The Editor-In-Chief of Whatsup News, David Tamakloe, has been picked up Rambo-styled by officers claiming to be from the Tesano Police Station.
The arrest happened this afternoon with personnel of the Service storming the offices of the digital newspaper to pick up Mr. David Tamakloe in what clearly smacked of the brutal media targeting that has characterized the current government administration.
Whatsup News had reported on allegations made by the Director of Elections of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, who had revealed that some people in the New Edubiasi town of the Ashanti Region had ganged up against Ewes and Northerners during the heady days of the new voter registration.
According to Mr. Afriyie Ankrah who had made the revelation at a press conference at the NDC’s headquarters in Accra, the targeting of Ewes and Northerners was part of the general theme of ethnocentric hounding of members of these minority groups during the voter registration exercise.
“In New Edubiase, there are reported cases of NPP supporters hurling insults at Ewes and people of Northern descent asking them to go and register in their hometowns. This development is very backward and a major setback to our national unity agenda. Every Ghanaian is entitled to live in any part of Ghana. It is therefore awkward that same will be happening in the 21st Century Ghana. We wish to encourage the NCCE to scale up perpetrators in this regard,” Mr. Afriyie Ankrah had said.
WhatsUp News would later see video clips on social media said to be evidential of what Mr. Afriyie Ankrah had said.
However, after the story was put together, Whatsup News got a report that one of its readers who had shared the story in New Edubiasi had been arrested by the Police there. After enquiries, the paper got in touch with the Police officer reportedly investigating the matter, one Mr. Francis Kwame Konu.
The Police had claimed that the arrest was over the reader’s supposed distribution of fake news, despite extensively producing the press statement and evidence from the NDC of which formed the basis of our report.
Mr. Tamakloe has unsuccessfully prompted the Police to officially state exactly what constitutes “fake news” in our report. The Police Service had flatly refused, only to storm the offices of Whatsup News today to pick up the Editor-In-Chief.
Interestingly, the reported ethnocentric targeting of Ewes, especially in the Ashanti Region has been roundly condemned by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other individuals in the country. Indeed, Togbui Siri lll, even warned that the ethnocentric targeting of Ewes may trigger responses.
Recently President Akufo-Addo told chiefs in the Volta Region that he would look into the reported ethnocentric targeting of Ewes during the voter registration exercise.
This is the umpteenth time agents within the security services have targeted media organisations perceived to be critical of the Akufo Addo administration.
Indeed, this targeting has seen renowned investigative journalists like Manasseh Azuri Awuni briefly seeking exile in South Africa.
Similar targeting has resulted in the cold-blooded assassination of investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein Suale of Tiger Eye PI-an investigative organization founded by undercover investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas.