GBA slams Mahama's justification of BNI's action on cocaine saga

The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has condemned President Mahama’s endorsement of the recent invitation of some media house managers and editors over publications of the arrest of a Ghanaian Lady at the Heathrow airport with 12kg of cocaine.

In a statement, the GBA said the BNI invitation is worrying and could intimidate the media from publishing stories on matters which the government and its functionaries are connected.

Below is the full statement

The Ghana Bar Association notes with great concern a growing trend by the National Security, the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and other state security agencies to “invite” journalists ostensibly for questioning or to assist in investigations in media reportage where a government agency or person in government happens to be mentioned.

Equally of concern is the persistent denial of right to Counsel in such invitations in breach of the constitutional provisions and the justification given to the invitations by His Excellency the President of the Republic.

The GBA is alarmed that not only is this trend an affront to free speech and press freedom but is also a crude reminder of the era of the culture of silence and the dark days in our developmental history as a country which we have sought, through the development and entrenchment of democratic principles, never to revisit.

Free speech is a right which is necessary for the survival of any democracy. It is a doom to democracy and a dent on the international reputation of a country when its security agencies try to stifle the media.

It is important to note that there is a world trend towards non-criminalizing of speech and Ghana should not be seen as swimming against this tide. The constitution and laws of Ghana have provided processes for redress (however inadequate one may consider them to be) where any person whose reputation is maligned in any manner in a publication by the media could take advantage of.

In an era where the rule of law holds sway, it is unacceptable for the government to use its security agencies to invite the media to explain or provide the source of their reportage while the citizen’s recourse to media excesses is through due process.

The GBA is worried that such ploys in the name of the security of the state or national security has the tendency of silencing or intimidating the media to withhold blowing the whistle on matters in which the government and its functionaries are connected. This is an abhorrent trend which should not to be allowed in our present democratic dispensation.

SIGNED NENE ABAYATEYE AMEGATCHER NATIONAL PRESIDENT.

SIGNED JUSTIN AGBELI AMENUVOR NATIONAL SECRETARY.