The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) will launch one of its flagship programmes, the Journalists Support Fund, in the first week of October 2022.
President of the Association, Mr Kwabena Dwumfour, disclosed this during a courtesy call to the Managing Director of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday, September 15, 2022, in Accra.
He explained that the Fund’s main goal is to aid in the pursuit of justice for journalists who have been assaulted in some way while on the job.
“In the past, we realized that when journalists are attacked and assaulted, or when their security and safety are threatened, and whenever they are attacked, all we (GJA) do is issue press statements and hold press conferences but we always leave it there,” Mr Dwumfour said.
“There are numerous situations that have now gained disrepute because we are unaware of them and because we don’t appear to have finished our investigations into assault cases, particularly those involving journalists,” he added.
According to the GJA President, resources will be drawn from the fund to assemble a legal team to defend journalists when necessary.
Assaulted Journalists
Ahmed Hussein-Suale, a Ghanaian investigative journalist who had worked with the BBC, was shot dead near his family home in Accra on January 16, 2019. Authorities believe he was assassinated because of his work.
Caleb Kudah was arrested and physically assaulted for filming abandoned vehicles obtained by MASLOC and parked at the Ministry for several years. On March 27, 2018, one of Ghana’s budding and fearless journalists, Latif Idris, was brutally beaten to near death at the headquarters of the Ghana Police Service. Meanwhile, the GJA is embarking on a rebranding agenda. As part of measures put in place, the Association will change the look and feel of the secretariat, which is the Ghana Press Centre.
Source: The Independent Ghana