Does the Govt plan to attack Free Press?

The government of the NDC is reported to be getting ready to strike hard against the private press, particularly the FREE PRESS, which has been most incessant in its condemnation of the government. This was revealed by the FREE PRESS who quoted un-named sources from the Registrar-General's Department (RGD) to support their claims.

According to the paper, sources close to the RGD informed them that the office of the IGP has written to certain organisations including the RGD and the Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (P&T) seeking to know among other things the publishers and directors of the FREE PRESS.

The letter from the police, dated May 31 is alleged to have said that the information was being sought for an "operation" on the FREE PRESS.

The FREE PRESS, it can be recalled, has for a long time run into trouble with the present regime. Sometime last year, the premises of the paper was smeared with human excreta by agents the paper believes to have been sponsored by the government. The editor and publisher of the paper has been subjected to harassment and arrests by the security forces.

And more recently, the editor, publisher and a columnist of he paper were found guilty of libel by the Supreme Court for an article on the current Chief Justice, Justice Abban. The publisher of the paper was fined, whilst the editor and columnist were fined and jailed for one day and one month respectively.

At the time of going to the press, Ghana Review has received rumours about the possible arrest of the editor of the Free Press. We aim to confirm or deny these rumours as soon as we check with our stringers in Accra.