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Ghana: MFWA’s Perspective on the President’s Encounter with the Media

Kwaku Asante
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Ghana: MFWA’s Perspective on the President’s Encounter with the Media

On Wednesday (December 19, 2018), the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, hosted journalists in Ghana at the Jubilee House, the seat of government, to respond to questions on the state of affairs in the country and the performance of his government after almost two years in office.

The event, commonly referred to as the “Presidential Media Encounter”, has become a major highlight on the calendar of the government, media and advocates of democratic governance in Ghana. Today’s event is the second held by the current President within the year and the third since he assumed office in January 2017.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) considers the engagement a crucial exercise that deepens the principles of transparency and accountability, which are key tenets in democratic governance. We, therefore, commend the President and the government for maintaining the culture of open and regular media encounters.

To help guide post-event reflections and to provide useful insights for future engagements, the MFWA presents its perspective on the media encounter. The analysis presented here assesses the overall arrangement and format of the event, quality of the questions asked, the performance of the President. The organisation also makes some recommendations for future encounters. 

Format of the Event

This year’s event is a far cry from the previous engagements the presidency has had with the media. To start with, the programme started later than scheduled. This no doubt affected the number of questions that could be asked within the scheduled time. Also, the President’s introductory address was too long (40 minutes) and largely focused on praise-singing the achievements of his government. The President, whose speech took a chunk of the time, later spent too much time overly elaborating his responses to the questions asked. This contributed to journalists having less time to ask questions.

Additionally, the President interfered in the work of the moderator (Information Minister) regarding the selection of journalists to ask questions. Even though the information minister had anticipated and promised 70 questions from journalists, the President completely overturned the outline for the question session allowing just about 15 questions.

Furthermore, the Information Minister’s strategy to pre-group journalists and their questions under specific themes proved restrictive and made it almost impossible for journalists to ask follow-up questions.

A cross-section of the media personalities at the encounter

Quality of Questions Asked

A total of 14 journalists asked about 15 questions on various issues and sectors out of an anticipated 70 questions. The number of journalists allowed to ask questions was woefully low.

The few questions that were asked have been analysed by the MFWA. Analyses of the quality of questions were based on basic principles of good questioning such as: relevance of the question; whether a question was leading; whether the question had good background and contextualisation; the clarity of the question and whether a question made references to data, facts and illustrations. Using these principles, some questions were found to be really good while others were judged to be poor.

The MFWA found the questions below to be the good questions asked:

1. “Thank you Mr President, my question relates to the number 12 video that brought Ghana Football to a standstill. I’m just wondering your core lessons from that episode and how you think going forward, the relationship between the Football Association and government should be; because if there was anything from that episode, it was just sometimes the nature of it and how it affects everybody. What for you were the core lessons from it and how you intend to build the relationship between the next football association when elections are held? …” – Michael Oti Adjei of the TV3 (Media General).

  • This question was not framed in a closed-ended way; it was relevant and current and was able to elicit a good response from the president.

2. “Mr President you have given us a very glossy picture of the economy. You said the IMF head was here recently but my knowledge of the IMF is like owners of a football club in Europe, the moment they give you the vote of confidence the next moment you are out. I want to know how this glossy picture is going to impact on the Ghanaian, because there appears to be a disconnect. We have very good figures in the books but ordinary Ghanaians are going to Christmas, most of them, complaining that there is nothing in their pocket…” – Ebo Quansah – The Chronicle Newspaper.

  • This question was relevant, purposeful, relatable and reflects the plight of many Ghanaians.
  1.  “Mr President good evening. I’m Donald from Daily Graphic. Mr President in your bid to establish a mission in Oslo, there has been some controversy I want to find out if your government has committed any resources in purchasing any building. If yes how much? And I also want to find out from you if you also agree to what the opposition is saying that there should be an independent enquiry into what they claim might have happened. Thank you sir” – Donald – Daily Graphic.
  • This question was clearly stated, open-ended, concise and current.

