Police Still Chase Ato Kwamena

The Ghana Police Service is still bent on forcing the acting News Editor of Joy FM, Ato Kwamena Dadzie, to reveal to government the source of a story the station carried recently which has landed him in trouble.

Mr. Dadzie has again been asked to report at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) this morning for further interrogation, after he was arrested and granted bail last Monday but told he would be sent to court this morning.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), the National Media Commission (NMC) and the Ghana Journalists' Association (GJA) have all expressed shock at the development and condemned the arrest and the intended prosecution of the journalist.

The broadcast journalist and author of Pretending To be President was originally scheduled to appear before court this morning but Police sources say investigators handling the case had been instructed to forward the docket to the Attorney General's Department for advice.

Management of the radio station says they stand by the news editor.

However, signals picked by DAILY GUIDE as at press time yesterday suggested that the police might go ahead and process Mr. Dadzie for court this afternoon, depending on the outcome of his interrogation.

Mr. Dadzie, for close to a week now, had been interrogated at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigative Department (CID) for a news story Joy FM aired that the Ghana Real Estate Developers' Association (GREDA) withdrew its petition against the STX Housing Project from Parliament because of death threats on the lives of the association's executives.

Soon after the story, a deputy Minister for Information, Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, slammed Joy FM over the report and accused the station of causing fear and panic among the investor community.

This was followed by an invitation from the police and they have since been on the neck of the journalist just for him to reveal his source until he was charged last Monday for “causing public fear and panic”.

Head of the Police Public Affairs, DSP Kwesi Ofori, however said the action was not to gag the media but was part of police efforts to protect life and property.

The DSP has also noted that the intention was not to take Mr. Dadzie to court but he did not say whether the charges would be dropped or not.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of the MFWA, Prof. Kwame Karikari, yesterday expressed concern that it was becoming a trend for people to be dragged to court and charged with causing fear and panic.

Prof. Karikari said the development was not in the interest of Ghana's growing democracy and a very bad signal for press freedom.

Within the last five months, two people, mostly opposition activists, have been hauled before court on charges of causing fear and panic, with the last person being 'High Priest' Adu Gyamfi, a Kumasi-based French teacher who said a picture of the president looked like a chimpanzee.

The Chairman of the NMC, Kabral Blay-Amihere, was also quick to speak against the development and warned that Ghana could lose her reputation as a country that believed in press freedom if the trend continued.

The GJA Secretary, Bright Blewu, disclosed that the association was calling an emergency meeting over the development.

The previous NDC administration, under which President Mills was the Vice President, had used the then criminal libel law to gag journalists.

By Halifax Ansah-Addo