Find Ahmed Suale’s killers – Mahama charges Akufo-Addo
Former President John Dramani Mahama has requested the Akufo-Addo-led administration to investigate the assassination of investigative journalist, Ahmed Suale and apprehend the perpetrators.
Mr Mahama made the remarks while criticizing the assassination of investigative journalists, including Al Jazeera’s Shireen Abu Akleh on May 12, 2022.
“The death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is a very condemnable act,” Mr Mahama wrote in a series of tweets. We are all saddened by her passing. Our hope is that whoever pulled the trigger and any accomplices will be brought to justice in a fair and open manner.
He noted that “…the murderers of Ghanaian journalist, Ahmed Suale, are still walking free. We call on the Akufo-Addo administration and the Police Service to take this investigation seriously and bring the murderers to justice”.
Mr Franklin Cudjoe, the Founding President of Imani Africa, recently stated that it bothers him greatly that the masterminds, agitators, and killers of Ahmed Suale, who was a member of the Tiger Eye team, are still roaming free.
Unidentified males on motorcycles shot Hussein-Suale three times, twice in the chest and once in the neck, in his vehicle on Wednesday, January 16, 2019.
“Our free press ranking will be low until this and other murders are solved,” Mr Cudjoe said.
His remarks come in the wake of Ghana’s dismal result in the recent Press Freedom Index. Ghana performed poorly in the latest press freedom rankings, falling 30 places from 30th 2021 to 60th position with a score of 67.43 on the World Press Freedom Index 2022.
According to the research, the government’s intolerance pushed journalists to engage in extensive self-censorship in line with their concerns.
The World Press Freedom indicated in its latest ranking released on May 3, 2022, that “Although the country is considered a regional leader in democratic stability, journalists have experienced growing pressures in recent years. To protect their jobs and their security, they increasingly resort to self-censorship, as the government shows itself intolerant of criticism”.
It was also observed from the report that “The 2019 information access law authorizes journalists to demand information of national interest. However, a clause in the law allows a fee to be charged if the information requested is in a language other than English – a provision used to deny journalists access to the information they seek”.
Accordingly, it was stated in addition that “one-third of media outlets are owned by politicians or by people tied to the top political parties. The content they produce is largely partisan. In Ghana, most media outlets face financial problems, reflected in low salaries and poor working conditions for journalists. Frequently, new newspapers are launched only to fold in a few months, due to the inability to meet production costs.
“State-owned media, for their part, benefit from government advertising contracts and payment for publishing news items. Government advertising is awarded through a non-transparent and inequitable process,” the report added.
