GBA worried over questioning of journalists by security agencies
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has expressed concern about what it says is the growing trend by the National Security, the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and other state security agencies to invite journalists for questioning or to assist in investigations concerning media reports about a government agency or a government official.
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It also described as worrying, the persistent denial of the right to counsel in such invitations.
In a statement issued in Accra yesterday, the association said the development was not only an affront to free speech and press freedom, but also a crude reminder of the era of the culture of silence and the dark days.
Free speech; a right
“Free speech is a right which is necessary for the survival of any democracy. It is a doom to democracy and a dent on the international reputation of a country when its security agencies try to stifle the media,” the statement said.
The statement, signed by Nene Abayateye Amegatcher and Justin Agbeli Amenuvor, President and Secretary of GBA, respectively, pointed out that the constitution and laws of the country had provided processes for redress that any person whose reputation was maligned in any manner in a publication by the media could take advantage of.
Objectionable
It said in an era where the rule of law holds sway, it was unacceptable for the government to use its security agencies to invite the media to explain or provide the source of their reportage.
The statement contended that such ploys in the name of the security of the state or national security had the tendency of silencing or intimidating the media to stop blowing the whistle on matters in which the government and its functionaries were connected.
“This is an abhorrent trend which should not to be allowed in our present democratic dispensation,“ the statement added.
