The Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) is calling for the immediate removal of the President of the Ghana Journalist Association, Affail Monney over what it says is the failure of the association to protect journalists.
This comes after the President of the Ghana Journalists Association stated on radio that Citi FM journalist, Caleb Kudah, breached the Association’s code of ethics when he filmed some grounded MASLOC vehicles at the National Security premises, which may have warranted the subsequent assault on him.
According to ASEPA, the justification of the assault on Caleb Kudah by Mr. Monney is a betrayal of the principles of the Association.
“We believe Mr. Monney cannot continue to hold himself as the President of the GJA after such reckless display of not just cowardice but individualism, and failing to uphold the interests of all journalists in the country. We are therefore calling for the immediate removal of Mr. Affail Monney as GJA president. This is the only way the GJA can distance itself from the comments of Mr. Monney and show solidarity to their compatriots,” a statement from ASEPA said.
The Executive Director of ASEPA, Mensah Thompson, who signed the statement, said the association has failed to protect the interest and safety of its members hence the call.
In an interview with Citi News, he stated that: “We’re so disgusted with the comments of the GJA president in the midst of this brutality and assault on journalists. For the GJA president to go on radio and say that the journalists breached the code of ethics of the GJA and so the attacks on them, however bizarre they were, were warranted, I think is very unfortunate. It’s certainly not good for the victims especially at the time where you expect the GJA to rally behind these journalists, give them the maximum protection and solidarity that you’d expect.”
“How can the GJA president be making such comments? I mean, which of the code of ethics of the association did they violate?”
Mr. Thompson insisted that Caleb Kudah did not breach any code of ethics since the issue he was pursuing at the National Security Ministry was in the national interest.
