GJA calls for arrest and prosecution of Reverend Owusu-Bempah
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has expressed concern over the reported physical attack on some staff of the Radio XYZ, an Accra-based private radio station, by Reverend Isaac Owusu-Bempah, the Founder of the Glorious Word and Power Ministries International.
The GJA condemned the action by Reverend Owusu-Bempah and urged the Police to arrest and prosecute him in order to deter him, his assigns and other like-minded persons from conducting themselves in similar manner.
A statement signed and issued by Mr Affail Monney, the President of the GJA, said in a democratic dispensation, the means to seek redress to grievances are governed by the rule of law and civility.
It said the 1992 Constitution under Article 17(1), provide in unambiguous terms that no person is above the law.
“We also call on the Christian Council of Ghana, Ghana Catholic Secretariat, Ghana Pentecostal Council, Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council and other Christian bodies, and Christendom in general to condemn the violent conduct of Owusu-Bempah, which has brought the name of their faith into contempt, disrepute and ridicule.
It reiterated its call on members and other media practitioners not to be intimidated by deviants of the rule of law who may want to use violence as a weapon to stifle press freedom, adding that they have a constitutional mandate to discharge their duties without fear or favour.
“We, however, advise journalists and other media practitioners to uphold high professional standards at all times and endeavour to be a bedfellow of only the truth.
“Our calling is to report the truth as stainless as it is and not to mix truth with derogatory, insulting or provocative comments,” it said.
Last Friday, March 15, 2019, Owusu-Bempah was reported to have stormed the premises of the radio station in the company of four gun-wielding thugs in search of a presenter of the radio station.
In the process, the Reverend Minister and his armed cohorts allegedly manhandled the Administrator and other staff of the radio station.
The attack on Radio XYZ comes exactly four months after Owusu-Bempah reportedly vandalized studio equipment at Hot FM, another Accra-based radio station. Featuring in a Current Affairs programme on the station on December 13, 2018, he, in a fit of rage, allegedly vandalized the studio equipment.
These two instances of attack on radio stations within a spate of four months are clear indications that the ‘man of God’ is fast gaining notoriety as a ‘man of violence’ and for which reason he must be charged for assault.
Source: GNA