An Accra High Court dismissed a four year-old defamation suit brought against “Akosua”, a cartoonist of the privately-owned Accra-based Daily Guide newspaper.

Jointly sued were Gina Ama Blay and Western Publications Limited, editor and publishers respectively.
The suit was filed by Enoch Teye Mensah, a member of parliament and minister-designate for Employment and Social Welfare, in reaction to a cartoon published in the August 30, 2006 issue of the Daily Guide. The cartoon depicted a sheep with facial tribal marks following a man said to be the former President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor.

The cartoon came in the wake of a speech by the former president in which he was reported to have said that the MP followed him around “sheepishly” when he (the ex-president) visited the MPs constituency. Teye Mensah said the cartoon was meant to damage his reputation and make him unpopular.
However, the court presided over by Justice Ofori Atta dismissed the application on the grounds that the cartoon was meant for humour but not to ridicule plaintiff. The court awarded no costs against the plaintiff.

Emmanuel Kubi, a photographer with Daily Guide, an Accra-based privately-owned newspaper, was arrested and detained on the orders of an Accra High Court presiding judge, Justice James B. Benson.

Kubi was covering the trial of four criminals convicted of murder. The Ghana News Agency reported that Kubi was sent to a cell within the court premises and locked up together with the convicts and other criminals.

Kubi said in an interview that the criminals on realising he was a journalist, subjected him to further beating, threatened and insulted him. “One of them even put his finger into one of my eyes”, he said.

The journalist’s ordeal began after a scuffle with the prison officers escorting the prisoners. The officers claimed Kubi had no permission to photograph the convicts. He was allegedly slapped two times and beaten by the prison officers and family members of the convicts, following their unsuccessful attempt to seize his camera.

Western Publications Limited, publishers of Daily Guide newspaper, filed a complaint with the Chief Justice about the continuous harassment of its staff members on the courts’ premises.

According to Alhaji Abdul Rahman Gomda, the newspaper’s news editor, one of their photographers had also been assaulted the previous week.

Jos Garneo Cephas, a reporter with Daily Guide, a privately-owned Accra-based newspaper was reportedly assaulted at a magistrate court in Accra for photographing five military personnel standing trial for murder.

Cephas said his assailants, two security personnel and ten other persons believed to be family members of the suspects, assaulted him after unsuccessful attempt at seizing his camera.

On seeing him take the shots, his assailants rained blows on him and tore his shirt. He was saved from further attack by a lawyer who whisked him away in a taxi cab. “After my escape, I was sick for days and had to seek medical attention”. He said.

Justice Lee Adoboa, reporter of Financial Intelligence, Ekow Moses of the daily Ghanaian Voice newspapers and Ignatius Annor, reporter of Radio Gold, a pro-government FM station were on April 22, 2009 allegedly attacked by security guards of the former President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor, for photographing his private residence without permission.

The guards also destroyed the working equipment of the journalists.

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent reported that the journalists were part of a delegation from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), that went to the Ex President’s house following reports of flooding at his residence.

The correspondent said the guards at the Ex-President’s residence prevented the journalists from entering the house because his family had not been informed about the visit. The journalists converged outside the building and started taking photos and filing reports. This resulted in a scuffle between them and the security guards.

According to Annor, one of the guards seized his cellular phone on realising that he was filing a report to his radio station. He said the guard smashed the phone and his recorder.

Adoboa, also said after taking pictures of the NADMO coordinator and the family of the Ex-President, two of the security guards pounced on him, twisted his arm in an attempt to seize the camera. He said in the ensuing struggle, he gave the camera to Moses who the guard overpowered. The guard smashed the camera on the ground, stamped on it and removed the memory chip. He said they later returned the chip to him.

The Ex- President’s spokesperson, Frank Agyekum said on an Accra-based independent radio station, Joy FM, that to the best of his knowledge, the journalists were not attacked. He described the destruction of the working equipment of the journalist as “unfortunate“.

The journalists have filed a complaint at the Airport Residential area police station.

Bismark Bebli, political reporter of The Chronicle, an Accra-based independent newspaper was on January 18, 2008 attacked by irate supporters of the opposition New Patroitc Party (NPP), while covering a post-election rally at Abeka Lapaz, a suburb of Accra.

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent reported that the supporters heckled and insulted the journalist’s destroying his notebook in the process. He was rescued by, another party supporter, Augustine Mills who took Bebli to safety.

According to Bebli, the NPP supporters pounced on him as soon as they realised he was a reporter. The supporters chanted that Ghana’s President, John Evans Atta Mills was going to die because they claimed he had been sick for a long time.

“They said I was reporting for Radio Gold and that the station was responsible for the defeat of their party in the election”, the reporter told MFWA’s correspondent in a telephone interview.

Radio Gold is a pro-government radio station and was critical of the then NPP government during the December general election.

Since the Electoral Commission announced on December 30, 2008, the results of the run-off election, NPP supporters have attacked several journalists and destroyed their equipment.

On December 30, 2008, a reporter of Ghana News Agency (GNA), the state-owned wire service suffered a similar attack by the party supporters outside the electoral commission’s offices. The supporters who mistook the journalist to be working with Radio Gold attacked him and tore his notepad.

Five different crew of Metropolitan Television (Metro TV) were also attacked on separate occasions by the same party supporters and three cameras were destroyed. Several other journalists have also had their share of the attacks.

Joe Okyere, a regional correspondent of the State-owned Daily Graphic newspaper, and Philip Baidoo, a reporter of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) were on May 25, 2008 physically assaulted by security guards allegedly on the orders of Isaac Edumadze, Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Eyan-Essiam Constituency of the Central Region of Ghana.

The incident occurred at the residence of Edumadze, where Okyere and Baidoo had gone to interview the MP.