The MFWA found the following questions found to be weak:

1.“My name is Charle Takyi-Boadu, I write for the Daily Guide newspaper. Mine is a simple one. Mr president we know some of your major policy initiatives have come under attack from policy think tanks and the opposition political parties. Would you consider revising some of these policy initiatives including the free SHS – Charles Takyi-Boadu – Daily Guide Newspaper

  • This question was irrelevant especially because the president had hailed the free SHS policy in his opening remarks. It was a closed ended question, poorly framed and leading because it actually led the president to an easy answer.

 2. “Merry Christmas, Mr. President. Thank you, Sir. Mr. President, on the 19th of the April 2015, a delegation from the ministry of health traveled to Michigan in the United States, and they were led by the director of policy, planning, monitoring and evaluation of the ministry, Dr. Afisah Zakariah. On their return, Dr. Zakariah filed this report I have in my hand. The main purpose of this trip was to visit some facilities in Michigan and also raise and solicit support for Ghana or for Ghana’s preparedness and response to Ebola. They were hoping to galvanise support to build ten regional infectious disease centres, rebuild the central medical stores facility in Tema, replenishment of medical supplies for the distribution centre that was lost to the fire disaster, distribution of medical supplies and also familiarise themselves with some proposals and some facilities there. She..in fact Dr. Zakariah secured the buy-in of the Michigan aerospace manufacturers association and they agreed in principle to build ten regional infectious disease centres, build and replenish a central medical store for the ministry of health, provide two ambulances for each of the ten hospitals and two helicopters. Mr. President, in that report, Dr. Zakariah also indicated that the Michigan aerospace…I’m sorry if I don’t build this background my question will be very meaningless. Mr. President, my question is this, you spoke about medical drones doing supplies. I am very much aware that on the 24th of August 2017 a group from the Michigan aerospace manufacturers association met with you, I want to understand the status of this proposal and also what is the difference between the current drone agreement we have from this very one” – Bismark Brown – Atinka TV.

  • This question was focused on the linkage between the report he was making reference to and the current issue of the medical drones but lacked clarity. The background was unnecessarily long and winding.

3. “Good evening, Mr President, my name is Kojo Acheampong, I report for TV Africa, I would want you to give me your assessment on the  performance of your MPs with respect to the fisheries minister ministry. Thank you” – Kojo Acheampong – TV Africa.

  • This was the most poorly articulated question of the day. It was ambiguous and lacked focus.

President’s Performance

Overall, the President was composed and demonstrated knowledge on many of the issues around which the questions were raised. In cases where the President did not have an idea or could not respond to a question, he demonstrated forthrightness. In some other cases, he invited his sector ministers to provide the appropriate responses to the questions raised. For example, in the case of the alleged arson attack at the Tema Central Medical Stores, he made it clear that he did not know the status of the investigation and called on the Minister of health to respond to the question.

This notwithstanding, one low point of the President’s performance was his comparison of his government’s medical drone deal to that of the SADA Guinea fowl issue under the erstwhile Mahama government which was petty and unnecessary.

Again, instead of the President answering the question regarding the current Oslo issue, the president deferred to the sector minister saying “the foreign minister will not allow me to answer the question”. Given that the minister had been all over responding to the question throughout the week, the question presented a perfect opportunity for the nation to hear othe President on the matter.

The worst moment in the president’s performance was his attempt to discount and discredit important national issues raised by Think-tanks in the country. The President’s comments seem to devalue the work of Think-tanks especially their critique of his government’s free SHS policy. The President also at some point came across as overly defensive, impatient and in a hurry.

Again, he spent a solid 40 minutes reading a long speech obviously hailing himself and his government. His responses to some of the questions asked by journalists were also overly elaborative. For instance, he spent about 20 minutes responding to the first set of six questions asked.

Other critical issues that were missed

The delay in the passage of the right to information bill despite government’s failed promises and deadlines

Challenges in the Health sector

-Abandoned health facilities – Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) Compounds and hospitals– in the country

-The ‘no bed syndrome’ issues in the hospitals

Alleged corruption scandals under the current administration

Recommendations

In future encounters, the President should limit the time of his address to allow for more questions from the media.

The presidency must consciously allow more time for such media encounters in the interest of transparency and accountability.

Moderators of such encounters must deliberately ensure gender-balance in the selection of journalists during questioning session.

Journalists should adequately prepare and ask questions that have been well researched with proper background and context.

