The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has lauded Joy News for initiating and sustaining the #DisbandPartyMilitiasNow campaign.
President of the Association, Affail Monnie, says the campaign which seeks to pile pressure on political parties to dissolve militia groups aligned to their course, will contribute immensely in ridding Ghana’s political space of thugs who perpetrate violence.
“We commend Joy FM for the campaign it has launched and [we] think all of us ought to lend our support to this campaign to rid our country of thuggery and [use of ] excessive force in our body politics,” the GJA president said Monday, at an event to inaugurate the newly refurbished press Centre of the Ministry of Information.
According to him, the recent violence that characterised the by-election in theAyawaso West Wuogon constituency of Accra is an affirmation that not only political actors are at risk of the issue of vigilantism but journalists who may be caught in the crossfire in their line of duty.
“In fact what happened at Ayawaso West Wuogon…any journalist could have fallen victim to stray bullets,” he lamented.
Courageous Manasseh
The GJA also commended Multimedia journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, for being fearless in exposing the activities of a militia group, De-Eye Group, within the Christiansborg Castle, Osu.
Affail Monney also spoke highly of the professional manner with which the 2018 West Africa Journalist of the Year, carried out his latest investigative piece dubbed ‘Militia in the heart of the nation’.
Manasseh Azure Awuni
The undercover work which was aired on Joy News TV on Friday, March 8, detailed how the group known as, De-Eye Group, had been using the former seat of government for training since the Akufo-Addo government was sworn in.
The group is led by Nana Wireko Addo alias ‘Choman’, the former personal bodyguard of President Nana Akufo-Addo and was described in 2012 as a “vigilante group” in a pro-government newspaper Daily Guide.
Read also: De-Eye Group cleared out over Joy News exposé
The government has, however, denied any association with such a group.
At a press conference hours after the airing of the documentary, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah denied among other things that the young men and women who converge at the Castle thrice a week – Monday, Wednesday and Friday – are a militia group under training.
Read also: De-Eye Group: Conflicting responses from Presidency, Nat. Security, Info. Ministry
But Mr. Affail Monney says the work done by Manasseh should awaken the citizen’s responsibility to deal with the issue of vigilantism once and for all.
“I think Manasseh deserves the commendation and Joy FM, for having the courage to come out with such a piece at a time when it’s very difficult [to] because if you look at the backlash from certain quarters [even journalists], tells you that you need a tougher skin and professional dexterity to do what Manasseh did,” he added.
Source: Ghana | Myjoyonline.com
