Ghana

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is an ARTICLE 19 press release: ARTICLE 19 today published an analysis of the draft Right to Information Bill of the Republic of Ghana. ARTICLE 19 welcomes the draft Law and regards it as a positive step to advance freedom of expression and information in Ghana. The draft Law contains […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is a 2 August 2002 IFJ media release: IFJ Warns Government Over Death Threats to Editor-in-Chief in Ghana The International Federation of Journalists today called on the Government of Ghana to take “urgent and immediate steps” to secure the safety of Kweku Baako, Editor-in-Chief of Crusading Guide, following two death threats. […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 2 April 2002 letter to President John Kufuor, CPJ expressed its alarm over the fact that his government has imposed controls on reporting about recent interclan clashes in the northern Dagbon area of Ghana. On 30 March, Minister of Information Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey stated that unless journalists are writing about an official […]

(IPI/IFEX) – In a 13 December 2001 letter to Ghanaian President John Kufuor and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers, IPI expressed its deep concern about the plight of staff from the Liberian “New Democrat” newspaper who are currently seeking refugee status in Ghana. According to the information provided to IPI, the following […]

(WAJA/IFEX) – On Friday 27 July 2001, Ghana’s parliament unanimously repealed the Criminal Libel and Seditious Laws, which had been used to incarcerate a number of journalists in the past. The repeal follows the passage of the Criminal Code (Repeal of the Criminal and Seditious Laws – Amendment Bill) Act 2001 by a unanimous vote […]

(WAJA/IFEX) – The bill to amend the criminal libel and seditious laws in Ghana entered its second stage in parliament on Tuesday 24 July 2001. The proposed amendment seeks to repeal chapter seven of part two of the 1960 Criminal Code (Act 29), which covers criminal libel. Section 182A of the Criminal Code, which grants […]

(Free Expression Ghana/IFEX) – On Monday 16 July 2001, media professionals from the SKY FM radio station in Sunyani, in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana, were severely manhandled by a mob claiming to be angry football fans. The journalists and some staff of the non-governmental organisation Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) were returning […]

(WAJA/IFEX) – The following is a 16 June 2001 WAJA statement: IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES CANNOT LOCATE LIBERIAN JOURNALIST The immigration authorities say they have no idea about the whereabouts of Liberian journalist Ambrose Darrul Nmah days after he was expected to have left the country. He had been asked to leave Ghana for overstaying the period […]

(WAJA/IFEX) – The following is a 15 June 2001 WAJA press release: PROCESS TO ELIMINATE CRIMINAL LIBEL BEGINS IN GHANA The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, has confirmed reports that the process to expunge criminal libel from the statute books has begun. The repeal of the law on seditious libel is […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Internal Affairs Minister Alhaji Malik Yakubu Alhassan, RSF protested the order to deport Liberian journalist Darryl Ambrose Nmah, working at Radio Gold, a private station in Accra. “The intensification of the war in Liberia and the repression against local journalists put Nmah’s life in danger; he has been living […]

(Free Expression Ghana/IFEX) – Jerry Rawlings’ defeated National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has shifted into gear to gag free speech. The NDC party has issued two writs against the editor of the daily “Evening News” and the New Times Corporation (NTC) publishing company, seeking damages for articles published in the Monday 12 March and Tuesday […]

(WAJA/IFEX) – On 21 November 2000, Chris FM, a radio station at Berekum, which was closed down by Ghanaian authorities was reopened. The station was closed down on 8 November following allegations that it had broadcast inflammatory statements by an opposition politician. Briefing the press, Donald Adabre, regional minister and chairman of the Regional Security […]

(WAJA/IFEX) – Chris FM, a privately owned radio station at Berekum, in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana, was closed on 6 November 2000 on the orders of the Regional Security Council. The closure follows allegations that an aspiring parliamentary candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nkrabeah Effah Darteh, had used the station to […]

(WAJA/IFEX) – On Monday 6 November 2000, the publisher and editor of the private newspaper “Ghanaian Chronicle”, Nana Kofi Coomson, was arrested by officers of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), for having in his possession diskettes taken from the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Accra. Kofi Coomson was picked up […]

(WAJA/IFEX) – During the early hours of Monday 2 October 2000, unidentified persons smeared human waste on the entrance of the offices of an independent Accra bi-weekly, “The Crusading Guide”. According to the newspaper’s editor, Kweku Baako, Jr., he arrived at his office at around 6:00 a.m. (local time) to find a pungent smell and […]

(WAJA/IFEX) – A Ghanaian journalist, Sedi Bansah, was arrested on the orders of the country’s deputy minister of defence, Tony Aidoo, on Tuesday 19 September 2000. Bansah, who works for the private biweekly “The Crusading Guide”, was investigating a story about an alleged assault by the minister on a civilian and had contacted the minister […]