A Minister of State at the Jubilee House, Catherine Afeku, has come under fire as photojournalists in her home region declare a total boycott of programmes organised by her office.
The group in the Western Region – the Concerned Photojournalists Group – claimed that their decision is in protest against the manhandling of a Metro TV Cameraman, Alhaji Mustapha Ashley, bodyguard of Mrs Afeku– who doubles as MP for Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira.
The group says they are unhappy that their colleague’s recordings were deleted at the premises of an Axim Court on July 10, 2020, during a defamation suit the MP was pursuing.
They thus want the MP to distance herself from the conduct of her bodyguard, cause his arrest and also apologize.
Detailing the turn of events on that fateful day, Convener of the Concerned Photojournalists’ group, Charles Agyir said: “Before the commencement of the court proceedings, the Metro TV Cameraman, Alhaji Mustapha Gilbert Ashaley was taking video footages (cutaways) outside the court premises to support his story since recordings or picture/video in the courtroom is not allowed. This was after he had sought permission from the court clerk.”
He continued: “Without any provocation, the said bodyguard identified as (Appiah) who arrived in the company of the MP and Minister of State, Mrs Catherine Afeku and the husband, Seth Afeku, and the Municipal Chief Executive, Frank Okpenyen, upon seeing the cameraman outside the court premises videoing the entrance of the court, rushed to the cameraman, interrupted him and ordered him to hand over the Metro TV branded video camera to him. The refusal of Alhaji Mustapha Gilbert Ashaley to hand over his official camera to the bodyguard resulted in a fierce confrontation and heckling, which attracted the intervention of a policeman.”
“Another senior officer who was at the scene asked the cameraman to hand over the camera under duress to the junior police officer which he did. However, surprisingly, the Member of Parliament for Evalue-Jomoro Gwira Constituency and Minister of State and MCE looked on unconcerned and gracefully walked to take their positions in the courtroom. It was interesting to note that, after the camera was handed back to the Metro TV Cameraman after the court proceedings, all visuals on the camera had been deleted under the supervision of officers of the Ghana Police Service.”
Following this, the Concerned Photojournalists say they won’t attend any of the programmes organised by Afeku until she apologizes.
“We would resist any attempt by Catherine Afeku to use her office to suppress media freedom. Therefore, we would stand firmly together with our colleague until the right thing is done. Again, we are declaring a total boycott of all programs of Catherine Afeku, the Nzema East Municipal Assembly, until the MP Catherine Afeku, and the MCE for Nzema East Frank Okpenyen distance themselves from the bad conduct of the bodyguard who appears to have gained notoriety in pummeling people. We would also like to throw our weight behind the Ghana Journalists Association (Western-GJA) for the call made for the immediate arrest of the bodyguard of the Member of Parliament for Evalue-Jomoro Gwira Constituency and Minister State at the Presidency for assaulting the Cameraman and deleting his video footages from his camera.”
The Concerned Photojournalists of the Western Region also challenged the Western Regional Police Command to conduct an independent investigation to bring to book the police officer and the bodyguard.
“We, therefore, view this as a clear human rights abuse and would like to condemn this unwarranted attack on Alhaji Mustapha Gilbert Ashaley while he was on duty, which is an affront to press freedom. We want to remind the police and the Minister of State that we are in a democratic era, governed by the rule of law, and therefore the era of tyrannical conduct belongs to the past. We are shocked that after the recent adaptation of a framework on Police Media Relations and safety of Journalists in the country, Axim Police supervised the bizarre seizure and deletion of the reporter’s professional work. That obviously could not be anything less than an attack on press freedom. The reason why we are rallying support for our colleague to secure justice is because, journalists continue to face challenges such as physical attacks and threats in the discharge of their duties and if we don’t stand together, any of us could become victims of such political attacks.”
“We are reminding the Western Regional Police Command of our decades of good working relationship with them, and all security agencies. They should therefore not allow their men to be used by Catherine Afeku and the political class to undermine press freedom or curtail the freedom of the public unduly. We know that the cameraman, Alhaji Mustapha Gilbert Ashaley with many years of experience, followed due process in the court reporting protocols when it comes to court reporting even to the extent of seeking clearance. We once again wish to call on the Regional Commander to investigate the said senior officer why he ordered the reporter to hand his camera over to the junior officer. We also want to know who deleted the video footages from the Metro TV Camera and why?”
Meanwhile, the MP has told Accra-based Citi FM that: It’s [My response] being prepared by the police you will get a copy soon.”
Source: Daily Mail GH
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