Accra Mayor Arrests Journalists

The Chief executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Alfred Oko Vanderpuije on Saturday night ordered the arrest of a reporter and TV crew of Multimedia�s TV station, MultiTV. The news team went to film the living conditions of people of Mensah Guinea community after AMA authorities demolished make-shift structures housing them. Speaking to the issue, the AMA boss said the journalists were in the community to dent the image of government with their concocted story and not to do their work as expected. �We always need the press for dissemination of information. If we need to be criticised, that is ok but I had a call on Saturday that Adom TV crew are with residents of Mensah Guinea; offering to help them to gain sympathy from Ghanaians. They told the residents that they wanted to make a case against government for rendering them (residents) homeless. They therefore asked them to lie on the ground and they started videotaping�and that is unprofessional�. The journalists, he said, took to their heels upon seeing him arrive with some police officers, asking: �Why will you run away if you know what you are doing is genuine?� �As a journalist, you are supposed to report the situation and not to create the situation or the story so that you can report it the way you want to. If you are a journalist with a clear conscience, you will not run away but they took to their heels. Why will they run away if they have good conscience and that was why I arrested the driver. The work we are doing is not of any malice� he said on PEACE FM �Kokrokoo� Meanwhile, the driver has been granted bail.