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Zoe Outreach Embassy bars journalists

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The Zoe Outreach Embassy in Accra has barred journalists from taking photographs or recording activities within its premises.

This is contained in a public notice pasted on the church building.

The church has also barred media personnel from trespassing beyond the frontage of the church which is located at Ogbojo, in Accra.

The notice warned that persons who defied the directive do so at their own risk.

The move is believed to be in response to reported disruption of activities at the church by some aggrieved customers of EL Real Estates and Tikowrie Capital, both companies owned by the founder, Pastor Kelvin Kobiri.

The aggrieved customers, who claim their investments had been locked up at both firms, had on two different occasions stormed the church to demand money owed them. Some of the customers, who claim to have invested as much as one million cedis with EL Real Estates and Tikowrie Capital, disrupted last Sunday’s church service to demand their principal and mature investments.

According to them, their decision to invest in the companies was because they trusted Pastor Kobiri, but they have since November 2018 not been able to withdraw their dividends nor principals.

Meanwhile, the National Media Commission (NMC), and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), have condemned Zoe Outreach Embassy, a church located at Ogbodjo, near American House in Accra, for barring journalists from taking pictures or covering events on its premises.

The two organisations stressed that churches are public entities and their activities are of interest to the public and so they had no power to prevent journalists from getting information that is of interest to the public.

The condemnation by the media regulators followed a public announcement by Zoe Outreach Embassy that journalists were not allowed to take pictures, recordings or any form of coverage on its premises.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra Monday, the Chairman of the NMC, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, described the action of the church as unlawful and unacceptable.

According to him, the church has no power to bar any journalist from its premises, given the fact that its building is a public facility.

In a related development, the GJA President, Roland Affail Monney, buttressed the point that since churches operate in public places, journalists should provide the public with relevant information on their activities without any intimidation.

Mr. Monney further stressed that although Article 13 of the GJA code of ethics enjoined journalists to obtain information, videos, photographs and data by honest and straightforward means, media practitioners could still use undercover means to get information for the public good.

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