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent reported that upon recognising Okyere as a journalist from the Daily Graphic, Edumadze accused the journalist of writing “false stories” about him.

He further said that Okyere had contributed to his defeat in his party’s primaries earlier that day. The angry MP then rushed in Okyere’s direction, but was held back by Baidoo. Okyere attempted to escape, but was apprehended by Edumadze’s security guards and held in the compound for an hour.

Baidoo told Peace FM, an Accra-based local-language station, that Okyere was seriously molested by the guards. Baidoo said he was also attacked, allegedly for bringing Okyere to the MP’s house.

In an article in the Daily Graphic on May 27, Okyere claimed that the MP himself also physically assaulted him, leaving him with swellings on his body.

Meanwhile, Edumadze has denied any wrong doing, including attacking the journalist. He told Peace FM that his men arrested Okyere for intruding and sent him to the police station.

The case is currently being investigated by the Police.

Albert Dwumfour, journalist with The Independent, a privately-owned newspaper based in Accra, was on May 14, 2008, arrested and detained on the orders of Justice Gyinae of the High Court in Cape Coast; a city situated 165 km west of Accra.

According to The Independent the journalist’s wrong-doing was to have forgotten his identity card in Accra. The arrest took place in the High Court of Cape Coast where the journalist was covering a case of chieftaincy dispute with Justice Gyinae presiding.

Dwumfour was investigating the case which had been pending for two and a half years, and had the previous day interviewed Gyinae on the matter.

In the interview Dwumfour asked Gyinae if he would “still try the case since there was a petition on it” to which the Justice allegedly replied: “I don’t know, if you want to know, come to the court tomorrow”.

When Dwumfour appeared at the court the following day, Gyinae gave the order for his arrest. The reason for the arrest was the journalist’s inability to produce his ID-card.

The reporter was detained for six hours before being released on bail.

Ghana’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Joe Baidoo-Ansah on May 2, 2008 denied storming the studios of Metropolitan Television (Metro TV), an Accra-based TV station to interrupt a live-broadcast.

He told Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) on telephone that his attention was drawn to a live-broadcast from a make-shift studio at the premises of the Accra International Conference Centre, where the just-ended United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) meeting took place.

“It must be noted that the entire conference grounds had been handed over to the UNCTAD secretariat to run”, he added.

On April 24, MFWA’s correspondent reported that Baidoo-Ansah went to the studios of the Metro TV to protest the inclusion of an opposition spokesman. This, he denied saying that he went to the premises “in his capacity as President of UNCTAD 12, during a commercial break in the programme to express concern about the guests and that issues being raised, which he considered were inappropriate on a UN platform”.

Baidoo-Ansah, also a former journalist, said he left the programme to run, confident that, his advice had been taken in good faith. However, he was again informed that the discussion was still going on along the lines of internal political matters.

The Minister said, when the second programme break was announced, he again went to the studio to reiterate his concerns about the local internal political direction of the programme. “To the best of my knowledge, the cameras were off air as there was a break for an advert to run. It was only after the communication between the host, the guests and myself that I got to know that we were on air”, he explained.

He denied that his intervention was made amidst threats, insults and physical harassments, adding that even after his intervention the programme continued to its scheduled end.

Joe Baidoo Ansah, Ghana’s Minster of Trade and Industry, on April 24, 2008, interrupted a live-broadcast on Metropolitan Television (Metro TV), an Accra-based TV station, to register his displeasure about the inclusion of Nii Moi Thompson, an opposition spokesman, in the flagship programme “Good Evening Ghana”.

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) correspondent reported that the minister who was unhappy about Thompson’s comments stormed the studio amidst insult and threats, forcing a break in transmission.

Metro TV, a state/private station run a special edition of Good Evening Ghana to review the just ended United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) meeting in Accra. It was during the programme that Thompson, who had been invited in his capacity as a policy analyst, made critical comments against the government.

Ansah told JOY FM, an Accra-based independent station, that he went into the studio to protest against the politicization of otherwise a United Nation programme.

Following the Minister’s behaviour, that particular edition of the “Good Evening Ghana” was not rebroadcast the next day as has been the practice. This led to Kwesi Pratt Jnr., Editor of the Insight, accusing the Minister of Information of masterminding it. Meanwhile, both the management of the station and the minister had denied Pratt’s allegation.

Explaining the rationale behind their refusal to rebroadcast, the management said that the programme was in a bad state and rebroadcasting would tarnish the country’s reputation.

Two journalists of privately-owned Accra-based newspapers were violently attacked by armed policemen on the night of January 19, 2008.

Anas Aremeyaw Anas, an investigative journalist of the Crusading Guide, and Halifax Ansah-Addo, reporter of the Daily Guide were beaten, paraded along side suspected criminals, and detained for about twenty minutes at the Police Headquarters, before being released.

Ansah-Addo’s digital camera was smashed to the ground. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent reported that at about 2300 Hours GMT, the journalists went to a popular spot in an Accra suburb to cover a police swoop to clamp down on the activities of suspected prostitutes, when they were attacked.
The correspondent said the police swoop was a result of an investigation by Anas who had produced a video recording of the prostitution activities. It was based on this recording that police stormed the place.

Ansah-Addo, who reported the incident in the Daily Guide told the MFWA correspondent that even revealing their identities as journalists was not enough to convince the two policemen to stop maltreating them.
He said following the beating, his nose bled profusely, while Anas had a swollen face. The two journalists were made to sit on the floor with the suspects, and made to put their hands on their heads for about thirty minutes. They were later whisked away to the Police Headquarters and detained briefly.

The MFWA later learnt that it took the intervention of some senior policemen to arrange for their release. The police have since apologized to the journalists.