Ohemaa Sakyiwaa Ahwenepa, Latif Iddrisu and Hajia Fati
The Ghana Police Service says it has failed to establish the identities of police personnel who allegedly subjected Joy News’ reporter, Latif Iddris, to severe beatings in March, this year.
The incident happened at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Tuesday, March 27, 2018
He was reportedly beaten for posing a question to a police officer about the technical name of one of the crowd control vehicles at the police headquarters on the day Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Koku Anyidoho, was interrogated for threatening to ‘stage’ a coup.
But several days after the incident, the Police Service has not been able to identify the personnel, who assaulted the journalist.
The Director of Police Public Affairs, ACP David Eklu disclosed this in an interview with Joy News when speaking about the bail granted to Hajia Fati, a staunch member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who recently assaulted a reporter of Adom FM at the NPP Headquarters in Accra.
The ruling government has condemned the actions of Madam Fati.
In a statement issued and signed by the acting General Secretary, John Boadu, the NPP assured Ghanaian journalists that it respects and cherishes the role of the media as partners in development and does not condone any action intended to suppress press freedom.”
The party said “no journalist should feel intimidated and must continue to discharge his or her duties without fear.”
It added that “though the New Patriotic Party has already begun an internal enquiry into the alleged incident, we will also cooperate with other agencies investigating same.”
By Melvin Tarlue