ECOWAS Moves to Improve Digital Accessibility in West Africa

Kwaku Asante
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ECOWAS Moves to Improve Digital Accessibility in West Africa

Abuja, 15th December, 2018–The Commission of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has called for Member States to ensure digital accessibility for all Community citizens with emphasis on Persons with Disabilities (PwD).

This was the outcome of a two-day validation workshop on regional Information and Communications Technology (ICT) accessibility policy.

In his remarks on behalf of the Commissioner for Telecoms and Information Technology, the Acting Director of Digital Economy and Post, Dr. Raphael Koffi stated that the region is making giant strides in the right direction as governments around the world are exploring and implementing various approaches to ensure universal access to digital information, particularly for PwD.

He noted that the accessibility of ICT to community citizens will play a crucial role in the achievement of the Commissions’ Vision 2020 which will move ECOWAS from a community of States to an ECOWAS of people with integration being a fundamental block to improving the socio-economic development of the region.

To this end, the delegates validated the ECOWAS ICT accessibility policy and strategy and reaffirmed their commitment towards its full implementation when approved by Ministers in charge of ICT in the region.

The workshop was organized with the technical support of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Regional Office for Africa.

 

Source: ECOWAS Commission

MFWA, 15 Press Freedom Partners Petition President Buhari over Killing of Four Journalists in 2017

Kwaku Asante
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MFWA, 15 Press Freedom Partners Petition President Buhari over Killing of Four Journalists in 2017

The Media Foundation for West Africa and its 15 Press Freedom Partners across West Africa have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over the killings of four journalists in separate incidents that occurred in Nigeria in 2017.

The four Nigerian journalists, Famous Giobaro, Lawrence Okojie, Ikechukwu Onubogu and Abdul Ganiyu Lawal, were all shot dead by unknown gunmen in the course of last year.

Giobaro was a desk editor with the state-owned Glory FM 97.1 in Bayelsa State, Okojie, worked with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) in Edo State, Onubogu was a cameraman with Anambra Broadcasting Services (ABS) and Lawal was a freelance broadcast journalist in Ekiti State.

The petition, dated December 3, asked President Buhari to use his office to ensure the killings of the journalists in 2017 are resolved as impunity surrounding these killings tarnish the reputation of Nigeria as a democratic state and as safe place for journalists.

“The killings also call into question your government’s commitment to protecting press freedom in line with the UN Plan of Action for the safety of Journalists,” the petition read.

The petitioners urged the President to take urgent measures to ensure that the attacks against journalists are investigated and the perpetrators are brought to book.

Read full petition here.

Two Dead as Government Continues Bloody Repression of Street Protests

Kwaku Asante
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Two Dead as Government Continues Bloody Repression of Street Protests

The government in Togo has brutally enforced its ban on opposition demonstrations with a crackdown that has left at least two people dead.

After failing to convince the government to postpone legislative elections due on December 20, 2018, the opposition coalition organised its supporters for street protests in some of the major cities of the country on December 8, 2018. The coalition of 14 Togolese opposition parties maintain the necessary electoral reforms have not been adequately carried out.

The government, which announced a ban on all political demonstrations on December 5, 2018, responded to the defiance of the opposition with a heavy hand, as security forces used water cannons, tear gas, truncheons and live ammunition to disperse the thousands of demonstrators in Lome, Sokode, Bafilo in the central region, and Mango in the extreme north of the country.

The government confirmed on state television in the evening of December 8 that two people died in the demonstrations. Four policemen were also injured and 28 people arrested, according to the authorities.

The latest fatalities bring to eight the number of demonstrators killed in the crackdown on opposition demonstrations since 2017 when the opposition coalition began a series of street protests to demand political reforms.

Two people died on August 19, 2017, the first day of the serial protests. Four other protesters died on October 18 in another violent repression of the protests against the Gnassingbe dynasty which has ruled Togo for 50 years. President Faure Gnassingbe is in his 13th year in power, having taken over from his late father who had ruled for 38 years.

The MFWA condemns the killings and call on the government of Togo to call the security forces to order. We also appeal to both sides of the Togolese political divide to continue to dialogue in good faith to end the stalemate.

