to her feet. “Sir, please let me quickly look in on the other students to make sure they are behaving themselves”, she said.

On her way back to her classroom, she saw a student hunched over one of the locker doors. It was Dora. She inched closer and looked over the young girl’s shoulder.

To her utter shock, the cubbyhole was filled with all the things that had gone missing – the earrings glistening on top of the pile of pilfered booty.

Thank God she hadn’t reported Philip to the head.

My dear friends, one thing you can be sure of is that when you try to right a wrong, the people who benefit from the wrongdoing will fight back. So whenever you notice the truth-seekers under attack, ask yourself: Cui Bono (that’s Latin for “who benefits”). Who benefits from discrediting the truth-seeker? That is invariably the person/persons who benefit from the wrongdoing that is about to be exposed.

Dominic Domelevo is arguably the most effective Auditor-General Ghana has ever had. After saving the country billions of cedis, he was edged out of office over a discrepancy to do with his age.

As he himself famously declared, “When you fight corruption, corruption fights back”. So ask yourself: who fought back against Domelevo? Who stood to gain from his removal? Cui bono? Who benefitted?

We call you our discerning listener for a reason. You know fact from fiction. You know truth from fabrication. You know right from wrong. You don’t need to be told. You know. That’s discernment. Like young Philip, we at Joy have proved ourselves over and over again to be trustworthy. Like Miss Rockson, you trust us above all others.

So when you see us coming under attack, we know you will understand what it means. We know you will discern the reasons why. We know you will ask yourself: Cui Bono. And we know you will figure out the answer for yourself.

My name is Kojo Yankson of Joy FM. Home of Independent, Fearless and CREDIBLE Journalism. Thank you for choosing us.

Good Morning, GHANAFO!