The invasion of the studios of United Television (UTV) by New Patriotic Party (NPP) thugs on Saturday, October 7, 2023, and the subsequent prosecution, conviction and sentencing of 16 of the thugs have generated very interesting discussions on media freedom in Ghana.
One of such discussions I find rather intriguing is a press statement issued by the National Media Commission (NMC) on October 18, 2023.
While noting the outcome of the trial of the 16 NPP thugs by the Achimota District Court and the “justifiable expression of disappointment by the GJA in what they consider as the leniency of the sentences”, the NMC is pleading for a focus to the future.
The plea of the NMC is healthy and very much in order, but for some disorders in the direction of the focus it pleads; and in marking a ‘One-week Observation’ of that press statement, I wish to express my disagreement with the NMC as follows:
‘Courageous’ Minister
In directing focus to the future, the NMC submits that “there is novelty in the courage of a sitting Minister, a Member of Parliament and an active politician in reporting members of his own party to the police for invading a TV station.”
“This must signify a new beginning towards addressing questions of the safety of journalists,” the NMC adds in its press statement.
NMC demands prosecution of thugs who invaded UTV
In my humble view, a Minister of State or Member of Parliament is a public officer who serves the interest of state, NOT that of a political party, and discharging that duty cannot or should not be applauded as ‘courageous’ feat.
A Minister of State swears an oath to the state as provided in the Second Schedule of the 1992 Constitution: “…that I will uphold, preserve, protect and defend [emphasis mine] the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana as by law established; that I will, to the best of my judgment, at all times when required, freely give my counsel and advice [emphasis mine] for the good management of the public affairs of the Republic of Ghana….”
Hence, when a Minister of State gives ‘counsel’ or ‘advice’ to the Police by way of reporting crime, which counsel or advice is in tandem with an oath he/she voluntarily swore to the state (We The People), inasmuch as that dutiful act may be good, it cannot, in my humble view, be deemed as ‘courageous’ to warrant applause simply because the crime reported involved his/her own party activists, even if that act is an exception rather than the norm.
Attack on UTV: GJA urges police to prosecute “hooligans” promptly
In any case, there had been instances in the past when the Minister of Information had reported crime to the Police, some of which involved members of other political parties, but those instances did not attract the ‘courageous accolades’.
I believe the Minister had reported those cases to the Police because crime had been committed and not because the crime committed did not involve members of his political party. Why then must the Minister now be decorated with ‘Courageous’ title for discharging a normal duty, and why was the Minister not decorated with same title when he discharged the same duties in the past?
NDC condemns attack on UTV; cites Klottey Korle NPP Youth Organiser as leader of ‘thugs’
Also, if a former sitting president, in 2013, ordered the prosecution (which led to the imprisonment) of a member of his own political party and former lawmaker, why should we flag the act of a Minister of State, one decade hence, reporting an invasion of a television studios by thugs of his own political party as a “novelty”?
Media freedom and choice
Another intriguing submission made by the NMC in its press statement is the holding that “He [Minister of Information] and the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice had a choice. And they elected to exercise that in favour of media freedom”.
Respectfully, I do not think there is freedom of choice in upholding media freedom. Article 21(1)(a) of the 1992 Constitution provides: “All persons shall [emphasis mine] have the right to freedom of speech and expression, which shall include freedom of the press and other media”.
Frimpong-Boateng writes on attack on UTV: NPP, how did we get here?
The Constitution also provides in Article 162(1): “Freedom and independence of the media are hereby guaranteed [emphasis mine]”.
In my humble view (and I express my view as the Constitution entitles me but not as a Supreme Court Judge interpreting the Constitution), the expressions: “shall” in Article 21(1)(a) and “guaranteed” in Article 162(1), are caveats or injunctions that do not give room for the exercise of choice or discretion as far as upholding and promoting media freedom are concerned.
That is why I find it extremely worrying that the NMC, a regulatory body mandated by the 1992 Constitution, under Article 167(a), “To promote and ensure [emphasis mine[ freedom and independence of the media for mass communication or information”, is entertaining, endorsing and promoting the exercise of choice in upholding media freedom.
Concept of crime deterrence
There is appreciable consensus among criminologists that a time-test strategy for dealing with crime is deterrence. And at the heart of deterrence is the certainty of arrest.
Certainty of arrest, and to an extent prosecution, can hardly succeed without the active and enthusiastic contributions of citizens.
This is where the role of people in positions of trust (such as Ministers of State) is key; thus, if a Minister of State fails to contribute to certainty of arrest, he/she will seriously be undermining the fight against crime – and in this specific case, endangering the safety/lives of journalists.
So, I ask: What shall it profit Ghanaian journalists if the Minister of Information champions a ‘Coordinated Mechanism on the Safety of Journalists’ but has a choice to promote or not to promote media freedom, which latter choice can undermine or hurt the safety of journalist?
Therefore, I respectfully submit, a Minister of State has absolutely no choice; indeed, he/she is duty-bound to contribute towards deterrence of crime – and that is one way to measure commitment to the security and safety of ordinary people/citizens.
Where is the choice?
As I have argued earlier herein, a Minister of State or Member of Parliament who swears an oath to serve the state does not have a choice in discharging that oath, not on the basis of affiliation of any kind.
Among the powers granted the Attorney-General by the Constitution, Article 88(3) provides: “The Attorney-General shall be responsible for the initiation and conduct of all prosecutions of criminal offences”.
The Constitution does not make exceptions to Article 88(3), and so if the invasion of UTV is a criminal offence and the Attorney-General discharges his constitutional mandate to prosecute the offenders, it is intriguing for the regulator mandated to promote media freedom to suggest that the Attorney-General has a choice in so doing, and he elected on that occasion to exercise his choice “in favour of media freedom”.
The fact that some duty bearers derail from discharging their lawful mandate due to political expediency does not mean whenever they get on track, we should throng the streets on a picnic to celebrate them as ‘courageous’, and for exercising their choice in favour of our constitutionally-guaranteed rights.
Travelling that road, and in that direction, with the NMC will only be running into the facade of Ghana’s democracy: we are not what we claim or are acclaimed to be as far as our democratic credentials are concerned.
The NMC may have good intentions in pleading a focus to the future; but advancing a conviction that there is choice in upholding media freedom, the promotion of which may rather empower duty bearers not to uphold media freedom, is a dangerous focus to the future the NMC seeks to direct.
That direction may lead media freedom into a ditch and cause grave harm to the media industry in Ghana. Hence, my plea to the NMC (and please hearken) is: Redirect your focus to the future towards projecting media freedom in absolute terms, and reject the exercise of choice in upholding media freedom.
By Kofi Yeboah
Writer’s Email: [email protected]