ASEPA PETITIONS US GOVERNMENT TO Slap VISA Ban ON KENNEDY AGYAPONG

—-FOR ENDANGERING THE LIVES OF JOURNALISTS IN GHANA*

The Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) has filed a petition with the US Government to invoke visa restrictions against Assin Central MP, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong who has been on a spree threatening death to journalists.

According to ASEPA recent threat by Ken Agyapong against Multimedia Group journalist, Erastus Asare Donkor is frowned upon by the US government which police harassments on journalists across the world and had imposing sanctions on governments and individuals found culpable for threatening journalism.

Ken Agyapong who is the Chairman of the Defence and Interior Committee in Parliament is reportedly seeking to cover up the brutal murder of some three people in Ejura protesting the bloody lynching of social media activists Mohammed “Kaaka” Ibrahim.

Kaaka was murdered for showcasing social ills in his community on Facebook. He was consequently threatened by a group of thugs reportedly belonging to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). They claimed Kaaka’s activism was making the Akufo Addo administration “unpopular”. They proceeded to warn him that he will suffer the consequences if he did not “desist” from his activism.

Shortly afterwards, a mob lynched him on the way to his home, and died a few days after.

Townsfolks of Ejura had reacted in anger at the killing of Kaaka and on the day of his burial, a spontaneous street protest ensued. However, soldiers were immediately sent in and they started shooting into the crowd as soon as they encountered them.

 Erastus Asare Donkor was present during the massacre and had reported it. But apparently, Ken Agyapong is not happy that the name of the government is being made “unpopular” by the live report, hence the threat.

ASEPA linked its petition to the incident in 2019 where Ken Agyapong has threatened undercover investigative journalist, Ahmed Hussein Suale for tracking an alleged US$8 million bribery by mega Arab companies to the Jubilee House.

The intermediary of the scheme to pocket bribes in return for granting government infrastructure contracts was reportedly being brokered by the disgraced former President of the Ghana Football Association, Kwesi Nyantakyi.

 “In 2019, sitting on National TV issued threats against Tiger Eye Journalist Ahmed Suale, inciting mob action against the journalist for the role he played in investigative expose dubbed “Number 12″ which exposed the huge corruption that had bedevilled football administration in Ghana,” ASEPA stated. 

A few weeks after Ken Agyapong threatened Suale for the reportage, Suale was brutally assassinated by gunmen who shot him three times at close on his way home.