Citi FM Journalist ‘assault’: Charge culprits with attempted murder – OccupyGhana
Pressure group, OccupyGhana, believes an attempted murder charge would be appropriate for national security operatives found to have assaulted Citi FM journalists.
Even though the National Security has said it has commenced an investigation, OccupyGhana does not think they would conduct a fair probe.
The group, who condemned the alleged brutalisation in a statement, emphasised the need for a separate body other than the National Security to investigate the matter.
“We have no faith that the National Security Ministry can provide a satisfactory investigation into the damning allegations and therefore would like to advise the government to set up an independent body of inquiry into the matter,” the statement said.
It added that the persons found culpable for such “animalistic and demonic behaviour” must be made to face the full rigours of the law.
“We are appalled and disgusted, and when proven true by an independent body, we demand that the perpetrators so named be charged with nothing less than the crime of attempted murder, tried, convicted, jailed, and dismissed from the employment of the government without any benefits,” it further directed.
The statement comes shortly after the Ministry of National Security announced that it had commenced investigations into the alleged brutality.
The genesis of the problem
On May 11, 2021, personnel of the national security arrested Cit FM journalist Caleb Kudah for filming within the premises of a national security facility designated as a restricted security zone.
Following the arrest, about seven armed national security personnel in pickup trucks invaded Accra-based Citi FM premises to arrest Zoe Abu-Baidoo, a journalist with the Accra-based media organisation with whom Caleb had shared the said video.
The two were then escorted to the National Security office for interrogation, after which they were released.
However, Caleb explained that he was assaulted mercilessly by several men wielding guns while he was handcuffed.
“They seized my phone and pushed me, and I sat on the chair. They [National Security operatives] slapped me from the back. I was trying to appeal to them that they had beaten me enough, but they were just slapping me from the back. I’ll be talking to another one, and someone will just come and slap me from the back,” Caleb narrated in the aftermath of the incident.
Reactions after the alleged assault
Several Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and a section of Ghanaians have condemned the actions of the security men.
Arresting a journalist and pursuing another with seven heavily armed security officers is a classic feature of a dictatorship.
The MFWA “cannot see how the filming by a journalist of the National Security Ministry building, which is a public institution accessible to the public, can constitute a national security breach”.
“Indeed, journalists have the right to film even private property when it is the scene of the activity or is associated with an event that is of public interest to publicise”.
“Over the years, we have seen a number of incidents in which security officers have assaulted or arrested journalists for filming their operations conducted in public. This is a blatant abuse of authority and must be checked,” the MFWA added.
The development has split heads with the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA expressing different opinions.
While the GJA President, Affail Monney, has faulted the journalist for taking videos at the facility, the General Secretary of GJA, Kofi Yeboah, believes not ethics was breached because it was in the interest of the public.
“Insofar as the public/national interest was at stake (as evidenced in his narrative), he was firmly within the bounds of journalism ethics, including Article 13 of the GJA Code of Ethics,” Mr Yeboah said in a post on Facebook.
Below is the full statement from OccupyGhana
OccupyGhana has taken notice of the allegations of assault by National Security operatives on a journalist of Citi FM and Citi TV, Mr Caleb Kudah. News reports and the victim’s testimony allege extra-judicial punishment from National Security operatives, including slaps from behind, kicks from booted feet to his groin, molestation and brutalisation of his person while he was handcuffed and could not defend himself.
We have also seen footage alleging a raid of Citi FM’s and Citi TV’s premises by operatives purported to be from the National Security Ministry, to pick up another journalist, Zoe Abu-Baidoo who details how she was ordered to delete photos and videos on her own phone under intimidation by a person identified by both journalists as a Lt-Col Agyeman and an accomplice such as one Chief Inspector Ampadu.
We also take notice that the female journalist was not harmed physically, but the gentleman was “worked over” by the operatives for more than five hours. In no case, we further notice, was any lawyer present for either journalist.
We have also seen a letter purported to originate from the National Security Ministry and signed by its Chief Director Lt-Col Ababio Serebour (Rtd) indicating the Ministry’s awareness of the allegations and rather unhelpfully claiming without any timelines that disrespect the intelligence of Ghanaians, the Ministry’s willingness to investigate the allegations and revert. We also notice the nonchalance in verbiage and the non-subtle attempt of the Chief Director of the Ministry to brand the serious allegations and the Guantanamo Bay-style assaults as “interrogation” that clearly did not respect the right of the person to a lawyer.
It goes without saying that we in OccupyGhana are troubled by these developments, and it is with an iron will that we maintain civil language towards the National Security Ministry in issuing his press release. In their very nature, these allegations have no place in a civilized democracy, a 29-year-old democratic experiment, and under a republican constitution that touts the rule of law.
The allegations outline a bestial culture of impunity, an animalistic disregard for basic human rights, and a demonic manifestation of tendencies that have no place even in a holocaust camp. We are appalled and disgusted, and when proven true by an independent body, we demand that the perpetrators so named be charged with nothing less than the crime of attempted murder, tried, convicted, jailed, and dismissed from the employment of the government without any benefits.
Consequently, we ask the following questions:
1. Was Mr Caleb Kudah, at any point during his accosting by the National Security operatives, informed of what specific Ghanaian law he had breached by his mobile phone documentation of the issue or object that had piqued his journalistic interest?
2. Was the journalist read his rights at any point during Lt-Col Serebour’s (Rtd) description of an interrogation?
3. Under what law did National Security operatives coerce both journalists into deleting materials on their personal mobile telephony devices?
4. The Chief Director of the Ministry of National Security alluded to some “No Photography” rules at restricted security zones. Can he be kind enough to refer us to what law his description of such rules is grounded in?
We have no faith that the National Security Ministry can provide a satisfactory investigation into the damning allegations and therefore would like to advise the government to set up an independent body of inquiry into the matter.
The allegations of brutalities against journalists are not new, but we are disturbed that the assaults on members of the media keep getting bolder and bolder, and the impunity is assuming hellish proportions. This must stop immediately. If this is what happens to journalists, then we shudder to think of what is happening to other voiceless Ghanaians in the quiet at the hands of security operatives.
Even more, concerning for us is the knowledge that Mr Kudah was documenting vehicles acquired by Government and for which it had been claimed, had been disposed of and not left to rot as at least two investigative journalists had uncovered over the past two or so years. If that was the case, then his cause was just.
That his quest to hold government accountable for tax-payer expenses resulted in his alleged brutalization sickens us immeasurably, once independent investigations confirm this terrible maltreatment of Mr Kudah, the government must understand the depths of our disgust with its press freedom credentials if any of the perpetrators of these heinous allegations are not made to face the full rigours of the law.
We reiterate that we fully support members of the media in the discharge of their lawful duties. We remind the government that it is unpardonable treachery to the citizens when people who are hired with citizens’ monies, trained with citizens’ monies, paid with citizens’ monies, clothed with citizens’ monies, fed with citizens’ monies, and (painfully) equipped and armed with citizens’ monies, would turn round and use those arms to oppress the citizens.
And the worst insult to the citizens would be if the perpetrators are successfully sued in court; then citizens’ monies would be used to pay the damages awarded. We clearly have learned nothing from the Ayawaso West Woguon incidents, and we strongly demand that government takes immediate and firm steps to end this despicable anti-democratic backslide.
Yours, for God and Country.