Attack on Blakk Rasta an affront to freedom of speech - Rex Omar

The chairman for GHAMRO, Rex Omar, is worried that the continuous attacks on outspoken persons for expressing their views on issues of national interest or otherwise could send the country back to the days of the culture of silence.

The veteran Highlife musician had been responding to issues in relation to the murder attempt on the life of media personality, Blakk Rasta in early January at the premises of Zylofon Fm in Accra, where he currently works.

Blakk Rasta took to Twitter on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, to tweet on the shutdown of Zylofon FM’s transmission as well as the threat on his life.

“Transmission on @zylofon1021fm shut down. A man broke into the building, masked threatening to kill me. Police and security here…” he tweeted.

Since then, several calls have been made, including one from the Rastafari Council, to the Ghana Police Service to get to the bottom of the attack.

In his response to the issues, Rex Omar said that the attack on Blakk Rasta is a threat to the freedom of expression and should not be encouraged even if it is just emanating from faceless individuals with no polarised affiliations.

"Blakk Rasta has always been an outspoken person who has never been known to lean towards any political party and so if his work as a social commentator is targeted for things like this, then all the efforts we have made as a country to escape the days of the culture of silence would mean nothing," he said.

He added that he was worried because he has not known Ghana to be like that and such attacks destroy the efforts made by many to ensure that we live in a democratic dispensation devoid of attacks on personalities because of their beliefs or their public utterances.

Rex Omar was speaking on Accra-based Accra Fm's Ghana Yensom morning show on January 12, 2021.