Election 2020: GJA condemns collation centre shooting, attacks on journalists

The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has condemned a shooting incident and attacks on two journalists at the Ablekuma Central collation Centre by political party agents.   

Affail Monney, GJA President, described the incident as a stain on the country’s democracy and charged security officers and other stakeholders to bring the perpetrators to book. 

The GJA President at a press conference said the Association had a report of a reporter from NewsWatch.com who sustained gunshot wound in the leg at 0200 hours on Tuesday by a political activist at the said collation centre.   

Mr Monney said the victim, Mr Pius Kwanin Asiedu, was scheduled for surgery at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Ridge, and called for support from stakeholders.   

He said in a related issue, another journalist, Doreen Ampofo of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Radio, who was at the same collation centre suffered various degrees of injury from a fell, as she tried to escape gunfire and stones hurled at her by an assailant who mistook her to be an Electoral Commission Official.   

He described the developments as worrying and called on the Ghana Police Service to, as a matter of urgency, arrest and prosecute those involved in the shooting incident and the attacks to serve as a deterrent to other hooligans who may want to perpetuate such acts. 

The GJA President commended journalists for exhibiting professionalism in the coverage of the elections and urged them to be safety and security conscious on and off the field. 

Robert Dela Yao Mawuenyegah, an Editor of the NewsWatch.com, said Pius was at the collation centre where a misunderstanding ensued between two-party agents over some pink sheets, which resulted in the exchange of gunfire and in the victim’s attempt to flee the scene, got shot.   

He said the reporter had undergone an x-ray, which indicated that he had his bones broken and would need surgery.   

Emmanuel Simpiney-Mensah, Corporate & Special Risk Head at SIC Insurance Company PLC, which offered a ¢20 million insurance package to 500 members of GJA during the election coverage, said the Company was committed to protecting journalists during the election coverage.   

He said SIC would take care the medical bills of journalists who got injured in the election coverage and would replace any equipment that might be damaged.       

Mr Mensah said the package was between ¢300 and ¢40,000, depending on the severity of the case and pledged to visit the victim at the hospital.