JoyFM's acting News Editor for court

OY FM's acting News Editor, Ato Kwamena-Dadzie, has been ordered by the Ghana Police Service to appear in court tomorrow for insisting he would not disclose to government the source of a story he edited which was carried by the radio station.

Mr. Kwamena Dadzie, for close to a week now, is being interrogated at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service after he carried a story on Joy FM that the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) withdrew its petition against the STX Housing deal from Parliament because of death threats on the lives of the association's executives.


The broadcast journalist confirmed to DAILY GUIDE yesterday that when he reported to the CID headquarters on Monday, he was for the umpteenth time asked to disclose the confidential source of his report and when he refused, he was informed that he had been charged with causing public fear and panic, thus he would be facing court on Wednesday.


“Even if it comes to going to jail, I will not mention my source; I will never do it and it is a shame that I am being sent to court over this matter,” Mr. Kwamena- Dadzie told DAILY GUIDE.


Soon after Ato Kwamena-Dadzie broke his story, Ghana's Deputy Minister for Information, Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, slammed Joy FM over the report and accused the station of causing fear and panic among investors.

“Joy FM is creating fear and panic in the business community and the international community that is listening and reading websites from Ghana and all of that is going to say that this is a government that twists arms and threatens people out of their contracts when people offer divergent views,” Mr. Ablakwa told Citi FM's Benard Avle.


GREDA followed up with a statement, denying that the association withdrew from the $10 billion housing project over death threats.


The Member of Parliament for Manhyia, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, on Saturday, during News File on the same Joy FM, publicly put on record that he had personally seen a text message which happened to be part of the death threats issued against the GREDA Executives.


By Halifax Ansah-Addo