Stop attacks by political party activists on Journalists – GJA tells Ghana police
The Central Region branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has called on the Police to expedite investigations into attacks on Journalists in the Region by political party activists.
It also asked the Police to prosecute persons found guilty of the attacks to stop such acts.
On the evening of Monday, May 16, 2022, Mr Eric Blessing Eshun of Benya FM, was brutalised, while the Station’s studio equipment were vandalised by a group of alleged New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters during a live discussion on fishing and pre-mix fuel distribution in the Komenda Edina Aguafo Constituency.
The group was said to be incensed by accusations of discrimination in the pre-mix fuel distribution on partisan lines.
The GJA Central Region, in a statement signed by its Acting Regional Secretary, Mr Kingsley Nana Buadu, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, also recalled with utmost disgust the attack on Prince Acquah, a Journalist with the Ghana News Agency, on Monday, May 2, 2022.
He was attacked while covering the Ajumako Enyan Essiam NPP Constituency Executive elections at the Ajumako campus of the University of Education, Winneba.
Mr. Acquah was filming an altercation that ensued at the venue over transport allowance for the delegates.
A few minutes into the filming of the heated argument, some Party activists furiously accosted and physically assaulted Mr. Acquah, claiming he was a spy or an agent of the opposition National Democratic Congress.
Although the matter was reported to the Ajumako Police, the statement said, no action had been taken against the perpetrators.
The statement noted that the two separate incidents by the alleged “party thugs” had left the GJA wondering whether the perpetrators had taken any caution from Ghana’s abysmal performance on the latest World Press Freedom Index, which made Ghana drop from 30th to 60th position worldwide.
“GJA-Central Region makes it clear that it will not tolerate any form of hooliganism or intimidation of its members by any political party. Such anti-media and anti-democratic acts must be punished, after full-scale investigations to deter other offenders from acting same with impunity,” it stated.
Source: GNA