By: Jeremiah Nutsugah
The Minister for Information, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has called upon Ghana’s media stakeholders not merely to discuss cases of attacks on journalists but to provide evidence and actively support police prosecutors in filing reports with the Ghana Police Service.
In his closing remarks at the 2023 Accountability Forum of the Coordinated Mechanism on Safety of Journalists on 22nd December,2023 at Alisa Hotel, he urged key players in Ghana’s media sector, including the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Private Newspapers and Online News Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG), and the National Media Commission (NMC), to provide evidence and collaborate with police prosecutors in their investigations.
“It’s not enough to just discuss reports of attacks; you have to follow through and assist in making a report to the Ghana Police Service. When they claim unawareness or lack of reported cases, we can then present evidence that a report was indeed made on a specific date,” he emphasized.
Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah encouraged journalists not to tire in their cooperation with the police during the investigation process, stressing the importance of providing evidence to facilitate the police’s work.
In response to the police service’s revelation of 28 cases of journalists being assaulted, with 17 untraceable cases, he stressed that journalists should present evidence after the initial report.
“If police prosecutors are going to court, they will be seeking to examine the evidence required to reach a determination,” he noted.
The Minister also urged police prosecutors to levy strong charges, signaling a firm stance against such actions in the Republic of Ghana.