The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Albert Kwabena Dwumfour has asked the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to immediately investigate and sanction attackers of David Kobbena, a Cape FM broadcast journalist.
He also called on the Ghana Police Service to investigate the incident immediately and prosecute the culprits.
The police officer who invited Kobbena before he was assaulted should also be sanctioned for unprofessional conduct.
On Thursday, December 28, 2023, some thugs, numbering about 15 and wearing a branded T-shirt of Mrs Mavis Hawa Koomson, the Member of Parliament for Awutu-Senya East, allegedly pounced on Mr Kobbena, a morning show host of Cape FM, and beat him mercilessly without provocation.
This was at the Central Regional vetting of parliamentary aspirants of the NPP, held at the Regional Coordinating Council in Cape Coast.
According to reports, the thugs mistook him for another person they alleged had insulted the MP, also the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development.
Based on that mistaken identity, a man believed to be a police officer invited the unsuspecting David to a distance and sought to confirm that mistaken identity.
Mr Kobbena denied it and produced an ID card of his media house as evidence to support his denial.
However, in the process of doing so, someone slapped him from behind and other thugs joined in the assault, beating him mercilessly.
Mr Dwumfour said initial investigations by the GJA confirmed the incident.
“This is the height of impunity and we can no longer tolerate same. While condemning the attack on David unreservedly, we make the following demands. We hereby serve notice that if by close of Friday, January 12, 2024, these demands (sanctions) have not been met, we shall advise ourselves accordingly,” he said.
Mr Dwumfour said: “But as we have already served notice, we shall fight back with every weapon we can marshal in our industry to repel the attacks on journalists as we go into Election 2024. And we can assure the evil plotters and doers that they cannot fight the media and win.
“We want to assure the media fraternity that we shall continue to defend their interests at all costs. This year, we shall continue our campaign against the obnoxious law used for criminal prosecution of free speech. We know they would be used as part of the strategy to silence the media, but we shall resist them with all force,” he said.
Mr Dwumfour advised journalists to be extremely vigilant whilst discharging their duties and report any threat to their person to the police for the necessary action to be taken.
ALSO READ: