The Ghana Police Service and the Media have met at a forum to adopt a joint framework to highlight the modalities for fostering police-media relations in Ghana.
The program organized by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service (GPS) is aimed at strengthening relations between the Media and the police, enhancing the safety of journalist and for reinforcing the media’s role for effective policing in the country.
Speaking at the program, the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, said Ghana has been recording high incidents of abuse of journalist by political activist, civilians, groups and the police.
He said the framework is aimed at building bridges between the police and the media.
He added that the framework is expected to guide the work of both the journalist and the media and it is to be used in cases of assault on journalists.
The Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), George Sarpong who was also at the forum, said the police and the media are in the same pursuit of collecting information for protection and education.
He expressed his gratitude to the GPS and the MFWA for the steps towards a complete and concrete framework.
A former president of the Ghana journalist association and the current president of Editors Forum Ghana, Adwoa Yeboah Afari said the forum was important to EFG because the lack of understanding between the two was disturbing.
She bemoaned the politically polarised system in the country which has extended to the market, saying “shoppers at the foodstuff market now ask is this NDC cassava or the NPP?”
She advised that the police and the media stop seeing each other as enemies.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante Appeatu, said he considered the day a memorable one for police-media relations, saying the media is the mirror of the police service and so the need to foster peace for a smooth working relationship.
He said the police as a human institution sometimes offends but such infrequent excesses should not destroy the relationship that exists between the two entities.