-As Country Becomes “Wild West” For Citizens And Journalists
The targeting of journalists in Ghana has been extended to foreign journalists covering news in the country, as a British Journalist shooting for a documentary in the country was gunned down today, August 27, 2021.
The attacks are suspected to be from armed robbers who ambushed the victims on the Tamale-Buipe road, killed Talaay Ahmed, one of the journalists from the London-based TV channel, MTA-London.
According to the Northern Regional Police command, the incident occurred around the Mpaha Junction on Monday, August 23, 202, at 7 pm.
His colleague Umaru Abdul Hakim is reportedly in critical condition following injuries sustained from the gunshot.
Narrating the incident in a statement, the Officer in Charge at the Buipe Police Comand, Chief Inspector George Gyasi stated that the victims were travelling in a Toyota Hiace vehicle with registration number GT 7405-16 and on reaching a section of the road not far away from the Mpaha Junction, a number of armed men suddenly emerged from the bush and opened fire on them.
The armed men reportedly deflated the tires of the vehicle they were travelling in and forced it to stop.
Incidentally, while shooting at the tires of the vehicle, some of the bullets penetrated the vehicle and hit the two victims. The armed men then robbed them of their mobile phones and an unspecified amount of money and fled.
The victims were rushed to the Buipe polyclinic for treatment and were later transferred to the Tamale Teaching Hospital for further
However, upon arrival, Taalay Ahmed was pronounced dead. An autopsy is scheduled to be conducted on the deceased.
There has been no arrests so far, as the robbers were said to have escaped through the bush along the road.
“Our dear brother, Syed Taaley Ahmed, while working on a documentary in Ghana, was martyred. May Allah elevate his status in heaven, give peace to loved ones And say not of those who are killed in the cause of Allah that they are dead; nay, they are living,” said a colleague of the victims, Ihsanul Irfan Bin Wahab in a Facebook page shortly after the incident.
It is unclear if the latest shooting was a random armed robbery attack or it was pre-mediated. However, one thing is for sure: it has re-echoed the rising spate of armed attacks in Ghana, following the reported influx of weapons that allegedly found themselves in the hands of political party militia groups.
It also adds to the statistics of the number of journalists that have either been killed or issued death threats or brutally arrested and tortured by agents of the Akuffo Addo administration for following up on news that apparently makes the government “unpopular”.
The first journalist to be assassinated shortly after the Akufo Addo administration took over the reins of government was Ahmed Hussein Suale who was investigating a multi-million-dollar bribery scandal at the Jubilee House.
Later, prominent media personalities like investigative journalist Manasseh Awuni Azuri, David Tamakloe of Whatsup News and several others have been tracked, issued with death threats and arrested unlawfully for exposing the government.