French Court Approves Extradition of Suspect as Burkinabe Media Commemorate 20th Anniversary of Killing of Norbert Zongo

Kwaku Asante
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French Court Approves Extradition of Suspect as Burkinabe Media Commemorate 20th Anniversary of Killing of Norbert Zongo

Today, December 13, 2018, marks exactly 20 years since Burkinabe journalist, Norbert Zongo was killed, and in what has been welcomed as a major step forward in the long struggle to secure justice for the slain journalist, a court in France Courts has authorised the extradition to Burkina Faso of the prime suspect to face trial.

The approval for the extradition of Francois Compaore, brother of former President Blaise Compaore, was given on December 5, 2018.

The ace investigative journalist was killed while he was out on the field investigating the circumstances surrounding the death in detention of Francois Compaore’s driver. His death sparked a wave of protests by the media and civil society groups demanding justice and denouncing the culture of impunity under the Compaore regime. The mass civil society mobilisation eventually led to a popular revolt in 2014 that ended Compaore’s 27-year dictatorship.

It will be recalled that the post-Compaore government in Burkina Faso issued an international arrest warrant against François Compaoré following investigations that reportedly linked him to the killing of journalist Zongo.

François Compaoré was arrested in October 2017 when he got off the plane at the Paris Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport in France. The Burkinabe authorities’ efforts to get him extradited met with the refusal of France whose laws forbid extradition of suspects to countries where they could face the death penalty.

Following assurances from the Burkinabe authorities that the country is far advanced in its efforts to scrap the death penalty, the extradition was approved.

This is an important step in the search for justice and the fight against crimes committed against journalists, which in most cases go unpunished.

This important court decision sends an unequivocal message and encouragement to human rights defenders and the press freedom activists. It represents a hope of justice for the relatives and families affected by these crimes.

“We heaved a sigh of relief,” says Robert Zongo, the murdered journalist’s brother.

This sigh of relief could not have come at a better time than on the 20th anniversary of Zongo’s killing. With this momentous decision, the sombre nature of the annual commemoration of this important date on the Burkinabe media calendar will hopefully give way to a more enthusiastic mood this time round.

MFWA welcomes the extradition approval and urge the French authorities to take steps to get Francois Compaore sent back to Burkina Faso to face trial. We wish the media fraternity in Burkina Faso a successful 20thanniversary commemoration of Norbert Zongo’s killing.

Journalist Assaulted, Forced to Drink Urine

Kwaku Asante
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Journalist Assaulted, Forced to Drink Urine

A Malian soldier and Secretary-General of the country’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (CVJR) has physically assaulted and forced a journalist to drink urine over the latter’s Facebook article questioning the impact of the Commission’s work.

Hamidou Toure El Hadji, the Managing Editor of the online news organisation, malimedias.com, was on November 29, 2018 summoned by Colonel Abdoulaye Makalou, the Secretary-General of the CVJR to his office.

Suspecting foul play, El Hadji Toure requested to meet the officer in an open place instead of his office. The journalist’s car however broke down mid-way on his trip to meet the Colonel. As Toure waited for the car to be fixed, the Colonel arrived and took him away to his office, together with a cousin who was accompanying him for security reasons.

According to media reports, the journalist was forced to drink his own urine after being pummeled to a pulp by the soldier’s bodyguards. Toure’s companion was also beaten in a separate room. Colonel Abdoulaye Makalou reportedly threatened Toure with death if he dared report his ordeal to anyone.

“Before releasing me, the Colonel threatened me with death if I spoke about what had happened to anyone,” Toure told local media.

Meanwhile, the journalist has lodged a complaint against the Colonel with the Gendarmerie, the military unit to which Colonel Makalou belongs.

The MFWA condemns this vicious attack on the journalist for merely exercising his civic right to raise issues about the work of a public Commission. We call on the Gendarmerie in Mali to sanction Colonel Makalou. We also urge the victims to lodge a formal complaint with the police.

MFWA Calls for Protection of Journalists Working in Online Spaces

Kwaku Asante
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MFWA Calls for Protection of Journalists Working in Online Spaces

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has called on governments in Africa to protect journalists who work online alongside those who work offline within the broader effort to promote the safety of journalists.

