Media Personality and former Angel FM morning show host, Okatakyie Afrifa Mensah was yesterday evening freed after an abrupt arrest by security personnel believed to be from National Security at Achimota.
Details of the arrest are sketchy but an associate who spoke in a video on social media indicated that Okatakyie was picked up near the Kingsby Hotel at Achimota.
In the video, the yet-to-be-identified man announced the arrest of the broadcaster, who now hosts a video podcast called ‘FOR THE RECORDS’, and called for support to put pressure on the authorities to release him.
Meanwhile, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and media freedom supporters strongly condemned the arrest of Okatakyie which occurred under suspicious circumstances.
NPP General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Kodua, called the detention an assault on press freedom and democracy.
Below is the full NPP statement
NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY CONDEMNS THE UNLAWFUL ARREST OF VETERAN JOURNALIST, OKATAKYIE AFRIFA MENSAH BY NATIONAL SECURITY OPERATIVES
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) condemns the unlawful arrest and detention by operatives of the National Security, of Okatakyie Afrifa Mensah, a veteran journalist, who has been critical of the John Mahama administration.
This unlawful action by the marauding operatives of the National Security is the latest installment of the ongoing series of state-sponsored attacks on the media by the NDC government, in their desperate attempt to silence the media and curtail press freedom.
The Party condemns in no uncertain terms this state-sponsored lawlessness and commends the many well-meaning Ghanaians who spoke loudly against this shameful conduct by the National Security. We also commend the young people and the team of lawyers who stormed the National Security Secretariat this evening to see to the release of the abducted journalist.
The NPP wishes to remind President Mahama and his government that the Ghana that was bequeathed to them on January 7, 2025, was a free country. It was the bastion of democracy, underpinned not only by the existence of functioning democratic institutions but also by our unflinching commitment to upholding press freedom as enshrined in Chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution.
In line with this commitment, the country also went through the painstaking process of repealing the Criminal and Seditious Libel Law in 2001, a process that was spearheaded by the immediate past President, H.E Nana Addo Akufo-Addo, who was then the Attorney General of the Republic.
It is therefore completely repugnant and unacceptable for the John Mahama administration to be using State Security to intimidate political opponents as well as media personnel in a bid to silence all critical voices This, in fact, is an egregious affront to our democratic and constitutional tenets.
We call on the Ghana Journalist Association, the Media Foundation of West Africa, Civil Society Organizations, and all stakeholders to join us in demanding an immediate cessation of this tyranny and growing culture of state-sponsored attacks on the media.
Enough is enough.
…Signed…
JUSTIN KODUA FRIMPONG
GENERAL SECRETARY
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