By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Executive Director of the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mr. Mensah Thompson, has taken the Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Mr. Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo to the cleanest for his opposition to the directive issued by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to blacklist two New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) accused of assaulting journalists.
Reacting to the statement made by the NMC chairman, on an Accra based Citi TV, on Monday February 12, 2024, Mr. Thompson expressed disappointment with the Chairman’s comments.
In his submission, the ASEPA boss tagged Mr. Ayeboafo who is a former editor of the Daily Graphic as a failed journalist who has failed to acknowledge the assaults against his former colleagues.
“So you people, they are beating you, they are not paying you well, they are disrespecting you, you rise to the position when you can take decisions to protect your fellow members, look at the ridiculousness of the things he is saying.
That I should sit down for somebody to come to my house, come and attack me, come and beat me to a pulp, the following day I should give the same person a platform to come and talk, according to this man, a former journalist, he should be ashamed of himself.” He started.
The GJA’s directive specifically targeted the MP for Awutu Senya East in the Central region, Madam Hawa Koomson, and the MP for Yendi in the Northern region, Mr. Farouk Mahama both of whom are alleged to have assaulted journalists.
But the Chairman of NMC, has openly criticized the actions taken by by the GJA, labelling its directive as “dysfunctional and unproductive” to the public interest.
Mr. Ayeboafo is however, advocating for the use of legal avenues to address acts of impunity against journalists instead of the position taken by the GJA national executives and the other media organizations.
