The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has expressed disappointment at the Ghana Journalist Association’s absence at a forum organized by the Foundation on police-media Relations and safety of journalists.
The GJA had earlier threatened to boycott the event due to the failure of the police to find officers who assaulted a Multimedia journalist, Latiff Iddrisu in March 2018.
Speaking to Citi News, the Executive Director of the MFWA, Sulemana Braimah, described the turn of events as unfortunate.
He further urged the GJA to be calm, saying the police appears to be making amends.
“I am not speaking for the police, but the point I am making is that there are steps that they are taking. The IGP has set up a committee. They are saying that they are still waiting for the medical report from the victim and so on and so forth.”
He stressed that the relationship between the press and the media must not be marred.
“For me, the most important thing is not to cut off the relationship because as we speak, if we said we won’t come to the headquarters and a journalist is beaten, the next time, we will run back to the same police.”
“So you cannot say that you don’t want to engage with the police. [The police are] the legitimate law enforcement body in our country,” Mr. Braimah added.
Joy News’ Latif Idrissu, according to the Multimedia Group, was diagnosed with a fractured skull after he was reportedly assaulted by police officers when he was covering the protest by NDC supporters following the detention of the party’s Deputy General Secretary, Koku Anyidoho, on March 27, 2018.
Although the police has been investigating the matter, it is yet to deal with the officers responsible for the attack.
Source: citinewsroom.com
