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By Iddi Yire / Gifty Amofa, GNA
Accra, May 2, GNA – Journalists from Ghana
Association (GJA) congratulated Mr. David Asante Apeatu, Inspector General of the
Police (IGP), for the prohibition and prosecution of the policeman who was arrested
brutalized the three journalists of the Ghanaian Times.
"It is interesting to note that the Ghana police
Service, complicit in attacks on journalists, took action
bold, remarkable and image-saving measures to ban and pursue any of its
own who recently brutalized the three Ghanaian Times reporters in the full
public glow, "he said.
Mr. Affail Monney, president of the GJA,
said this Thursday at a forum on
Journalist Safety, organized by the Media Foundation for West Africa
(MFWA), in collaboration with the GJA, on the occasion of World Press Freedom
Day.
"IGP, we salute you. However, this action is
not enough to eradicate cancer from impunity. More must be done by state
civil society, media partners, media owners, media consumers and
media workers to ensure their safety, "said Monney.
He quoted the profound statement made by the
global media coordination body; the International Federation of Journalists, which
"There can be no freedom of the press if journalists live in conditions of corruption,
poverty and fear. "
Mr. Monney stated that corruption in sections of the
the media in Ghana were real and poverty high; adding however that fear
attacks on journalists is what has now caught the attention of the GJA.
He said that the number of media attacks had been
very high lately, marked by badbadination, in the most tragic
Ahmed Suale of PI Tiger Eye, and that impunity was in order.
in large part to blame for all this.
"Indeed, it would be a useless effort to speak
on the outrageous frequency of such attacks if we, as a nation, fail to cope
surgically with cancer calcifying impunity ".
"The symptoms of this disease are everywhere
we. Doctors tell us that the best way to eliminate symptoms is to:
cure the disease. "
Mr. Monney regretted that the proponents of
Allegiance, magnified by common enmities, weakens the capacity of journalists
to wage a common war against impunity and the brutalization that results
journalists.
"For some NPP journalists, nothing is
badly to beat NDC "reporters. Conversely, many NDC journalists would not have
You have to be careful when NPP journalists are attacked, "he said.
"The partisan coloring of violence against
Journalists have no sense. This must stop. Journalists of all
political shades and those not contaminated by partisanship must collectively amplify
the drum beat of protest against attacks, regardless of the victims. "
Professor Kwame Karikari, member of the Board of Directors of
MFWA, said the death threats against journalists were a whole new
development that required condemnation by the government and all loving democracy
Ghanaians
"In this context, we must appeal to the President
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, personally, to find the opportunity to address the
publicly, "he said.
Karikari said that the government and the
political parties must publicly condemn these threats and censor their
individual comrades whose statements and actions tend to support violence
against the media and journalists.
GNA
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