BNI acted professionally in handling journalists — Prez
President John Dramani Mahama has mounted a strong defence of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) for its interrogation of two media personalities concerning the reportage on the Ghanaian woman busted for cocaine trafficking in London.
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Speaking for the first time on the issue, he said the BNI acted professionally and that once the two media practitioners had stated publicly that their rights had not been violated, it would be wrong for anyone to castigate the state investigative body for doing its work.
Some members of society have criticised the manner in which the BNI handled particularly the Chief Executive Officer of Accra-based Citi FM, Mr Samuel Attah-Mensah and the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, when they were invited for questioning on the report carried by citifmonline.com and quoted by the Daily Graphic.
The report, among others, stated that the arrested woman, Nayele Ametefeh, carried a Ghanaian diplomatic passport.
Speaking at the opening of a national broadcasting conference in Accra yesterday, the President stated that once it was reported that the woman who was arrested was not a diplomat but carried a diplomatic passport, the BNI had to perform its duty by investigating to establish the veracity of the report.
Significantly, he said, the BNI’s research and fact-finding had yielded dividends, as the true identity of the suspect had been revealed.
"We now know for certain that this woman was not in possession of a diplomatic passport, while her true identity has also been revealed, which should stop the spread of misinformation," he said.
The conference, organised by the Ghana Institute for Public Policy Options (GIPPO) and the Independent Media Corporation of Ghana (IMCG), marked 20 years of the birth of the first independent radio station in Ghana, Radio Eye.
It was on the theme, "Broadcasting pluralism; press freedom and democratic governance in Ghana".
President Mahama, whose address focused mainly on responsible journalism, said the BNI invited and did not order the editors of the radio station and a national newspaper to come over to assist in investigations.
"And the editors complied on their own free will," he said, adding, "They were not arrested nor detained and both editors have stated publicly that their experience at the BNI was cordial and non-threatening.”
He also found it rather preposterous that some of the stories were comparing Ghana to Somalia and Zimbabwe.
BNI not a monster
The President noted how, in the past, some people had seen the BNI as a monster and drove home the fact that times had changed.
"This isn't our fathers’ BNI, your father's BNI. This is the BNI of today," he said.
He explained that the core function of the institution was the pursuit of information for the security and safeguarding of the country and its citizens.
How it all started
President Mahama, who gave a background to the story, said it began on social media that the suspected woman had many aliases, one of which corresponded with his (President’s) name, that she was a friend of many government officials and that Ghana’s Envoy in London was to meet her at the airport in London.
"A Ghanaian broadcaster picked up the story in total and, without checking, put the story on the station's website," he said.
The irony of the situation, he said, was that the biggest newspaper in Ghana, in its haste not to be undone by the others, just picked up the story from the website and published it without checking the facts.
He stated that within 24 hours, the story was given legitimacy by many people.
Incredibly, he said, the picture used with the story was not that of the person arrested.
"It was the picture of a completely innocent woman and the damage that has been done to that innocent woman is irreparable,” the President said.
Professionalism
President Mahama asked journalists to adhere to professional ethics, saying those ethics should be up to international standards.
Journalism, he said, was a good weapon for development, but when used irresponsibly, it could be very poisonous, he cautioned.
He said the dangers posed by misinformation in the media could be just as bad, if not worse, than the dangers posed by the absence of information.
In that context, he urged media houses to employ trained journalists, saying employing untrained people and paying them pittance was a contributory factor to some of the lapses in the system.
He asked media practitioners not to see constructive criticism as an attack on media freedom, adding that in spite of all the developments, the government would continue to see the media as partners in development.