Intimidation and Assault on Journalists by the Police is Provocative: Akufo-Addo must call his men to order

A Youth Activist – Moses Tettey Dometey (Bola Ray Jnr) has cautioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to call his “boys” to order because their actions against media men are gradually washing away the beauty of the country’s democracy. He gave an example of the recent case of reporters of Citi FM and said the Ghana police service is fast loosing its credibility under this Mother Serpent of Corruption a called President.

The unlawful use of force by the police can lead to death, injury, and devastation. As we have seen too many times in Ghana, sometimes police kill or seriously injure people during arrests fuelled by prejudice, ethnicity or political discrimination.

In countless other cases, police are quick to use force in response to demonstrations. Throughout 2019 and 2020, Ghana police have repeatedly deployed weapons like tear gas and rubber bullets in an unlawful way against citizens.

All too often, officers who kill or injure people after using force unlawfully are not brought to justice.

That is why it is so important to know what your rights are, and to know what the police are, and are not, allowed to do, but those rights cannot be expressed when we have a tyrant as a President of the country.

We need to make sure that police stop using force against the law, and that those who kill unlawfully are brought to account – no more excuses, that can only happen when NDC and John Dramani Mahama takes over in 2024.

“Police brutality” is sometimes used to refer to various human rights violations by the police. This might include beatings, racial abuse, unlawful killings, torture, or indiscriminate use of riot control against the citizens.

The ability of the media to function effectively as a fourth estate is hooked firmly on the maximum cooperation it receives from the different entities within society at whose service it operates.

Recently, concerns have been raised in Ghana about the spate of assault and intimidation against media practitioners yet, our ceremonial President is sitting unconcerned, and this action appears to hinder the independence, growth, and development of the media.

The safety of the media and the fact that it reserves the right to convey stories about any subject is uncontested in this day and era. However, the question is, to what extent are the media free to discharge these uncontested rights? Under this police service? In fact, current Ghana police service need a reform.

Recently, media practitioners have become targets of increasing physical attacks and assaults in Ghana, and these have recorded astonishing and unacceptable injuries and deaths. Beyond their right to life and secured professional environment, it tends to violate the right of society to information.

Journalists, especially those who carry recording devices to take photos and videos, are confronted with dangerous security threats because they become targets for security agencies who want to suppress footage of brutalities meted out to protesters. For instance, cameras are either confiscated or destroyed in such encounters.

Largely, journalists are assaulted and sometimes lynched while on assignment.

Ghana beyond being the first country to attain self-rule in Africa, it has weaved itself through different governance systems and made strides to stabilize democratic rule since 1992, a quality that has credited the country as a model of democracy on the African continent.

At the core of this historic feat is a vibrant media, whose role has been indispensable to the sustenance of democracy up to today, and thus, the need for them to work in a safe environment should be sought. Ghana was ranked 22nd on the 2015 World Press Freedom, under His Excellency the former President John Dramani Mahama, what an achievement! which placed the country in the “free” category Reporters Without Borders.

In addition, there have been reports of assaults on the media by members of the public including active politicians. In as much as media laws and the political orientation of a country pose some challenges to the establishment of media freedom globally, media analysts in Ghana tend to attribute the country’s dwindling ranking on the World Press Freedom Index to increasing instances of assault in the landscape.

Thus, it appears that the very society the fourth estate represents as its mouthpiece is constantly assaulting and frustrating their efforts in ensuring that society functions well.

The clampdown on media practitioners is an assault on our democracy.

The critical function of the media to inform and educate society, set agenda, and influence public opinion makes it a precarious profession. I do not want to cite examples but the Ghana police service and the President are disappointment to our democratic journalism and the media at large.

Stop sleeping and FIX THE COUNTRY.

By Moses Tettey Dometey (Bola Ray Jnr.)

13/05/2021.