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Regional News of Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Source: tv3network.com

Respect for law and order on the decline - GJA

The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has condemned recent attacks on journalists, calling for a quick fix to the “cancer” before it degenerates into an uncontrollable situation.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Monday, September 15, President of the Association Roland Affail Monney said the “spreading cancer” must be halted.

He was speaking following recent assaults on journalists.

A journalist of Graphic Communications Group, Daniel Kenu, was brutally assaulted in Kumasi by some muscular men led by former Ghana international Baffour Gyan over a question posed Black Stars Captain Asamoah Gyan during a pre-match press conference.

The Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Dr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, is also alleged to have ordered some police officers to arrest some staff of Multimedia Group while the latest incident occurred in Ablekuma last week when Adom FM's three journalists including Editor Afia Pokuaa were brutally assaulted by an alleged staff of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

“The consistency, rapidity and sheer audacity of some of these attacks suggests that respect for law and order and due process will suffer a decline if nothing is done to correct the system,” the GJA President said.

The Chairman of the National Media Commission, Kabral Blay Amihere, said it has asked all parties who feel aggrieved by any action of a journalist to take the course of law.

“We need as a Commission to be in dialogue with the police and the army to ensure that they do not become the instrument of brutalizing journalists.”