GJA Demands Investigation Into Journalist Assault

The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has vowed to embark on a series of actions to protect its members if government and relevant stakeholders fail to initiate steps to investigate and deal with some thugs who assaulted a journalist in the Central region.

President of GJA, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, who said this when he addressed journalists on its programmes at its maiden press briefing for the year at the International Press Centre in Accra, stated that the association would not sit aloof while its member has been assaulted in the full glare of a police officer in Cape Coast.

Background

Recounting the incidence, the GJA President said, at the Central Regional vetting of parliamentary aspirants of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) held at the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) in Cape Coast, some thugs, numbering about 15 and wearing a branded T-shirt of Mavis Hawa Koomson, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Awutu-Senya East, pounced on David Kobbena, a morning show host of Cape FM, and beat him mercilessly without provocation.

David Kobbena aka Ohene Kwame David, according to him was seated under a shed at the RCC. The thugs mistook him for another person they alleged had insulted the MP, who is also the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development.

He said on the basis of that mistaken identity, a man believed to be a police officer invited the unsuspecting David to a distance and sought to confirm his identity.

David who denied the accusation and produced his media house ID card as evidence to support his denial got slapped by someone from behind. Other thugs joined in the assault, beating him mercilessly.

He said the GJA’s initial investigations has confirmed the incident describing it as “the height of impunity and we can no longer tolerate same.”

While condemning the attack on the victim, the GJA demanded that the NPP, at the regional and national level, investigate the matter immediately, and identify the culprits while the party at the regional and national levels, sanction the perpetrators of the assault on David.

“The Ghana Police Service should investigate the incident immediately and speedily in order to prosecute the culprits, and the Ghana Police Service, investigate and identify the purported police officer who invited David before he was assaulted and bring him to face sanctions for unprofessional conduct.

“We hereby serve notice that if by close of Friday, January 12, 2024, these demands have not been met, we shall advise ourselves accordingly,” he added.

Source: Ebenezer K. Amponsah