The MFWA made the call during the Interregional Forum on Strengthening National Monitoring and Reporting Mechanisms on Safety of Journalists in Africa which was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on November 26-27, 2018.

“Online journalism has become an important component of the media industry with peculiar challenges regarding the safety and security of the journalists working in that space. These challenges include trolling, hacking of accounts and stalking of journalists,” Muheeb Saeed, MFWA’s Programme Officer for Freedom of Expression, observed.

“It is important that mechanisms for the protection of journalists take into account the technical nature of the threats online so as to incorporate cyber security expertise to help investigate and prosecute crimes against journalists online,” Saeed added.

The National Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism for the Safety of Journalists is a multi-stakeholder approach to the prevention and punishment of attacks on journalists, and for their protection in the face of threats. It involves the development and implementation of nationally-owned protection mechanisms for preventing and penalising attacks against journalists.

Another key function of the Mechanism is the monitoring and reporting of violations in line with the UN Plan of Action for the safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.

Held under the aegis of UNESCO, the Forum was attended by delegates from about 40 countries in Africa drawn from regulatory bodies, security services, civil society organisations and senior government officials.

The Forum reviewed the progress made by the various African countries since the adoption of the Addis Ababa Resolution on the Creation of an AU Working group on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity on November 15, 2017.

The MFWA underlined the need to adopt the right approach to tackling the peculiar emerging threats to online journalists and bloggers, particularly, women.

The Forum also agreed to establish an African framework for monitoring attacks against journalists and issuing an annual Africa Press Freedom Index based on monitoring reports submitted by the National Mechanisms of the various countries. This, they agreed, would help eliminate reservations about press freedom reports issued by external organisations.

The MFWA delegation also included Vivian Affoah, Senior Programme Officer for Freedom of Expression, and Felicia Fauzia Anthonio, Programme Associate in Charge of the Africa Freedom of expression Exchange (AFEX).

Demonstrations Increasingly Becoming a Risky Form of Expressing Dissent in West Africa

Kwaku Asante
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Demonstrations Increasingly Becoming a Risky Form of Expressing Dissent in West Africa

In what confirms a culture of intolerance for demonstrations, security forces continue to unleash mayhem on demonstrators, with a total of 32 citizens and activists assaulted or detained during the third quarter of the MFWA’s monitoring of freedom of expression rights in West Africa.

The Media Foundation for West Africa’s monitoring of the freedom of expression landscape in July-September 2018 recorded 35 violations against a total of 63 identifiable victims including journalists and media houses.

Two demonstrators were killed in Guinea while others were sentenced in Niger. Civil society activists embarking on demonstrations were arrested in Sierra Leone and Togo.

The incidents follow similar trends in the region where 22 demonstrators have been killed and several others injured, arrested and detained over the past two years.

The attacks on peaceful demonstrators, some fatal, are in breach of the fundamental human rights to free expression including peaceful assembly and demonstrations. These rights are enshrined in the national constitutions of all the countries concerned as well as various international human rights protocols, thus calling into question the commitment of the governments to these legal instruments.

Details of these violations and others can be found in the July-September 2018 edition of MFWA’s West Africa Freedom of Expression Monitor.

Read the full report here.

Demonstrations Increasingly Becoming a Risky Form of Expressing Dissent in West Africa

Kwaku Asante
-
0
Demonstrations Increasingly Becoming a Risky Form of Expressing Dissent in West Africa

In what confirms a culture of intolerance for demonstrations, security forces continue to unleash mayhem on demonstrators, with a total of 32 citizens and activists assaulted or detained during the third quarter of the MFWA’s monitoring of freedom of expression rights in West Africa.

The Media Foundation for West Africa’s monitoring of the freedom of expression landscape in July-September 2018 recorded 35 violations against a total of 63 identifiable victims including journalists and media houses.

Two demonstrators were killed in Guinea while others were sentenced in Niger. Civil society activists embarking on demonstrations were arrested in Sierra Leone and Togo.

The incidents follow similar trends in West Africa Freedom that have seen 22 demonstrators killed and several others injured, arrested and detained over the past two years.

