A pioneer of private media in Ghana, Charles Wereko Brobbey, has accused President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of being complicit in the deteriorating state of press freedom in the country.
Ghana has been ranked 60th in the world on the press freedom ranking by the Reporters Without Borders, from an initial 30th position.
Ghana has also recorded its worst ranking on the African continent this year, moving from 3rd to 10th in Africa.
Reacting to the ratings in an interview with Citi News, Dr. Wereko Brobbey, who founded the first private radio station in Ghana, said the President has superintended over actions that have led to censorship.
“The issue is, you can say what you think you believe and do, but the reality is what all the ratings by reputable international organizations are saying about Ghana no, which is disappointing. All the people who abuse the law in terms of the media are under the President of Ghana. The National Security Service, the police, the army, all those agencies are under the President.”
This is Ghana’s lowest-ever ranking in almost two decades after it ranked 66th and 67th in 2005 and 2002 respectively.
The latest report is out of 180 countries assessed with Ghana recording a decline in its indicative points from 78.67 percent to 67.43 compared to last year.
The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, said the government must put in measures to enhance press freedom in the country.
“The signals were clear and some of us had always raised concerns about developments in the country. I have had cause to say that this government has had the weakest media in terms of critical journalism, and it is experiencing the most repressive tendencies in terms of press freedom.”
“I am not surprised, to say the least. As I said with the developments we were seeing in this country, it is not surprising that other countries have overtaken us. I however did not expect that we drop this low.”
Recently, the US Department of State also released its 2021 annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices which reports on key human rights issues in various countries across the world including Ghana.
The report cited Ghana for a number of human rights abuses including clamping down on free speech.
Some specific cases mentioned in the report included the killing of social activist, Kaaka in Ejura, and the arrest and abuse of Citi FM/Citi TV’s Caleb Kudah.
