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Politics of Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2019-07-23
Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby
Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby criticized Presidents Akufo-Addo, Kweku Sakyi-Addo and Albert Kan Dapaah for abandoning their pedigrees as freedom of the press fighters.
According to former Ghana executive committee chief @ 50 and renowned advocate of press freedom, the positions occupied by the trio and the current events in the media field were contrary to their long years of activism for the freedom of the media.
He based his criticism on the closure of Radio Gold and Radio XYZ, opposition-sponsored National Democratic Congress (NDC) Broadcasting Houses, by the National Communications Authority (NCA).
Dr. Wereko-Brobby, with the support of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the current Minister of Security, Albert Kan Dapaah, made history in 1994 by exploiting the country's first private radio station. Ghana – Radio Eye – for a day.
The creation of Radio Eye is considered the first frontal attack against media subversion in Ghana.
The radio station was closed by security forces for unlicensed broadcasting.
This incident earned him the nickname "Tarzan" after a minister compared his fight for media freedom to the way Tarzan – a fictional character in a popular jungle story – jumped from tree in tree.
Speaking Monday on the PM Express news program on the Joy News channel on MultTV, he said closing the two pro-NDC radio stations and other media attacks under the Akufo-Addo's presidency were unfortunate.
"Let me make it clear: the legal entity that defended the action of Radio Eye from the beginning, up to the Supreme Court, is now the president of Ghana, although I can not not believe that he did it just because he was defending client.
"And because of Nana Akufo-Addo's reputation as a defender of human rights, freedom of the press and freedom of speech, etc., I think that some people have abused her name without his permission, "he said.
He then added, "Second, Kan Dapaah, the Minister of Security was a board member of the Independent Media Corporation of Ghana, promoters of Radio Eye. I do not see in what quality or reason or reason that Kan Dapaah will send thugs to attack a radio station. It does not mean anything.
"And third, but importantly, NCA President Kweku Sakyi-Addo has made his mark and his past a staunch defender of freedom of the press and defense of freedom," he said.
The NCA, however, explained that it had led the security forces to shut down both radio stations, as the latter failed to obtain permission to operate.
Dr. Wereko-Brobby has consistently argued that the NCA's mandate to license radio stations constitutes a serious violation of the constitutional provision on freedom of the press and has promised to apply to the Supreme Court for remediate.
"The involvement, desired or declared, of these three characters in this regrettable and flagrant violation of the freedom of the press is regrettable. It is very, very serious and measures must be taken very quickly to reverse the trend, "he said.
Ghana has never had the freedom of the press
The former general manager of the Volta River Authority (VRA) is also of the opinion that, despite media pluralism and freedom of expression, freedom of the press has never existed in Ghana.
"All this says that … the press must be free from any government interference and its editorial independence must be guaranteed. Now for me, it's the freedom of the media. Because it's the freedom of the government.
"This never pleased us because, contrary to what the Constitution says … the law pbaded in 1995 creating the National Authority of Communication placed the media in the hands of the fact of attribution of frequencies in the hands of the National Authority of Communication.
"The National Communications Authority is an agent of the government, so it's anathema," he said.
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