Six members of the Northern Regional Election Monitoring Task Force arrested and detained briefly, a radio journalist, Issah Murtala Kpambe, after violently assaulting him at a polling station in the Tamale Central Constituency.

Kpambe, a correspondent of the state-owned Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) was detained at the regional office of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for about thirty minutes. He was released on a self recognisance bail upon the intervention of Chief Inspector Ebenezer Tetteh, the regional police public relations officer. He was to reappear on December 31.

Kpambe told Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) that he met his ordeal at Sankpagla Polling station when he filmed a scuffle between the election taskforce made up of armed police officers and military personnel and some well built men at the constituency.

“I brought out my digital camera and started filming, in less than a minute, one of the police officers grabbed my trousers and hit me on the neck, immediately all their attention was on me. Four police officers and two military officers jumped on me and started kicking and pounding my chest.” Kpambe narrated.

As if that was not enough the officers stripped Kpambe naked and tore his shirt. His digital camera was damaged and also confiscated. Even when it became clear that he was a journalist, the attack continued unabated.

“I was held like a criminal to the northern regional police headquarters, and then I was told I was under arrest, but no one told me what my offence was,” he emphasised.

Confirming the incident to MFWA, Chief Inspector Tetteh, the regional police PRO said they were investigating the incident and that they would soon make public their findings and recommendations.

MFWA once again condemned this high-handedness of the security agencies in the country. Such attacks undermine the rights of journalists and constitute a threat to freedom of expression as guaranteed in the 1992 Constitution of the country.

MFWA called on the Inspector General of the Police and the Minister of Interior to ensure that journalists pursue their legitimate duties without fear or intimidation.

Prince William Baffour, a journalist of Yankee Radio, a community-based station in the Jaman North District of the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana went into hiding after a magistrate’s court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Baffour had on December 2 been detained for several hours by the police and charged with “publishing information with the intention to cause fear or harm to the public or to disturb the public peace”, under Section 208 of the country’s Criminal Code of 1960.

The charge followed the broadcast of an interview he had of a Ghanaian citizen who was said to have fled the ongoing Ivorian crisis. The man alleged on the station that police were extorting monies from some stranded Ghanaians in Cote d’Ivoire. The interview was relayed on an Accra-based Adom FM radio station.
He was released on bail to reappear on December 9.

Baffour’s lawyer Nana Obiri Boahen , challenging the charge against his client told Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) that despite filing a motion at the court to set aside the arrest warrant, the client is not safe and had to flee to avoid being detained by the police.

Baffour was reportedly detained in the morning of December 2 after he was invited to the premises of the Jaman North District Assembly. He was arrested, handcuffed and processed to the Drobo magistrate court about 50km from Jaman South.

On December 15, Isaac Sarpong, general manager of the Yankee Radio was manhandled by police officers of the station who stormed the station to prevent the station from rebroadcasting the said interview which the police claimed was creating fear and panic in the country.
Sarpong was slapped several times and left with torn clothes.