The US State Department report on Ghana does not reflect the true picture of the country.
The report could be representing one of the failed states outside West Africa and not Ghana.
We are constrained to state that the report, tainted with copious untruths, could have been a reflection of a Ghana before the New Patriotic Party (NPP) assumed the political leadership of this country.
We used to regard such reports from the State Department as unalloyed, until now.
To present Ghana under the current political dispensation as one with human rights abuses, as contained in the report, is to exhibit an unbridled mendacity incompatible with the status of the US State Department.
Referencing a Ghana with a so-called serious restriction on free expression is a joke, which is sadly associated with the US State Department.
Ghana is enjoying an unbridled state of freedom of expression, a situation which is responsible for the abuse of the right by persons with access to radio and social media.
The outright hurling of unsubstantiated invectives against political office holders some ending in court, reflects the level of prevalent abuse in the country’s political ambience today.
It beats imagination therefore, when the State Department presents what befits a joke as representing Ghana today.
Demonstrations have never been stopped, the police always allowing such protests unless circumstances warrant postponements.
In spite of the violent nature of the opposition NDC, an attribute authors of the State Department report prefer to overlook, demonstrations have never been blocked with the connivance of government.
Threats of violence against journalists were recorded only during the NDC regime. It is on record that former President John Mahama remarked that when it comes to violent conduct, no party can surpass the NDC in the country. Of course, a party which metamorphosed from a junta to its current state, will continue to wear some of the dirty traits.
A party such as the NPP, which is associated with the decriminalising of the colonial relic, the Libel Law, should not be one to be so labeled.
Journalists whose conduct warranted their appearance before the courts of competent jurisdiction were arraigned as such.
Is it the position of the State Department that the freedoms should be bereft of responsibilities and good conduct?
As Prof Kwesi Aning said in reaction to the good-for- nothing report, a lot more negative stuff can be authored about the US.
The racist treatment of Blacks in the US has reached a crescendo and even after the heat generated by the murder by a white cop of George Floyd, the nonsense persists.
Come on State Department! We are no kids here and our good governance status which is in consonance with global best practices has endeared us to the comity of civilised nations to which we belong.
Ghana is neither Russia nor Somalia. The picture so presented is not representative of Ghana today. Â Do your homework well next time.