GJA President Throws Brutalised Citi FM Journalist Under The Bus

President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr. Roland Affail Monney, has said that the Citi FM journalists who were arrested by National Security operatives on Tuesday for reportedly filming a National Security installation were in breach of the ethics of the Association.

In an interview with Accra-based Joy FM, Mr. Affail Monney said Caleb Kudah’s video capture was in breach of Article 13 of the GJA constitution.

“Caleb erred as far as our ethics is concerned. He clearly breached the ethics relative to Article 13 of our own code of ethics which specifies journalists should take pictures through fair, straightforward and honest means unless tampered by national interest. His interest here is not so clear. From the face of it, we believe he erred.” he said.

The opaque intervention by the GJA President only fans the public outrage at the blatant attacks on Ghanaians journalists under the Akufo Addo administration.

He also said the journalist’s action was in violation of Article 126 of the 1992 Constitution and therefore was probably the basis on which heavily armed national security operatives stormed the Adabraka office of Citi FM and whisked away Mr. Kudah and another journalist, Zoey Abu-Baidoo, to whom he had forwarded the footages.

“Caleb shouldn’t have filmed without permission and Caleb should have realized that place is a security zone and in every security zone, the security laws apply. It is a no-go area as far as photography is concerned and his violation of regulation might have triggered the overreaction from the security operatives,” Mr. Affail Monney said.

However, his position is contrary to that of private legal practitioner, Samson Lardy Anyenini who has said that since Caleb was filming an abandoned National Security installation probably for the purpose of reporting on the wastage of public funds, his actions were in the public interest and therefore legal.

Lawyer Anyenini had also said it was too clear the basis for the Rambo-style arrest of the two journalists as there is no criminal offense that National Security has quoted to prove the journalist broke any law.