6 months ago
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The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, has revealed that Ghana has moved from 62 to 50 on the World Press Freedom Index.
He attributed the great feat to GJA’s aggressive actions taken to defend journalists’ freedom in the country.
“This includes the blacklisting of some political figures whose supporters assaulted journalists and media outlets, he said and added that the actions demonstrated that Ghana was committed to press freedom,” he said.
Mr Dwumfour was speaking at this year’s World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) celebration organised by the GJA in Koforidua in the Eastern Region on the theme: “Leveraging journalism for sustainable environment and future.”
The celebration was to commemorate WPFD to enable the media fraternity the opportunity to reflect on issues of press freedom and professional ethics and to remind governments of their commitment to press freedom and the need for them to respect same.
Speaking on the theme, Mr Dwumfour called for renewed action towards protecting the environment, and called on the media to resume the concerted campaign against illegal mining, popularly known as “galamsey.”
Having considered the global theme for the WPFD 2024, which was “Press for Planet: Journalism in the face of environmental crisis,” he indicated that the GJA has carved out its own theme giving the extensive damage environmental degradation had caused to the planet, and the recognition of the potency of journalism to deal with the environmental crisis the world was facing.
The Minister of Information-designate, Fatima Abubakar, revealed that Ghana has moved up the Press Index from 8th to 6th position in Africa as well.
He said it was of great concern that while the country celebrated the achievement, government was concerned about the threats and attack on journalists all over the world, and added that the acts of violence did not only put their lives and livelihood at risk, but was also strike at the core of our democratic values.
She condemned such attacks and reiterated that the government was committed to safeguarding the safety and security of all press men and women and pledged government’s undying commitment working towards efforts to improve the various indicators used for Press freedom.
She said to confront challenges within the media space, the Ministry had taken proactive measures to address them by implementing a coordinated mechanism on the safety of journalists in collaboration with the National Media Commission, and has also launched the media capacity enhancement programme to enhance capacity of media practitioners in Ghana.
Dr John Kingsley Akrugu, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the country was confronted with unprecedented environmental challenges that demanded urgent action.
For his part, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Seth Acheampong, acknowledged that the media had played a vital role in advocating protection for the environment and urged the media not to relent on it oars but to continue to expose penchants who were causing destruction to the environment.
FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, KOFORIDUA