The attacks on peaceful demonstrators, some fatal, are in breach of the fundamental human rights to free expression including peaceful assembly and demonstrations. These rights are enshrined in the national constitutions of all the countries concerned as well as various international human rights protocols, thus calling into question the commitment of the these governments of these legal instruments.

Details of these violations and others can be found in the July-September 2018 edition of MFWA’s West Africa Freedom of Expression Monitor.

Read the full report here.

Security Forces Violently Attack Demonstrators

Kwaku Asante
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Security Forces Violently Attack Demonstrators

Security forces in Mali have violently dispersed and attacked a group of opposition party supporters who were demonstrating in the capital, Bamako.

The opposition organised the march on November 16, 2018 to protest against what they considered as poor governance, high cost of living and the planned extension of the mandate of the deputies to the National Assembly. The governor of Bamako had, however, banned the demonstration over security concerns.

“The country is going through a fragile situation,” read a release issued by the governor ahead of the march.

No sooner had the thousands of people gathered at Bourse de Travail, the venue of the demonstration, than the security forces pounced on them, firing tear gas. The violent intervention saw several demonstrators injured, including a member of parliament, Amadou Araba Doumbia.

“To demonstrate in Mali, we do not need permission, but just to inform the authorities to supervise the event,” a statement by the participating opposition parties said.

The statement signed by Soumaila Cise, the leader of the main opposition party, also condemned the violent repression by the police.

“We condemn with the last energy the barbaric repression planned by the highest officials of the regime,” the statement added.

The MFWA also condemns the prohibition of the march as a violation of a fundamental right conferred by the constitution of Mali and the many regional and international protocols the country has ratified on civil and political rights.

The MFWA appeals to Mali’s authorities to desist from using insubstantial excuses to curtail the enjoyment of the rights to peaceful demonstrations and from unleashing violence on demonstrators.

How Citizens, Media Action Prompted Dramatic Service Delivery by Government

Kwaku Asante
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How Citizens, Media Action Prompted Dramatic Service Delivery by Government

By Sulemana Braimah

In a space of 10 months – January to October 2018 – dozens of people had been killed and over a 100 others injured by speeding vehicles on a seven-kilometre highway within the Ghanaian capital, Accra. People living within the stretch of the highway say 195 pedestrians had been hit and killed by motorists within the 10-month period. This translates into almost 20 deaths per month on that short stretch of road.

The Ghana police disputes the casualty figures put out by the citizens. The police say in their records there had been 24 deaths and 166 injuries instead.  But even if the figures by the police were to be the accurate one, that translates into an average of over two deaths and 16 injuries each month.

The cause of the carnage on the seven-kilometre highway was, in summary, that: literally nothing was in place to improve pedestrian safety on the highway – no road markings for pedestrian crossing, traffic signal lights had been out of use for months and street lights on the highway had been off for months.

Above all, six separate pedestrian foot bridges that were to be constructed at different spots to aid pedestrians to safely cross the multiple-lane highway had all been left undone or abandoned midway into construction.

One of the abandoned footbridges on the highway

Citizens living in communities along the highway, especially those living in the densely-populated suburbs of Madina and Adenta, kept complaining and making demands for the authorities to fix the problem. Local media actively campaigned and highlighted the problem on daily basis. The campaigns got government officials to always respond. But the response from officials had been more of complaints to justify why the government could not be blamed for the problem and the carnage.

“Funds are not readily available to pay contractors to fix the problem. The previous government left the economy in a mess, the previous government failed to pay the contractors to complete the project properly, government is working hard to fix the problem soon, plans are far advanced to fix the problem,” officials of the 22-month old Ghanaian government kept complaining while lives were still being lost and limbs being broken on daily basis.

The same government had, meanwhile, had the resources to finance and sustain an expensive executive bureaucratic structure of 110 ministers with quite a number of them manning duplicative ministries, and over 900 presidential staffers.

The back-and-forth complaints between citizens and government continued and so was the killings and maiming on the highway. But all was to come to an end on Thursday November 8 when there was another casualty. At about 4PM local time on this day, a first-year female high school student was hit and killed instantly by a taxi cab. She was the sixth student of the West Africa Secondary School, which is by the highway, to have been killed within the ten-month period.

