GJA president addressing journalists
President of the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA), Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, has accused the National Media Commission (NMC), an institution mandated to ensure the freedom and independence of the media, of siding with the government to the detriment of media practitioners.
Mr. Dwumfour made this accusation in reaction to an earlier statement issued by the Executive Secretary of the NMC, George Sarpong, commending the Chief Justice and the Judiciary for the speed at which it convicted members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for invading the studios of UTV and disrupting the live television programme, indicating that the act is a testament to their commitment to protecting freedom of speech in the media.
The statement further called on the leadership of the GJA not to lose focus to the future as they express disappointment with the outcome of the trial.
However, Mr. Dwumfour at a press conference in Accra Yesterday expressed his disappointment, indicating that, “NMC statement seeks to position them on a different pedestal which means that they are siding with the government instead of the media practitioners and journalists.”
He further stated that following the judgment of the court the association is of the opinion that based on the video evidence that captured the happenings that evening, the charges preferred against them were not far-reaching.
He thus indicated that the actions of the 16 hooligans should have resulted in the investigation and attraction of the following charges, namely unlawful entry, rioting, rioting with weapons, assault, and battery, causing harm, unlawful assembly, offensive conduct conducive to breach of peace, forcible entry and allegedly carrying offensive weapons.
“The charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and rioting in our opinion are inadequate, soft-handed, and minimalistic to say the least. We acknowledge that the judge has the discretion of either imposing a custodian sentence or fine which is also a form of punishment but the action of fine imposed is not deterrent enough” he added.
By Prince Fiifi Yorke