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Ada FM Studio's After It Was Ransacked by the Police on January 13, 2022.

15.01.2023 Featured 4 Years Since Murder of Ahmed Hussein, Ghana’s Journalists Still Attacked With Impunity

Published 15th Jan, 2023

By Evelyn Okakwu and Jonathan Rozen

The January 16, 2019, murder of Ghanaian journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela, who was gunned down by unidentified men, months after threats by a local politician, sent shockwaves through the country’s press corps and yielded promises from leaders to find the killers and bring them to justice.

But four years later, and despite police assurances of progress and two arrests, nobody has been tried or convicted for the journalist’s murder. Meanwhile, crimes against journalists have continued to rise in Ghana. Since Divela’s death, at least 30 other Ghanaian journalists and media workers have faced abuses in connection with their work, including attacks, threats and arrests.

Slain Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela
Slain Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela

Ahead of the fourth anniversary of Divela’s murder, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) followed up on each of these cases to learn whether anybody had been held responsible. While there were a few patchy attempts at accountability, CPJ found a broad pattern of impunity that flies in the face of Ghana’s reputation as a stable democracy where freedom of the press is enshrined in the country’s constitution.

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Since 2019, CPJ’s research shows that 14 journalists and media workers have been physically attacked in relation to their work – nine of them by members of Ghana’s police or military. The attacks have continued in spite of the Ghanaian police and media groups’ adoption of a 2019 framework for improved relations and the safety of journalists. Officials involved were rarely disciplined, and when actions were taken, journalists complained that they were insufficient.

In one incident, police officers kicked and punched journalist Malik Sullemana when they arrested him in March 2019, leaving him with blood clots in his left eye and bruises on his limbs. Police temporarily suspended three officers while they conducted an investigation, but Sullemana said that he received no further update about the inquiry. He said that he has since seen several officers involved back on the street in uniform.

“When something happens people talk about it and then it fizzles out,” said Sullemana, one of the 17 Ghanaian journalists and media workers detained since 2019, most of them briefly.

CPJ found out that at least 10 journalists have received written or verbal threats in connection to their work over the past four years. That includes Erastus Asare Donkor, who went into hiding after he was threatened on television by parliament member Kennedy Ohene Agyapong in July 2021. Agyapong, who had also threatened Divela before his murder, said Donkor should be “beaten seriously” over his reporting about Ghanaian officers’ alleged shooting of protesters. Police and parliament both opened investigations into Agyapong’s statement, but the journalist said he was never informed of the findings.

In addition, since 2019, CPJ has documented attacks on the offices of at least three private broadcasters – Benya FM, Zylofon FM, and Radio Ada FM – during which the assailants assaulted journalists, vandalized the premises, or stole equipment. In separate interviews, staff from each of the outlets said the authorities’ responses were insufficient.

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In the January 2021 attack on Zylofon FM, for instance, the broadcaster’s security guard shot the attacker and police apprehended the injured man, but after he recovered he escaped from the hospital and has not been rearrested, according to Zylofon presenter Ahmed Abubakar.

The broad lack of accountability has resulted in a tendency toward self-censorship among members of the media, say those interviewed by CPJ.

“Journalists will always balance a likely attack against the benefits of the story they are pursuing,” said Muheeb Saeed, senior Africa program officer with the Media Foundation for West Africa, a Ghana-based organization that monitors press freedom across the region.

He questions whether Ghana’s authorities have the will to protect the press.

“The state is too powerful to fail if it actually meant to stamp out impunity. At the highest level there is no commitment,” he said.

Ada FM Studio's in Ghana After It Was Ransacked by the Police on January 13, 2022.
Ada FM Studio’s After It Was Ransacked by the Police on January 13, 2022.

Sullemana, on his part, said the attacks amounted to a stain on the country’s reputation.

“We are one of the countries in Africa that the rest of the world looks up to. The world considers Ghana as a country of good governance and rule of law,” he told CPJ.

“It is not safe to practice journalism in Ghana.”

CPJ emailed Ghana’s police press office and its parliament but received no response. Phone calls to police spokesperson Grace Ansah Akrofi went unanswered. CPJ also emailed Ghana’s military but received no response.

Here are details of the cases involving the 30 journalists who have faced abuses for their work since Divela’s murder and what, if anything, authorities have done to respond to the ill-treatment they suffered.

MALIK SULLEMANA AND RAISSA SAMBOU EBU

Malik Sullemana After He Was Attacked by the Police in Ghana
Malik Sullemana After He Was Attacked by the Police

Malik Sullemana and Raissa Sambou Ebu, reporters for the state-owned Ghanaian Times, were attacked by the police in March 2019, and Sullemana was also arrested. The police temporarily suspended three officers involved and opened investigations into others, but Sullemana told CPJ that the journalists received no follow up from authorities and that he subsequently saw the officers who attacked him on the street in uniform.

