GJA distances itself from deported "journalists"

The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is calling on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the police and other relevant institutions to thoroughly investigate the deportation of some alleged Ghanaian journalists from Australia.

According to the GJA, reports of deportation of the alleged journalists has the tendency to soil the image of Ghanaian journalists and Ghana as a whole and must be investigated in order to redeem the image of Ghana and Ghanaian journalists.

The GJA in a statement reacting to the reports of 50 people purporting to be Ghanaian journalists being deported from Australia ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games said it does not know the identity of the so-called journalists and neither is it aware of their mission in Australia.

"The GJA wishes to put on record that it does not know the identity of the so-called journalists; neither is it aware of their mission in Australia," the statement signed by GJA President Affail Monney said.

"Although Ghanaian journalists travelling outside the country are not obliged to inform the GJA about their assignments, it is quite strange that the GJA is not aware of the identity of the deportees including the media institutions they claim to represent".

"For that reason, we call on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the police and other relevant institutions to thoroughly investigate the matter in order to establish the true identity of the deportees for the purposes of redeeming the image of Ghana and Ghanaian journalists".

The statement also advised Ghanaian journalists travelling outside the country for official assignments to follow the requisite protocols of their host countries and the event organisers in order to avoid embarrassment.

Read the entire statement below;