GJA General Secretary Clashes With GJA President Over Arrest Of Citi FM Journalist

The claim by the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Roland Affail Monney, that Accra based Citi FM’s Caleb Kudah had violated the Associations code of ethics when he filmed some abandoned MASLOC cars on the premises of National Security has been repudiated by the General Secretary of the GJA.

According to Mr. Kofi Yeboah in a Facebook post, Mr. Kudah did not breach Article 13 of the GJA code of ethics as the Association’s President had claimed since the filming was footages in the interest of the public.

“Insofar as the public/national interest was at stake (as evidenced in his narrative), he was firmly within the bounds of journalism ethics, including Article 13 of the GJA Code of Ethics,” Mr. Yeboah wrote.

According to him, “the nebulous identity of national security cannot, and should not, be allowed to strip the media of its cardinal constitutional mandate under Article 162(5): “All agencies of the mass media shall, at all times, be free to uphold the principles, provisions and objectives of this Constitution, and SHALL uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people of Ghana”.

Mr. Yeboah further asked Ghanaians to “encourage civility and the rule of law, which are trademarks and honorifics of constitutional governance rather than brute and barbarism, which are hallmarks and horrific of military juntas.”

This makes three the number of notables who have repudiated Mr. Affail Monney’s position that Caleb Kudah, who reports that he was handcuffed and slapped about and even kicked in the groin, was at fault.

Respected legal practitioner and journalist, Samson Lardy Anyenini has made it clear that Mr. Kudah’s actions were in the public interest and therefore could not have constituted a basis for his Rambo-style arrest by half a dozen National Security personnel armed to the teeth.

Executive Director of pressure group, Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) Mensah Thompson, has called for the dismissal of Mr. Monney as GJA President over the comment.