GJA demands arrest, prosecution of persons who assaulted Citi FM journalist in Yendi

The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has issued a 10-day ultimatum to the Ghana Police Service to cause the arrest of persons who attacked a reporter of Accra-based Citi FM/TV, Mohammed Amin Alabira, in Yendi, in the Northern Region.

It has also called on the media to blacklist Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama, Member of Parliament for Yendi, who is alleged to have led the assault on the said journalist.

Mr Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, President of the GJA, made the call at a joint news conference by GJA, the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), Private Newspapers and Online Publishers Association, Ghana (PRINCIPAG) and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), in Accra, on Tuesday.

Mohammed Amin Alabira, a Citi FM/TV Correspondent, was allegedly assaulted during the New Patriotic Party’s Parliamentary primaries at Yendi, in the Northern Region, on Saturday, January 27, 2024.

The said assault is alleged to have been led by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Yendi, Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama.

Mr Dwumfour said the Association was shocked that more than a week after the assault on the journalist, no arrest had been made.

He, therefore, demanded that the police ensured that the perpetrators were arrested in the next 10 days, failure of which would compel the Association to advise itself.

“The GJA, GIBA, PRINPAG and MFWA are really shocked that after a week of this dastardly gangstarism no arrest has been made when the Regional Police Commander also tasted the ruthless actions of the thugs,” he said.

Mr Dwumfour bemoaned the increased attack on journalists in recent years, indicating that, within the first two months of this year, two journalists had been assaulted.

Over the past five years, from 2019 to 2023, the GJA has documented a total of 45 cases of assault and attacks against journalists and media institutions.

The GJA President said within the last quarter of 2023, more than ten journalists were assaulted while four more spent days behind bars on the orders of the court for no apparent legal reasons since 2021.

“All these cases have not seen any closure and the perpetrators are free while the law enforcing agency, the police, seemingly looks on unconcerned.”

Mr Dwumfour, therefore, warned that the Association would not countenance any assault on journalists, indicating that, it would blacklist any political actor or party whose members attacked media practitioners in their line of duty.

While calling on the Speaker of Parliament to haul before its Privilege Committee, Alhaji Farouk Mahama, MP for Yendi, to answer for the alleged assault, Mr Dwumfour called on the Judiciary to issue punitive punishments to persons who attacked journalists.

Mr Selorm Adornu, a journalist with Citi FM/TV, who represented management of the station, said the station was pained and disappointed by the actions of the MP.

“It is embarrassing, it is disappointing that the Member of Parliament will attack a journalist in the line of duty,” he said.

He assured of management’s resolve to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion and ensure that justice was delivered.

He, therefore, called on the Attorney General to place premium on the case, currently before him.

Mr Muheeb Saeed, Manager for Freedom of Expression, MFWA, called on the Judiciary to do more to protect journalists.

Source: GNA

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