(MFWA/IFEX) – On 2 June 2006, Hackman K. Afriyie, a reporter for ASTA FM, an independent radio station based in Techiman, a city in northern Ghana, was slapped and threatened with death by Police Constable Eric Gyamfi for his alleged criticisms of the police. Gyamfi, who is stationed at Akomadan, a town near Techiman, also […]
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 2 June 2006, Hackman K. Afriyie, a reporter for ASTA FM, an independent radio station based in Techiman, a city in northern Ghana, was slapped and threatened with death by Police Constable Eric Gyamfi for his alleged criticisms of the police.
Gyamfi, who is stationed at Akomadan, a town near Techiman, also insulted the journalist and threatened to shoot him dead sometime when he – the police officer – is on night duty.
In a telephone interview, Afriyie told MFWA that, on the night of the incident, the constable confronted him at a bus terminal immediately after a function they both attended. “He started, with no provocation, to hurl insults at me. ‘You are a bad reporter’, he said”, after which he slapped the reporter five times.
“As if that was not enough, he followed me to the nearby police station in Akomadan, where I had rushed to lodge a complaint, and further assaulted me in the presence of an officer of the station, Sergeant Frimpong, and the wife of one Corporal Addo.”
Afriyie noted that the constable further told him, “You have been disgracing police personnel on air, and I have assaulted you free of charge because you cannot take any action against me as I am away for operational duty, outside the town”.
Afriyie said his employers later directed him to a district police officer who issued him with a form with which to seek medical attention at the Techiman Holy Family Hospital, where he was admitted overnight for treatment.
