UNESCO demands updates on Ahmed Suale’s death from government

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has called on the government of Ghana to provide updates on the investigations conducted so far into the death of investigative journalist Ahmed Suale.

The call was made during the Ashanti Regional Consultative Meeting held in Kumasi on Monday, 21 December 2020.

The meeting was organised by the National Media Commission.

Speaking at the meeting, the Head of the UNESCO Ghana office, Mr Abdourahamane Diallo, noted that the organisation is waiting to see the murderers of the journalist face the law.

“UNESCO Director-General has urged Ghana, as a member state, to inform the organisation on the status of the killing of Ahmed Suale. We’ve heard from the Deputy Minister of Information on updates of these investigations, and we are following and encouraging that efforts be pursued to make sure that the perpetrators are arrested and brought to the book,” Mr Diallo stated.

For his part, Deputy Information Minister, Pius Enam Hadzide, bemoaned the loss of Ghana’s position as the best-ranked on the World Press Freedom Index due to the murder of the investigative journalist.

Mr Hadzide said: “Ghana has slipped in the World Press Freedom Index and lost its place of pride as the best-ranked country."

“Our drop has been attributed to most commentators to the unfortunate death of Mr Ahmed Suale.”

He, however, assured UNESCO, Ghanaian journalists and the family of the murdered journalist that the government is working in collaboration with the law enforcement agencies to ensure that the murderers of the journalist are found and punished according to the law.

The “government has been firm in its resolve to support Ghana’s law enforcement agencies to crack these and many other criminal cases that are yet to see any meaningful prosecution”.

“At the Ministry of Information, we continue to keep our eyes on the ball and we ask for regular updates from the Ghana Police Service. The Police assure us that investigations are ongoing and that they are quite convinced that this case, along with many other cases, will be resolved and those who have to be held responsible, held responsible,” the deputy information minister stated.

Ahmed Suale was shot dead near his family home in Accra on Wednesday, 16 January 2019 by unknown assailants.