ACCRA -- The staff of the Crusading Guide newspaper went to work this morning, only to be greeted by the foul smell of human excrement which had been deposited at their modest offices in the middle-class suburb of La Bone in Accra.
The attack is suspected to be work of pro-government supporters offended by the paper's damaging stories and editorials. There was thick excrement at the frontage and on the veranda leading to the doorway. The main door itself, as well as the windows were all smeared with excrement.
Six big black plastic bags which had ostensibly been used to convey the stuff were left on the premises. The staff had been working late on Sunday night, and had left the offices only at 1:30 on Monday morning. One of the staffers returned about three hours later to discover what had happened.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, and police are investigating. It's not the first time that a newspaper has been attacked this way. The Free Press and the Ghanaian Chronicle, both privately-owned newspapers which are critical of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), have been victims of excrement attack, and the Crusading Guide falls into that category.
The Editor-in-Chief of the Crusading Guide, Kweku Baako, is an outspoken critic of the government, who has been in and out of prison in the past for his political views. In recent months, the Crusading Guide has published a series of stories, which have uncovered serious acts of social injustice, abuse of political power by some government ministers, and human rights offences even at the Castle, which is the seat of government.
One story involved the incarceration at the Castle of Sellasie Djentuh, 23-year-old ex boyfriend of President Jerry Rawlings' daughter for three days, over differences the two former lovebirds had had. Mr Djentuh is now claiming political asylum in the UK.
Mr Baako believes that those exposes have angered government supporters and may have led to the attack. The Ghana Journalists' Association and many ordinary people who called in to radio talk programmes have slammed the attack as backward and uncivilised.
Although general elections are only eight weeks away, there's been little sign of tension, with much of the exchanges limited to press statements and the odd opprobrium at political rallies. Many people are hoping that this will not mark a turn for the worse as campaigning hots up.
As for Mr Baako, he says he's not bothered. "If imprisonment and torture in the past failed to keep me quiet, then the sight and smell of excrement will also fail to triumph over my spirit," he said.