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EMMANUEL AJARFOR ABUGRI AND EMMANUEL YEBOAH BRITWUM

Emmanuel Ajarfor Abugri and Emmanuel Yeboah Britwum, an editor and a reporter with privately-owned news website Modern Ghana, were arrested by officers from Ghana’s Ministry of National Security in June 2019. The arresting officers confiscated their phones and laptops, and allegedly tortured Abugri.

Abugri sued the National Security Coordinator, Inspector General of Police, and Attorney General over the incident and in June 2022. However, the authorities involved settled the case, agreeing to publish an apology to Abugri, to recover his confiscated devices, and to compensate the journalist with 50,000 Ghanaian Cedis ($ 4,946), according to court documents reviewed by CPJ.

As of early 2023, Abugri had received no apology nor the money he was promised, according to his lawyer, Samson Lardy Anyenini. In addition, authorities named in the lawsuit appear to want to revisit the settlement. In a letter, which CPJ reviewed, they asked the journalist’s lawyer to “discuss a proposed revision” of the requirement for an apology.

BESTWAY ZOTTOR

Bestway Zottor, director of privately-owned broadcaster Radio Tongu, was arrested and detained for two days in January 2020, after authorities accused him of using his radio station to promote separatist agitation. In February of the same year, authorities shut down the broadcast station, which remained closed as of early this year, Zottor told CPJ.

SAMUEL ADOBAH

Samuel Adobah, a journalist with the privately-owned TV Africa broadcaster was attacked by security officers in April 2020. Adobah told CPJ that the military later sent him a letter of apology saying the officer who attacked him would be penalized and the military would compensate him by settling his medical bills for injuries suffered during the attack. Adobah said that he was never told the punishment the officer received. He also said he did not receive any money from the military. His phone that one of the officers smashed during the attack was also never replaced.

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YUSSIF ABDUL GANIYU

Yussif Abdul Ganiyu, a reporter for the German government-funded Deutsche Welle (DW), was attacked and briefly detained by security officers in April 2020. Ganiyu told CPJ that DW reported the incident to the Ministry of Information and that he gave a statement to the military police about the attack but that nobody followed up on his complaint.

EMMANUEL OHENE-GYAN

Emmanuel Ohene-Gyan, an editor with the privately-owned radio Empire FM, was threatened by a family member of a politician in June 2020 over Ohene-Gyan’s report that the politician died of COVID-19. The individual said that he must remove the story or face the “family’s anger”. Ohene-Gyan told CPJ that he didn’t report the threats to police because he believed his complaint wouldn’t be taken seriously.

REBECCA ASHELEY AMAM

Rebecca Asheley Amarh, a reporter with the privately-owned Kingdom FM radio, was briefly arrested in June 2020. In the same incident, police threatened Philip Akutey Azu, a reporter for the privately-owned Atinka TV station. The two reporters were forced to delete footages of the police slapping a delegate of a local political party from their gadgets. Amah told CPJ that they provided a statement to the Ghana Journalists Association about the incident, but did not learn if anyone had been held to account.

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STANLEY NII BLEWU

Stanley Nii Blewu was beaten by soldiers when both he and Joseph Armstrong Gold-Alorgbey were briefly detained in August 2020. The two reporters for the privately-owned TV3 had been reporting on a sanitation project. At the time, a military spokesperson told CPJ it was a “misunderstanding” that had been resolved. Blewu said that he didn’t hear further development on the incident from the military.

DAVID TAMAKLOE

David Tamakloe, Editor-in-Chief of the privately-owned Whatsup News, was arrested and criminally charged for “false news” reporting in October 2020. Tamakloe was again arrested and detained by authorities on separate “false news” allegations in April 2021, but has not been formally charged. Tamakloe told CPJ that his 2020 case was ongoing, but his last hearing was in December of that year and he has not been notified of the status of the case.

OHENEBA BOAMAH BENNIE

Oheneba Boamah Bennie, a presenter at the privately-owned Power FM, was arrested and detained by authorities in December 2020. Authorities sentenced the journalist in February 2022 to two weeks in prison. He was also fined 3,000 Ghana Cedis ($468) on a contempt of court charge over posts about politics he made on Facebook.

AFIA POKUAA

In December 2020, Afia Pokuaa, an anchor with privately-owned Despite Media, was threatened with death for her report on that year’s general election by a Ghanaian YouTube personality. A a result, she was forced to flee the country for several weeks. She said she reported the threats to police but received no positive feedback.

