The government has pledged it support to assist the police to pursue justice for slain investigative journalist, Ahmed Hussein-Suale.
Ahmed was shot dead near his family house in Accra on January 16, 2019. He is part of over 1000 journalists killed for reporting the news and bringing information to the public between 2006-2017 according to According to UNESCO.
Government has therefore been challenged to ensure maximum protection for the media in the discharge of their duties.
Based on this backdrop, Deputy Information Minister, Pius Enam Hadzide, says the government will continue to keep an eye on the matter until the perpetrators are brought to book.
At a forum on the safety of journalists held in Kumasi, he emphasised the need to seek justice for persons like Ahmed Hussein-Suale.
“Ghana has slipped on the World Press Freedom Index and lost its place of pride as Africa’s best-ranked country. Our drop has been attributed by most commentators to the unfortunate death of Mr. Ahmed Suale” he said.
This notwithstanding, Hon. Pius Hadzide said government has been firm in its resolve to support Ghana’s law enforcement agencies to crack this and many other criminal cases that are yet to see any meaningful prosecutions.
“At the Ministry of Information, we continue to keep our eyes on the ball and we ask for regular updates from the Ghana Police Service” he added.
For his part, UNESCO representative in Ghana, Abdourahamane Diallo called on authorities to speed up investigations into the killing of Ahmed Suale.
“UNESCO Director General has urged Ghana as a UNESCO Member State, to inform the Organization on the status of the investigation of the killing of Ahmed Suale, the investigative journalist. We are yet to see the perpetrators of Ahmed Suale brought to book after several calls to authorities to expedite investigations on this case” he stated.
The forum was organized by the National Media Commission (NMC).
Chairman of the Commission, Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, says journalists must stay conscious of personal protection anything they are out to cover stories.
“We should be as wise as serpent in carrying out our responsibilities so that we will continue to be of importance and significance to the development of Ghana.
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“Whatever steps that we need to take to protect ourselves let us do that. Anytime that we are going anywhere, one of the things that should not be lost on us is that somebody must know at every time where we are. If somebody knows where we are at every time when something happens to us somebody can follow up”.