Mr. Affail Monney, President, Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), on Thursday called on the security agencies to intensify the search for the arrest and prosecution of the murderers of the late Ahmed Hussein Suale, an investigative journalist.
He said the murder of the investigative journalist had dislodged Ghana from the first to the third position on the Ranking Table of the media system in Africa and globally from 23rd to 27th.
Mr. Monney said this at the first-anniversary commemoration of the murder of Ahmed Hussein Suale, organised by the GJA.
He said there was the need to send a clear signal that Ghana granted no impunity for injustice.
The GJA President said that gruesome was a threat to press freedom in Ghana.
He said empirical evidence from UNESCO showed that globally pressmen were under attack for the work they did, adding; “In the last ten years alone, more than 600 journalists had been killed in their line of duty”.
Mr. Monney cautioned all journalists to sharpen their sense of security, especially in this election year and avoid areas and activities that would endanger their lives.
The GJA President called on the security agencies to make the safety of journalists a topmost priority.
He noted that Africa was not known to have a good record in fishing out criminals who murdered journalists and expressed the hope that the Ghana Police Service would create that space to salvage the country’s image and advance the cause of press freedom.
Nii Laryea Sowah, the Executive Secretary of the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG), said issues of the safety of journalists must be a concern to all.
He said media practitioners would not seat down for such incidents to be repeated almost every year, adding that the security of the journalists was very important.
He said PRINGPAG intended to petition the World Association of News Papers and News Publishers if nothing was heard from security agencies concerning the murder within two weeks.
Mr Akoto Amoafo, the Director of Amnesty International, expressed worry about the lack of commitment at the initial stages of the incident by the various stakeholders towards bringing to book the perpetrators of the crime.
He called on the security agencies to ensure that journalists were protected to advance the course of fighting against corruption in the country.
Madam Juliana Obeng, the Public Relations Officer of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, said investigation into the murder was still on-going, which had seen some tremendous improvement.
She encouraged the media and Ghanaians to volunteer timely and accurate information to facilitate investigations while assuring the bereaved family and the media that justice would surely be served.
Mr Alhassan Unus, a brother of Ahmed Suale, said members of the family had lived under trauma and were sad that since the murder of their brother, a year ago, the security agencies were yet to bring a glimmer of hope of unmasking the identity of the individuals behind the act.
He appealed to the state to thoroughly investigate the murder and arrest the assailants to face the law.