MANASSEH AZURE AWUNI

In December 2020, freelance investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni received death threats via emails over his election reporting. He said he reported the threats to police, but they closed the case after failing to find the perpetrators.

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PHILLIP JOHN QUARTEY

In January 2021, Phillip John Quartey, an anchor with privately-owned Metro TV, and a colleague he declined to name for security reasons, were verbally threatened by two unidentified men. The men, who had alighted from a car, told him they wanted to kill him over “the way he reported stories”. Philip said he reported the matter to the police and was told they were investigating matter and would get back to him. As of early 2023 he had not heard from them.

AHMED ABUBAKAR

In early January 2021, an unidentified man broke into the office of privately-owned radio, Zylofon FM, and began shouting the name of anchor, Ahmed Abubakar, before pepper spraying a technician and vandalizing equipment. Abubakar was unharmed and a security guard shot the man. The police later took him to the hospital for treatments but he escaped and remains at large.

ERASTUS ASARE DONKOR, KOFI ASARE AND MICHAEL SAKYI

Erastus Asare Donkor, Kofi Asare, and Michael Sakyi, respectively a reporter, a camera operator, and a driver for YouTube-based news outlet Joy News, were arrested and detained, and their car attacked by soldiers in January 2021. Donkor told CPJ that the military conducted an investigation but he was never apprised of any findings.

In a separate incident, politician Kennedy Ohene Agyapong said Donkor should be “beaten seriously” for his reporting in July 2021. Donkor told CPJ that Agyapong had not been held accountable for his actions as police and parliament did not release the findings of their investigations on the incident.

CALEB KUDAH AND ZOE ABU-BAIDOO

Caleb Kudah and Zoe Abu-Baidoo Addo, reporters with the privately-owned Citi FM, were arrested and detained by Ghanaian police in May 2021. Kudah was repeatedly beaten by police officers while in custody. Ghanaian authorities later announced the suspension of the four officers involved, but within days, local media reported that one of the suspended officers was reinstated and promoted.

READ ALSO: REPORT: 363 Journalists Imprisoned Worldwide in 2022

KORLE ADJAOTOR SORNGORSTE, RUBY ATE AND GIDEON AMANOR DZEAGU

Korle Adjaotor Sorngortse, Ruby Ate, and Gideon Amanor Dzeagu, staff members of privately-owned broadcaster Radio Ada FM, were attacked in January 2022 at their office by 10 masked and armed men. During the attack, the men threatened to come back and shoot them if they didn’t stop reporting on a specific story. Authorities opened an investigation into the incident, but Dzeagu told CPJ in early 2023, that he had not received any feedback from the police.

ERIC NANA GYETUAH

Eric Nana Gyetuah After He Was Beaten by the Police in Ghana
Eric Nana Gyetuah After He Was Beaten by the Police

Eric Nana Gyetuah, a producer with privately-owned Connect FM, was arrested and attacked by police officers in February 2022. Gyetuah told CPJ that police officers had assured him months after the attack that they would inform him if they had any update on their investigation. He has not heard anything since.

MICHAEL AIDOO

Michael Aidoo, a member of an investigative journalism fellowship program organized by the local press freedom group, Media Foundation for West Africa, was attacked by soldiers in March 2022. The soldiers apprehended and took him to a military base. Muheeb Saeed, a senior program officer at the foundation, told CPJ in early 2023 that the Defence Ministry had not responded to a letter he sent requesting an investigation into the incident.

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ERIC BLESSING ESHUN AND EMMANUEL EGYIRFAH

Eric Blessing Eshun and Emmanuel Egyirfah, a host and a producer with privately-owned Benya FM, were attacked in May 2022. Ghanaian police charged three men for the attack but local media reported that the men pleaded not guilty and were granted bail within days. The journalists’ colleague, Usman Kwaku Dawood, told CPJ that a ruling in the case was expected on January 25.

Evelyn Okakwu joined the Committee to Protect Journalists as a Nigeria consultant in August 2019. She was appointed CPJ’s West Africa correspondent in January 2021. Okakwu previously worked for four years as a judiciary correspondent for the Premium Times online newspaper and for two years as a general assignment reporter with the Peoples Daily newspaper in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Okakwu has a Higher National Diploma from the Federal Polytechnic Mubi, Adamawa State, Nigeria.

Jonathan Rozen is CPJ’s senior Africa researcher. Previously, he worked in South Africa, Mozambique, and Canada with the Institute for Security Studies, assessing Mozambican peace-building processes. Rozen was a U.N. correspondent for IPS News and has written for Al-Jazeera English and the International Peace Institute. He speaks English and French.

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Published 15th Jan, 2023

By Evelyn Okakwu and Jonathan Rozen

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