The Guinean media have in the past two weeks suffered series of attacks for covering and reporting on rallies held by the ruling party, the People’s Rally of Guinea (RPG).

Supporters of the RPG and soldiers <http://www.mediafound.org/?p=4469> attached to President Alpha Condé’s security detail, have reportedly, attacked a number of journalists and ransacked a radio station, Bate FM, for covering the President’s rallies.

David Tchopn Bangoura, a reporter of privately-owned radio station, Lynx FM, is the latest journalist to suffer harassment at the hands of angry RPG supporters.

According to the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s monitor, on August 24, 2013, the angry supporters accosted Bangoura and threatened to lynch him for covering the day’s rally without authorization from the RPG.

“They then handed him over to the gendarmes, who detained him for almost six (6) hours,” the monitor added.

“They insulted me and called me a dog in the pay of the opposition. Some of them nearly lynched me. It is a public rally and there is no indication that journalists are prohibited from covering this event,” Bangoura told the monitor.

The MFWA condemns the silence of the leadership of the RPG particularly of President Condé, to address these attacks and call their supporters to order.

As Guineans await the parliamentary elections scheduled for September 24, 2013, we urge the government to appreciate the critical role of the media in promoting and ensuring a peaceful election.

We regret the many violent clashes between the security and opposition groups in the build up to the election and plead with His Excellency to safeguard freedom of expression as well as the media’s rights.

The MFWA also intensifies its call on civil society groups, the media regulatory body and journalists associations and groups to stand up in solidarity and petition the ruling party and the Presidency to redress the recent spate of attacks and allow for the media’s coverage of their activities.

For more information please contact:

Kwame Karikari (Prof)

Executive Director

MFWA

Accra

Tel: 233-0302-24 24 70

Fax: 233-0302-22 10 84
Follow us on Twitter @mfwaalerts    https://twitter.com/MFWAALERTS

Visit our Facebook page                     Media Foundation for West Africa

Four days after attacking and closing down a radio station for covering a presidential rally, soldiers belonging to the security detail of President Alpha Conde, have attacked and brutalized a number of journalists belonging to privately-owned media organizations.

This recent assault occurred during President Conde’s visit to Labe, a village about 450 kilometres north of Conakry, the capital, on August 20, 2013. The President’s visit is part of the ruling party’s (People’s Rally of Guinea) campaign tour towards the upcoming parliamentary elections on September 24, 2013.

According to the MFWA’s monitor, the angry soldiers who were heavily armed, charged at the journalists and beat up any one who tried to cover or report on the President’s tour.

A reporter from the privately-owned Espace Television, Abdourahmane Diallo, was severely beaten and his camera seized by the soldiers.

“The red berets threw us out. They told us that we journalists are crooks and that what happened at Kankan shows that journalists are dangerous,” narrated Ousmane Bah, one of the journalists.

The MFWA is saddened by this incident which is a clear abuse of power and authority in a country where press freedom, has for many years, been rated ‘not free’ by various international and regional press freedom indexes.

We once again call on the leadership of the RPG particularly President Conde, to urgently and publicly rebuke his security, as a personal commitment to press freedom and ongoing peace initiatives in the country.

State-perpetrated attacks against opposition demonstrations and the Guinean media are on the increase and in only this year hundreds of citizens and journalists have been harassed and violently attacked causing injuries to many while others are reported dead.

The MFWA urges your government to improve these ever-deteriorating conditions and safeguard the rights and safety of journalists as enshrined in the Constitution of Guinea.

For more information please contact:
Sulemana Braimah
Executive Director
MFWA
Accra
Tel: 233-0302-24 24 70
Fax: 233-0302-22 10 84

Follow us on Twitter @mfwaalerts             https://twitter.com/MFWAALERTS

Visit our Facebook page                               Media Foundation for West Africa

Armed soldiers believed to be part of the presidential security of President Alpha Condé, President of the Republic of Guinea, stormed the premises of privately-owned radio station, Bate FM, following a live coverage of a political rally organised by the ruling party, People’s Rally of Guinea (RPG).

Bate FM is located in Kankan, a town 700 kilometres north of Conakry, the capital.

The soldiers forcibly entered the studios, manhandled and threw out the journalists before closing down the radio station. Subsequently, Sorel Mady and Moro Sidibe, host and producer respectively were arrested and grilled by the local police.

The MFWA monitor in the country reported that on August 16, 2013, the angry soldiers besieged the radio station after a campaign tour by President Condé was marred by boos from the inhabitants of Kankan.

“Though the soldiers were aware of Bate FM’s live broadcast, they accused the station of deliberately airing the instance where the crowd hooted at the President,” the monitor said.

Meanwhile, two days after the soldiers stormed Bate FM, supporters of the ruling RPG based in Kankan took a cue from the soldiers’ attack and also attacked the radio station, vandalizing equipment and properties.

Equipment worth thousands of dollars including microphones, console, antennae, and voice recorders were destroyed and taken away by the supporters, the monitor reported.

The director of the radio station, Moussa Diawara, has fled the country to neighbouring Mali following threats to his life while the radio station has since been off air.

The MFWA is worried at this barbaric behaviour of the soldiers and the RPG supporters. We call on the Presidency, leadership of the RPG, and the Head of Police to publicly rebuke the culprits and act swiftly to ensure the equipment are returned to the radio station.

Realising the growing impunity and attacks on the media by security officers and supporters of political parties, the MFWA opines that the media profession is guaranteed by law, therefore, no individual or group has the right to interfere or adversely affect the physical integrity of journalists.

For more information please contact:
Sulemana Braimah
Executive Director
MFWA
Accra
Tel: 233-0302-24 24 70
Fax: 233-0302-22 10 84

Follow us on Twitter @mfwaalerts             https://twitter.com/MFWAALERTS

Visit our Facebook page                               Media Foundation for West Africa

A Fast Track High Court in the capital, Accra, on July 31, 2013, fined two newspapers an amount of 180,000 Ghana Cedis (about USD 86,282) as costs of damages for publishing libelous information against Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah, a Member of Parliament.

The Court presided over by Justice Uuter Paul Dery found the two newspapers, the State-owned Daily Graphic and privately-owned The Democrat, guilty of the offence and fined them accordingly.

Reporting the ruling in their August 1, 2013 publication, the Accra-based Daily Guide newspaper, said Mr. Baidoe-Ansah sued the Daily Graphic over its April 20, 2009 publication headlined “Last minute agreement halts destination inspection duties.” In the said story, the Daily Graphic suggested that the former minister had signed a document on December 28, 2008, extending the contract of Destination Inspection Companies (DICs), for another year.

The DICs were then working on behalf of the country’s Custom’s Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) as the organization in charge of classification and valuation. The Daily Graphic reported that the move by the former minister would have prevented CEPS from raking in profits for the national coffers.

In the case of The Democrat, Mr. Baidoe-Ansah accused the newspaper of carrying the same story under a caption “Joe Baidoe-Ansah Caused This Mess.”

Four years ago (May 6, 2009), the MFWA issued an alert reporting that Mr. Baidoe-Ansah, who was then a Minister of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development and President’s Special Initiative under the erstwhile President Kufour administration, had filed a suit against the two newspapers.

Until the July 31, 2013 ruling by Justice Dery, the case had been heard by three different judges.

In his ruling, Justice Dery said inasmuch as media houses had the right and freedom to publish information for public consumption, they should not publish stories that would defame people.

The MFWA regrets this incident and once again takes the opportunity to caution media practitioners about the need to uphold professionalism and be circumspect in the reportage. We urge the Ghana Journalists Associations (GJA) to increase sensitization of its members to abide by the standards and ethics of the profession.