Baako warns government against rejection of Joy News documentary

General News of Sunday, March 17, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-03-17

The editor of the New Crusading Guide said the government was hypocrisy in overemphasizing some minor issues with Joy News' latest documentary.

According to Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr, the criticisms made by award-winning journalist Manbadeh Azure Awuni on specific aspects of "The Militia in the Heart of the City" can not stop the substantive issues raised in the documentary.

The infiltration work revealed how a known group, the De-Eye group, used the former government headquarters to train since the formation of the Akufo-Addo government.

The group is led by Nana Wireko Addo, aka 'Choman', the former personal bodyguard of President Nana Akufo-Addo. It was described in 2012 as a "vigilance group" in the pro-government daily Daily Guide.

But the government has raised a number of concerns about the documentary that it describes as "offensive" and has filed a complaint with the National Press Commission (NMC) against the press house.

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who filed the complaint, said that "… nothing in the disputed documentary shows any activity of the said company close to a militia exercise".

The complaint also stated that: "The claim that Osu Castle is an annex of the presidency, used as a" security zone "to train militia and militia is a sensationalism of the highest order. The facts show that since March 2017, Osu Castle has NOT been a "security zone" or annex of the presidency. "

Kweku Baako said that the use of militia in the documentary did not constitute a substantive mistake. He asked why the government would want to address this issue without addressing the substantive issue.

According to the veteran journalist, although the security status of Christiansborg Castle may have been degraded as a result of the move of the seat of government to Jubilee House, it is still a public space. which should not have been used for this purpose.

De-Eye Group, he said, "has no land activity in a public facility".

"If I was governed … I do not think we should group these circumstances together [judgements]"To deny the content of the documentary, he advised.

Timing

The executive director of the Institute for Democratic Governance, Emmanuel Akwetey, said the documentary had arrived at the right time and that "what he said is simple".

"It is important that this be the subject of a thorough investigation … because we can not discuss vigilance without knowing in detail each mechanism of their evolution, their tentacles, etc."

The governance expert said that it was important that the state concerned the documentary and addressed the important issues that it raised, while urgently calling for the strengthening of the police service to deal with self-defense groups.