Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress has disclosed that the caution issued by the Judicial Service to some media firms is an affront to press freedom.
Following a statement by the legal representation of the Judiciary Service of Ghana which indicated that media organisations since the commencement of the 2020 election petition trial has engaged in the “publication of a series of incendiary” speeches against judges, Mr. Gyamfi responded that the actions by the Judiciary Service is predisposed to promoting a repressive rule and stymieing press freedom in the Ghanaian media environment.
“The letter from the Judiciary Service through their lawyers to some media houses is an affront to free speech and press freedom and has the tendency of instilling fear in people and reintroducing degraded culture of silence that we all over the years have worked so hard to defeat.”
Sammy Gyamfi, further revealed that the NDC party’s position against the statement by the Judiciary is not indicative the party supports the use of hateful or offensive language against the Judiciary.
That notwithstanding, he reckons that the Judiciary is not entitled nor has the authority to threaten any media organization and criticize them in certain ways.
“They cannot dictate to the media or the people of this country how they [Judiciary Service] should be criticized. We all know of the boundaries of constructive criticism the law allows us to do relative to the Judicial act.
“Are they the ones to tell us what criticism is allowed? I mean we cannot allow that in a democracy”.
Media houses were recently ordered by the Judicial Service to “immediately pull down” from their platforms statements and speeches which convey, and/or insinuate hateful, spiteful, vengeful, incendiary communication against justices of the Supreme Court, especially, those hearing the election petition.
Reacting to this moreover, the Ghana Journalist Association, insisted the directive was condemnable, saying it was an attempt by the Judiciary to stifle press freedom in Ghana.
President of the Association, Dr. Roland Affail Monney, explained the directive was an evident threat to journalists and as such be seen as a horrible move least expected from the third arm of government.
“The GJA is, to put it mildly, dumbstruck in reading this obnoxious directive pregnant with insidious threats to media freedom in Ghana which is touted as a land of freedom and justice. With all due respect, this is scandalous. In crafting the scandalous statement, the GJA is principally of the view that the Judicial Service ought to have avoided any impression or situation that has the tendency to instil fear and promote a culture of silence into which Ghana had been enveloped during the period of autocratic misrule”.
As part of the Association’s demands, Dr. Monney also stated that “the GJA is plainly of the view that the threats by the Judicial Service against the media defy logic and are tantamount to an unwarranted assault on all the tenets of freedom of speech and freedom of the media as guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution”.
The association also noted in a statement that if the threats by the judiciary are not taken back, they could go a long way to dent the image of the court and the country as a whole.
“If not reversed immediately, the ill-advised, ill-timed, ill-crafted and ill- issued statement by the Judiciary can provoke a tsunamic backlash, lower the dignity of the court in the eyes of freedom lovers and critical citizens, pollute the media environment, undermine our impressive media rankings globally and dim the beacon of our democracy”.
