Information Ministry condemns attack on Radio Ada, charges police to punish attackers
The Ministry of Information has condemned the attack on Radio Ada by some unknown thugs on Thursday.
The ministry has since called on the District Police Command to nab and sanction the perpetrators who were reportedly about 10.
In a statement released on Saturday, the ministry said “there is no justification for a group of people to physically attack a radio station and its staff for comments made on air. If a party is aggrieved at media comments, there are legitimate and legal avenues for seeking redress.”
Further describing the attack as “totally unacceptable” and reiterated the need for the vandals to be identified and penalised.
“Attacks of this nature are, however, totally unacceptable and the perpetrators must be identified and action taken in accordance with the law.”
Meanwhile, the sector minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has charged management and staff of Radio Ada and the National Media Commission to take action on the issue.
Find below a copy of the statement:
Background
Unknown vandals on January 13, raided Radio Ada, a community radio station in the Greater Accra Region. A radio presenter was injured in the attack and is currently receiving medical treatment in hospital.
The thug, about 10, reportedly stormed the station around enquiring about Noah Dameh, an employee of the station but met his absence. They proceeded to the station’s properties including broadcasting equipment.
According to an eyewitness, the vandals who were all masked-up broke into the studio and immediately pounced on a presenter [name withheld] who was on-air at the time and beat him up mercilessly before finally switching the station off air.
The witness added that the thug further held some staff hostage for sometime while they subjected others to severe beetings.
“At around 11:30 am, a thug numbering about 8 to 10 stormed the radio station with one wielding a pistol. As soon as they entered, they demanded to see any management person present.They got furious after we told them there were no management persons present. So they forcefully broke into the ON-AIR studio, and the Recording Studio vandalised equipments and assaulted staff including a presenter who was running a live show.”
Confirming the incident in an exclusive interview with MX24NEWS, a management member in charge of External Communications at the station who also witnessed the attack, Julius Odoi Amesimeku said the thugs after physically assaulting staff and vandalising properties, warned them to desist from publishing anything that has to do with Electrochem Ghana Limited; a salt mining company in the area.
“After vandalising the station’s properties and physically assaulting staff, they warned that we should not report anything on Songhor or Eletrochem again. We should not even mention the name of McDan ever again in any of our reports otherwise they would shoot us.”
Management of the station has however issued a statement indicating that the incident has since been reported to the Ghana Police Service for further investigation and that, “the presenter who was beaten up has since been sent to the Ada East District Hospital for treatment.”
The Press Statement further assured its listeners of its unshaken resolve to continue with work in due course.
“Our listening community may be assured that Radio Ada will thereafter continue to broadcast and that its commitment to inform and to give voice to the Dangme community, particularly those least voiced, remains unchanged.”
