March for free expression underway

Hundreds of people are demonstrating today, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 against what they describe as moves by the government to attack press freedom.

The protesters, clad in red and black attire, are wielding placards with inscriptions such as: “Enough is enough”, “Akufo-Addo, you are a threat to free speech”, “stop adding tyranny to hardship”, “leave Adeti alone”, and so forth.

The protest, dubbed: “March for Free Expression” and organised by the Free Media Vanguard, aims to safeguard the fundamental human rights of free expression, and the work of journalists, which the organisers say have come under threat.

The protest follows the closure of Accra-based Radio XYZ, Radio Gold and several media houses across the country, for failing to renew their operating licences.

The Minority in Parliament has given its full backing to the march.

But Information Minister, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, maintains that the shutdown of the radio stations by the National Communication Authority is not an attack on press freedom.