Okudzeto's comments completely flawed

The impact of burning electronic material on our environment and on Ghanaians is so

enormous we have to find alternative jobs for the young men who are eking out a

living by polluting the environment and putting their lives and that of other

innocent Ghanaians at greater risks whilst successive governments have done very

little or been busy spending tax payers’ money on 18 karat gold medals or on soccer

fans whilst ignoring the poverty and joblessness which have driven many youths into

such a hard life.

I was in the middle of writing an article on electronic waste or e-waste, especially

on the lack of proper regulation and the dangers to the lives of the estimated sixty

thousand people in Agbogbloshi (a slum in Accra) and its environs as a result of

dumping or burning products like circuit boards, computer monitors, microwaves and

other electronic products in search of copper wire when I got a buzz from a friend

about a breaking news item in Ghana.

What I saw when I checked the news item was disturbing and for a several minutes I

was caught between finishing the feature I had already started and dealing with the

breaking news item. I didn’t do either. At 7pm Norway time when the sun was high up

and still hot, I simply went to sleep and dreamt Ghana had lost a World Cup final to

Italy and Mrs. Rawlings was President.

Away from dreams about the world cup and Mrs. Rawlings, we are witnessing a very

ruthless campaign by a section of the media and their sponsors in government to

traduce the Rawlings’. The story about an alleged kidnapping of an Insight

photographer is part of the scheme to discredit President Rawlings and his family.

I wasn’t too surprised about the source of the story and the comments made by the

managing editor of The Insight, Kwesi Pratt. Kwesi has become a franchise politician

and has been behaving like a teenager getting a thrill out of ogling the naked

nether regions of a woman. Can’t take such a fellow seriously can you?

But I found Lawyer Sam Okudzeto’s comments very interesting. The supposedly learned

lawyer says the reporter of The Insight newspaper allegedly abducted at the

Adjiringano residence of President Rawlings for taking pictures of the premises did

nothing wrong because “we see beautiful houses and we take photographs because we

admire the house.” Very unhelpful comments from someone with a legal background.

There are ethics and standards in journalism and need I remind Sam Okudzeto and the

managing editor of The Insight, without giving credence to the kidnapping story that

the insight reporters had invaded the privacy of the Rawlings’ by attempting take

pictures of a their “private residence”.

Article 5.1 of the Ghana Journalists Association’s code of ethics enjoins

journalists to “respect the right of the individual, their privacy and human

dignity”. Even in a situation where it is in the public interest, you would have to

exhaust all legal means to interfere or as in this case take pictures.

The intrusion into a person’s life – which includes taking photographs on a private

property without their consent - is therefore unacceptable and cannot be justified.

The most interesting thing for me is the provision in the 1992 constitution of the

Republic of Ghana where it states in article 18 that “no person shall be subjected

to interference with the privacy of his home, property, correspondence or

communication except in accordance with law as may be necessary in a free and

democratic society.”

What Mr. Okudzeto should be telling Ghanaians is that as much as anyone has no right

to enter a private property without permission or recourse to law, no one –

including a journalist – has right to take photographs of private property even from

outside without recourse to law regardless of how beautiful the house is. The kind

of trespassing, as reported by the media is harassment and an invasion of privacy

and could lead to prosecution. It is absolutely nonsense for Mr. Okudzeto to suggest

otherwise without any legal basis.

The National Media Commission has become redundant and a fig leaf for publishers

like Kwesi Pratt to bend the rules and use their papers to run down people they

don’t like. I have worked over a decade as a journalist and support press self

regulation and freedom of the press, but the commission must do more in protecting

the legitimate privacy rights of citizens and forthright in condemning publishers

who twist the rules.

What journalists like Kwesi Pratt are doing is way beyond what is acceptable

journalism. He and like minded colleagues who are bent on traducing Jerry Rawlings

and his family must understand that they are required by law to work within

acceptable boundaries.

Ras Mubarak

Politician and former Broadcaster

ISS, University of Oslo, Norway

mmubarak79@yahoo.com