The death of the student prompted residents along the highway to move beyond complaining and go into action to insist on their right to access public goods and services and the government’s responsibility to deliver those services. In what was clearly a spontaneous action, community members massed up on the highway and completely blocked it. The result was massive vehicular traffic at a rush hour.

The demand of the citizenry was brief: the problems with the road that have caused the casualties must be fixed immediately. Expectedly, the police moved in with loud sirens, well-built men fully dressed and armed with varied riot control weapons. But the anger of the people appeared more powerful and fearful than any of the varied riot control weapons the police could deploy.

After hours of stand-off between the police and the angry citizens, the road was finally cleared but not until the citizens had sent a strong signal of what they could do should the problem not be fixed immediately.

When the citizens finally decided to move beyond words in asserting their fundamental right to access public goods and services, the government was compelled to do same – to act and not complain.  The government suddenly ceased complaining about lack of resources and moved into action.

On the same day, November 8, a high level Inter-Ministerial Committee made of the ministries of roads, transport and interior was constituted by the government.  On the night of the same day, the inter-ministerial committee issued a statement announcing that work on the highway “is to be done on an accelerated basis with multiple contractors to ensure quick completion.”

The statement, which was jointly signed by the ministers for roads and interior, further announced that:

“Personnel of the Motor Transport and Traffic Department of the Ghana Police Service have been deployed to enforce the relevant road traffic regulations on speeding limits, jaywalking and pedestrian crossing. Traffic signal lights and street lighting would be fixed to improve visibility on the corridor.”

By the next day, November 9, the road traffic signal lights that had been non-functional for months had been fixed. The non-functioning street lights were back on to light-up the highway, and police had been deployed to ensure compliance with traffic regulations.

The highway beaming with streetlights a day after the demonstration

At the same time, six different contractors were suddenly engaged by the government to fix the six abandoned pedestrian footbridges.

“Each contractor will tackle one footbridge because time is of the essence now,” the Minister for Roads, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, announced.

But on November 7 – a day before the death of the student and the citizens’ action – the roads minister had said on public radio that he did not have much information on the crisis on the highway. He could not also confirm when he expected the footbridges to be fixed. This was despite months of public agitations and media campaigns about the situation.

Also, senior official at the Ghana Highway Authority, the body in charge of highways, had, on November 5, indicated that the footbridges were actually going to be completed by the end of 2019.

This development certainly affirms the need for citizens to be empowered to always assert their right to access public goods and services while demanding accountability from duty-bearers. If the affected citizens had continued with their complaints, the government would have still been complaining with excuses. Indeed, power belongs to the people!

Journalist’s Accreditation Revoked upon Complaint by Minister

Kwaku Asante
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Journalist’s Accreditation Revoked upon Complaint by Minister

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has learned with disappointment the revocation of the accreditation of Radio France Internationale’s (RFI) Guinea correspondent, Mouctar Bah.

The decision taken by the media regulatory body, Haute Autorité de la Communication (HAC), on November 14, 2018 followed Bah’s report on a recent crackdown on the demonstrations by security forces that resulted in the killing of two demonstrators and a police officer.

According to our correspondent in Guinea, Mouctar was summoned on November 12 to Haute Autorite de la Communication( HAC) following a complaint lodged against him by the Minister of Information and Communication, Amara Somparé. He is accused of having made an unbalanced coverage of the demonstrations, especially about the deaths recorded on 7th and 8th November, 2018.

According to a statement issued by the HAC on November 14, 2018, the journalist was ordered to provide an opportunity to the Ministry of Defense to make a rejoinder to the story before adding that Bah’s accreditation to report in the country has been revoked following his inability to justify his report.

“No application for a new accreditation can be considered before the end of February 2019,” the statement concluded.

However, the management of RFI have contested the decision and rejected the HAC’s account of the incident. In a statement, the management said that Bah sought unsuccessfully to reach the authorities for their version of the incidents, adding that their journalist never failed to justify his story.

The MFWA finds the sanction of the HAC unjustified, and considers it rather as an attempt to censor reportage on the increasing fatalities from the recent wave of demonstrations in the country. The HAC’s decision to close the door to a fresh application for accreditation until the end of February is a denial of the right of appeal. MFWA urges the HAC to stand by the media rather than help mussel it.

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