The life of one of the brilliant upcoming journalists could have ended had he not been dragged away by a passerby when a police officer, Osei Kofi, primed his rifle and threatened to shoot if he moved, after physically assaulting him.
This alleged notoriety of some of the police officers guarding the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) came to the fore on November 20 this year, when Matthew Abutiate’s chest was turned into a punching bag and he was hit several times by an officer on duty called Osei Kofi to provoke him to walk past a “restricted” path at the GBC.
The officer then primed his rifle, took a few paces back and threatened to shoot him if he moved.
The incidence of police beating up people at the main entrance of GBC has become rampant and chronic recently.
According to Chronicle’s investigations, both visitors and the GBC staff have frequently complained that when entering the corporation, the policemen strut about outside the main gate with their weapons in full display and lean against the walls with their guns pointed at people entering GBC. The Chronicle can report that this same officer, Osei Kofi, had threatened to beat Daniel Quarcoo of GTV News up when he intervened in a scuffle between the officer and a civilian visitor to the GBC.
Apart from this incident, there was another physical assault on a radio presenter at Uniq FM, when about seven policemen, in broad daylight, beat up the presenter. He had apparently started an argument with the police and was branded “too known” and beaten up.
Chronicle has also learnt that a cameraman on attachment at the GBC was beaten up and repeatedly kicked as he lay writhing on the ground in agony by a policeman at the Station of the Nation because he wanted to seize the camera the guy was using. In this particular incident, it was alleged that a rifle was aimed at the cameraman while he was on the ground and was threatened with words like “I will shoot if you get up”.
Narrating his ordeal to The Chronicle, Mr. Abutiate said on that fateful morning, he entered the main gate of the GBC and decided to walk by the side of the road for cars entering the GBC, a route he and others had been using all the time.
He said a young officer in his 20s shouted at him to use a different route. Matthew then stopped and asked why, because others were using the road. The police officer did not respond and started walking away, but Matthew, feeling snubbed, also went on.
“All of a sudden, officer Osei Kofi started shouting, chased me and yanked me backwards by the arm. He then proceeded to hit me in the chest several times, shoving me backwards and yelling insults at me. I got scared because he was holding a rifle and told him to put his weapon away because I was unarmed.”
Continuing, Mr. Abutiate said his statement infuriated the policeman further and he asked whether he was requesting for a fight which Matthew could never win.
“And he hit me on the chest several more times again. Officer Osei Kofi then primed his rifle, took a few steps back and challenged me to walk on if I was man enough.”
At that instance, the journalist was petrified and could not move because he did not know whether he would be shot if he moved. He explained. “I remain rooted to the spot till a passerby came to drag me away from officer Osei Kofi’s line of fire.”
According to Matthew Abutiate, a formal complaint was made to the GBC Union and to Inspector M. M. Disuuri and they promised him an investigation into the incident. After the complaint was lodged, some officers present exclaimed “Osei Kofi again?”
Reacting to the assertion that the GBC is a “security installation”, Matthew told The Chronicle that if GBC was a “security installation”, were the staff of the corporation the ones who put the corporation at risk?
When The Chronicle contacted the GBC police, they confirmed the story, saying that the matter was still under investigation. Meanwhile, the journalist who had to visit the hospital, has been treated and discharged.
