Gov’t goes ‘Mumu’ On Ghana’s sunken Image Press Freedom Image

The Akufo-Addo Government has refused to comment on the abysmal seven-point-drop in Ghana’s slip global rankings on press freedom in 2020.

On the global rankings, Ghana dropped seven places making it one of the most hostile places in the world to practice as a journalist.

Reading a statement to commemorate the day, the Deputy Minister for Information, Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei, ignored the burning issue of Ghana’s sink as compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

The Deputy Minister rather spoke on how the media has been helpful with the fight against Covid-19; how Government may handout some assistance to media houses on account of Covid-19 and how journalists ought to cross-check stories before publishing.

The Deputy Minister also claimed to the shock of many that the media is very free in Ghana at a time that the murder of journalists, the kidnapping and manhandling of reporters and the closure of radio stations perceived to be sympathetic to the opposition has led to Ghana being named as one of the most hostile environment for journalists in the world.

Many journalists who attended the press conference at the International Press Center in Accra, left disappointed as expectations that the gruesome murder of Ahmed Hussein Suale, would be addressed and the public updated on the state of investigations were not met.

Suale was a journalist with Tiger Eye PI who aided with investigations that suggested that disgraced former President of the Ghana Football Association, Kwesi Nyantakyi, was using his position to take bribes and sharing it with President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia.

Just around the time that the issue was topical, gunmen, believed to be hirelings of people in Government shot him dead while his car was stuck in traffic at Madina. Many believe the murder was state-sponsored because in the lead up to the crime, the ruling NPP’s bankroller, Kennedy Agyapong, had incited the public to kill him for helping with the expose on Nyantakyi, Akufo-Addo and Bawumia.

A year after the murder of Suale, no suspect has been arrested as the Government gives every indication that it has no intent to investigate and bring perpetrators to book. The Suale murder helped to significantly knock Ghana off the Global press freedom rankings’ number 1 position in Africa. Namibia is now the country ranked as having the freest press in Africa.