A group calling itself the United Press Development Network (UPDN) has raised questions about the levels of mistreatment meted out to some journalists in the line of duty under the watch of President Nana Akufo-Addo, who is touted as a human rights lawyer.
President of UPDN, a network of journalists pushing for some sanity in Ghana’s journalism space, Mr. Kofi Asante Mensah, expressed shock about how radio talk show host, Captain Smart, was locked up in cells despite being granted bail by a circuit court over a case of extortion.
He said Mr. Smart met all his bail conditions and yet, was denied his freedom and his friends and family could not trace his whereabouts.
“What kind of country are we living in for the rights of the people to be trampled upon in this manner?” he asked.
Speaking on Accra100.5FM’s midday news on Thursday, February 3, 2022, Mr. Mensah quizzed further: “Why should journalists be mistreated in this manner in the line of duty when the 1992 Constitution devoted chapter 12 to press freedom in the country?”
According to him, the treatment meted out to Captain Smart was an abuse of his human rights.
“I cannot believe that this is a nation that has a human rights lawyer as president,” he said.
He described the way Captain Smart was detained as “shameful”.
“We’ve fallen to 30 on the world media ranking table and nobody cares about what is happening under the watch of the human rights lawyer and Chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),” he bemoaned.
