Multimedia Boycott: It�s A Shocking Dev't...And Unconstitutional � Akufo-Addo

The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, has described as astonishing the NDC government�s decision to boycott the Multimedia Group Limited. The Mills-led government has banned reporters of Multimedia from covering official events and also banned public institutions from placing adverts on the group�s networks. According to the main opposition contender in the 2012 elections, the position of the government is a clear violation of freedom of speech and must without delay rescind that �astonishing� decision. �I�m astonished and at a time when we have a lawyer of such repute as our President and such actions are being taken; clearly it is unconstitutional,� Nana Addo told the media on the final day of his tour of the Greater Accra Region. �Impediments are being put in the place of the media in doing their work; the media are being penalised because government decides for itself what is fair coverage, that is not the business of government,� he added. �When we were there we had a lot of many problems with the media never did it occur to [John] Kufuor to take this sort of gesture towards any particular item. What didn�t Radio Gold say about us? Yet, no one from the NPP came forward to make the kind of pronouncement that spokespersons of the government are doing �It is not for government to decide what should be the content of media publications. The idea that government can take the view that particular sections of the media are unfair to it and therefore they will prevent that media access to public events is a shocking development. If President Mills is looking for unprecedented events on his period of stewardship to talk about this is one of them,� the former Attorney General pointed out.