“If journalists in Ghana fear they may be shot or assaulted, press freedom cannot flourish …” – Angela Quintal, Africa program coordinator, CPJ.
Last Wednesday, Ghanaian Journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale was killed in his neighbourhood in Madina, north of Accra. He was shot by two men on a motorbike while he was driving home to attend to his sick son. Hussein-Suale was an undercover journalist who worked for the Tiger Eye PI organization run by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
Last year, his investigation into Ghanaian football exposed widespread corruption in the sector locally and internationally. This consequently led to the dissolution of the Ghana Football Association(GFA), and a lifetime FIFA ban on Kwesi Nyantakyi, former President of the GFA, and scores of football referees and officials in several countries.
Following the results of the investigation mid last year, Hussein-Suale became a target of death threats especially after Kennedy Agyapong, a member of the Ghanaian parliament, exposed his identity. Twice last year, Agyapong openly called for retribution against Hussein-Suale with his photographs and his whereabouts publicized on national television.
“That boy that’s very dangerous, he lives here in Madina. If you meet him somewhere, beat him,” Agyapong reportedly said. He also offered to pay anyone willing to attack the journalist.
A lawyer representing Tiger Eye PI organization said at the time the lawmaker exposed Hussein-Suale’s identity, they laid a complaint to the police. “He endangered a young man’s life, and now this has happened. He has questions to answer,” the lawyer told CNN.
The Committee to Protect Journalists(CPJ) has called for an immediate investigation into Hussein-Suale’s killing, and for Ghanaian authorities to take threats against members of the press seriously. Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, director of the criminal investigations department, Ghana, said the department is currently investigating the killing of Hussein-Suale. “Everyone connected to this murder will be invited for questioning,” he said.
Until last Wednesday, Ghana had recorded only one killing of a journalist in 26 years, the killing of George Abanga, a radio journalist who was killed in 2015 while reporting. But the country’s journalists have suffered repression in other ways. Ghana’s Media Foundation for West Africa reported that between January 2017 and March 2018, 17 journalists were assaulted in Ghana.
Yet, the West African country is considered one of the best globally when it comes to press freedom, ranking number one in Africa and 23rd out of 180 countries globally, according to the 2018 World Press Freedom Index. What then is to be said of the attitude of other African countries towards press freedom?
The issue of press freedom is one that many African countries have in common. In the last five years, governments across the continent have shut down media houses, imprisoned journalists and established laws that outrightly or indirectly infringe on the rights of individuals and organizations to freely communicate. Governments imposing huge taxes on media and shutting down internet services are the recent trends in press repression on the continent.
It remains to be seen how seriously the killing of Hussein-Suale will be taken by the Ghanaian authorities, as this will determine the future of press freedom in Ghana. US Congressman Hank Johnson, a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, has called for sanctions targeting Ghanaian parliamentarian, Kennedy Agyapong, and the assistance of the United States for the Government of Ghana’s investigation of Hussein-Suale’s death, including potential FBI support.
“When the instigation by government officials of violence against journalists is tolerated in any country, it imperils the free press everywhere, including here in the United States,” said Rep. Johnson.
“The United States government should offer its powerful investigative capabilities to the Ghanaian government to help bring these killers to justice. When unscrupulous politicians and public figures openly call for violence targeting journalists, they should be held to account,” he added.
