I thought our President was supposed to be a strong advocate for the principles of the rule of law, so why is he silent on this issue?
The hypocrisy is staggering and not just from the Presidency, many ‘rights’ advocates, including the freaking Ghana Journalists Association, cannot bring themselves to defend the core value of press freedom because of antiquated notions of ‘respect’ for chieftancy.
If a chief acts like an ass we can tell him he’s acting like an ass. And our laws do not provide any chief the authority to become a vigilante for ‘justice’.
The Paramount Chief of Wassa Akropong, Omanhene Tetre Akuamoah, recently made all the wrong headlines after he punished a journalist criticizing him to kneel for 3 hours in the sun.
The journalist, with Rivers Fm in Wassa, criticized the chief following news a Chinese national had killed a Ghanaian. The issue is tied to galamsey, which many believe powerful figures like the chief is involved in.
The journalist, Larry Saint, thus said the chief was protecting the accused Chinese instead of his own people, and the chief labelled that as ‘disrespectful’ and had him humiliated.
And he shows no remorse for it. Speaking on Adom News Friday, he said he did what he had to do because he was disrespected.
“I believe in free speech but it has a limit and I think the journalist was not fair to make such remarks which undermined my authority” he said.
“I didn’t threaten the journalist like he is saying and so he should stop saying those things. I urge Ghanaians to go and listen to the tape and realize how bad the journalist sounded. I don’t want to make any further comments since the police is investigating the issue” he added.
I wonder how Ghanains would react if the President forced a political opponent to kneel in the sun for three hours. That would almost certainly break the internet but this is allowed to pass. It’s disgraceful.